By Brooke O’Connell
Cambodia’s charismatic capital, Phnom Penh charms with its gorgeous riverside location, cultural renaissance, and infectiously friendly people; yet, in wandering the city streets there’s something else that stands out. An overabundance of trash, especially plastic bags, plagues the revitalized yet still developing city. While on co-op in Phnom Penh, Sage Whipple (Business Administration major, Sustainable Business Practices minor) and her co-workers at FunkyJunk Recycled worked to develop innovative ways to clean up the beloved city’s streets.
Though there may be the word ‘funky’ in the name, there’s nothing ‘funky’ about FunkyJunk’s work. The Phnom Penh-based company pays locals to collect plastic bags in the streets, which are then washed, dried, and sorted by color before being transported to a village three hours outside the city. FunkyJunk trains locals in this village to cut the bags into strips and crochet them into products such as baskets, cushions, phone cases, can holders, etc. Their innovative solution has allowed them to already clear almost 400,000 plastic bags from Phnom Penh’s streets.
As Whipple would explain, clearing the bags from the streets is part of the solution but there are root causes that must be addressed: the attitudes towards recycling and the lack of education and programs about the issue thereof. In fact, it was addressing these issues that Whipple found most fulfilling. As part of her work for FunkyJunk, Whipple got a chance to make presentations in local schools to children ages 4 to 14 about the importance of recycling. “They were just really excited about recycling in general because it’s not prevalent there at all,” she recounted. They were also “excited about wanting to make a difference,” she added; so much so that they were inspired to bring in bags from their own homes that the company could use. “It kind of made me realize that education about sustainability just in general is so important,” Whipple concluded about her experience. In addition to making presentations at schools, Whipple also got to run a crowdfunding campaign, shoot and edit a video for it, contribute to social media marketing, participate in community outreach, and sell FunkyJunk’s products at fairs in the city.
Whipple took even more away from the experience on a personal level. “It definitely fostered my independence,” explained Whipple. “For my next co-op I’m going to be a lot more prepared to bring my own thoughts and viewpoints and recommendations […] knowing that I am a person who can make a change or an impact in a company and actually do fulfilling things that matter to the company and the community.” She also wants her fellow business students to know that even though there is a divide between people who want to work at startups versus social enterprises, they are both businesses and the skills you learn at either are the same. Whipple clarifies, “I think a lot of people have similar experiences no matter where on the globe they are.”
Whether we’re in Boston or Phnom Penh, we’re more connected than we think.
