CCILU is committed to integrating cross-border efforts to establish a recycling system for plastic bottles and agricultural waste, to create a series of shoes using recycled materials and single-material designs, and to create value for circle economy.
From Street to Lab-22
CCILU has created a collector-friendly space in Wanhua, where waste pickers act as material suppliers and recycle plastic bottles for three times the market price. CCILU has also worked with a local non-profit organization, Ngóo-kak, to run Lab-22, a space for collectors to rest and recycle plastic bottles. Using its exclusive patented GreenPlax® technology, CCILU created the world’s first eco- friendly shoes, with each component made from PET bottles. From manufacturing to consumption to recycling, CCILU has formed a full circle with one pair of shoes, inviting all people to maximize the value of plastic waste, and has realized the sustainable resource by letting 15 discarded plastic PET bottles re-enter the recycling economy.
Gradually moving towards a closed loop
When consumers send their old shoes back to CCILU, we work with our partner, Step30 international ministries, to recycle and sort them. Shoes in good condition are donated to third countries, while shoes in poor condition are converted into fuel using pyrolysis technology, which can generate electricity to support the factory's shoe production. To achieve zero emissions, CCILU is actively investing in the development of “ClozLoop”, a product line that can be 100% recycled and remanufactured.
Assisting our diplomatic country to establish a high-value agricultural recycling system
The Taiwan government aims to support Guatemala by providing advanced technological resources. From the perspective of supply chain and circular economy in the regional market, CCILU proposes to convert agricultural wastes in Guatemala into various environmentally friendly materials, supplying them to manufacturers in Mexico, and then selling the finished products to the United States and Canada, which are the world's largest markets. This “all the way north” strategy of utilizing CCILU's core technology in Central and North America has attracted great attention from the governments of Taiwan and Guatemala, as well as the business community in both countries.
Pantaleon, an international sugar company, hopes that CCILU will soon put forward a business plan for cooperation between the two companies to turn their bagasse into high-value environmentally friendly materials. Arcos Dorados, McDonald’s franchisee in Latin America and the Caribbean, has also asked CCILU to propose a cooperation program with the goal of establishing an eco- friendly tableware and straw factory using CCILU's recycled coffee grounds formula and manufacturing process. The resources of Taiwan's Bamboo Development Center in Guatemala will also serve as a good foundation for CCILU's development in the field of environmentally friendly construction materials in Central America.
Benefits
As of June 2024, Lab-22 has reached these milestones:
Recycled 2,170,280 PET bottles
Cultivated 27 waste bottle collectors
Offered an additional $118,260 NTD in recycling value to the collectors
Organized 15 cleanups
Attracted 532 citizens to participate in forums/cleanups
Distributed 185 free meals with Wander’s table
Distributed 10 household goods
Reached 18,792,340 people to raise awareness of plastic waste in the community
Produced 85,344 pairs of PET bottle recycled shoes
Reduced 895,664 KG greenhouse gas emissions
Attracted 18 media interviews
Attracted 12 corporate partners to participate in sustainability initiatives and actions