Anna Gracia Herbst has always wanted to find in her professional life a way to help others.
So when she first hears about Khalil Radi’s new project in 2018, she is immediately convinced. In Nicaragua, her friend has launched an action to encourage people collect and bring back the polluting plastic bottles in exchange for a hot meal. The project tackles two major problems at the same time: pollution and social misery. And on earth, 80% of plastic pollution is coming from those countries that have extreme poverty.
In Zurich, together with a small group of other people, they create the association Buy Food With Plastic, whose mission is clear: 'Stop Hunger and recycle at the same time'.
In this interview, Anna explains the objectives of Buy Food with Plastic, their recycling or upcycling plans, and we also compare with similar projects internationally. Anna details the financing solutions for this project, which for the past few months has been professionalizing and expanding beyond Nicaragua, in Ghana and in India. The young lady, who left her job in a start-up to become a full-time employee of her association, also tells me about volunteering, commitment, entrepreneurship, and shares with me her unfailing confidence in the future.
So for all of you who would like to learn more about plastic pollution, understand how it can become a weapon against poverty, and be inspired by Anna’s great commitment, I invite you to plug in your headphones and dive into the new episode of Brillantes!
03:46 The importance of focusing on women
04:40 Michelle Obama and Princess Diana: getting inspired by their compassion and empathy to others
06:34 Being raised between Berlin and Zurich, and sensitised to social topics at an early age
07:51 Communication as a tool to help the underprivileged people
Buy Food with Plastic
10:54 The origins of Buy Food with Plastic
13:57 How Anna got involved in the project
15:35 Changing the perspective about the plastic reality
17:16 Creating a dedicated team
18:56 Getting fundings “to make this world a better place”
20:58 Distributing warm meals and hygiene kits
21:48 Creating houses out of plastic bottles
25:25 The Precious plastic solution
28:04 How to trust, and control at the same time
30:49 About the successful “Social Plastic” by David Katz, and other inspiring actions
Scaling up the project
34:31 What does it mean to be a social start-up?
36:34 Taking the risk to become an entrepreneur
38:23 How to expand the project in the future: with the team as well as geographically
40:25 The challenge of finding the right pace for the organisation
41:59 Having an impact in Switzerland
43:52 Final questions
To follow Buy Food With Plastic:
To follow Anna:
Books and movies reference
People she is mentioning in the episode:
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