Last July 10, the electric CargoBIke for the collection of so-called lost plastics in The Hague was presented to Liesbeth van Tongeren, Alderman for Energy Transition and Sustainability at the City of The Hague.

The electric Cargo Bike will visit companies to collect their plastic waste. Doing so, the PlastiCity project wants to test the possibilities of making new recycled plastic products from these waste streams. The first such product is the fully recycled face shield that is used in the Haga Hospital.

This unique collection vehicle was developed by the Grondstoffenfiets Den Haag (The Hague Raw Material Bicycle) as part of the PlastiCity project. The aim is to introduce new sustainable logistics concepts for the circular city.

The electric Cargo Bike has a maximum range of approximately 150-200 kilometers, depending on the load. It has a capacity of almost 7m³ and is equipped with an electric compactor, which can reduce the volume of plastic commercial waste by more than 40% to 50%. The Cargo Bike is able to collect approximately 190 kg of plastic waste. It can collect and compress all types of plastics, except hard plastics such as PVC pipes. With a few simple adjustments it is also possible to use the commodity bicycle for the collection of other industrial waste streams.

The Cargo Bike will be equipped with a module to label and recognize plastic. This allows the project to give companies specific advice on how to (better) separate their plastic waste. Better separation will increase the quality of the collected plastic waste and thus the chance of recycling.

With the introduction of this sustainable Cargo Bike, the PlastiCity project partners are marking a new step in the process of valuating and using plastic waste as a raw material.

Article by Gerko Brouwer from Circular Matters