Dripl asks workers' help to address plastic pollution in their workplace

Brussels, 21 October 2022 – "Within a few hours, the entire contents of this vending machine will be (plastic) waste." It is one of the messages that commuters have been receiving since today via magnets on the vending machines in the major stations of our country. The magnets come from Dripl, a Ghent-Brussels start-up that makes plastic-free drinking in companies easy with its packaging-free drinks vending machine. Now people can also request a magnet from them to hang on the vending machine of their workplace. With the campaign, Dripl hopes to encourage employees to bring about change in their own workplace.

Every year, we produce about three hundred million tons of plastic waste, the equivalent of the weight of the total world population. The beverage industry alone still produces a staggering 1 million plastic bottles per minute. In Flanders, we open about 1.2 billion plastic bottles a year. If we don't take action, by 2050 there will be more plastic floating around in the oceans than there are fish, the UN warns.

"Introducing a deposit on cans and PET bottles – as Flemish Environment Minister Demir recently advocated – is a step in the right direction, but unfortunately the problem is bigger," says Colin Deblonde, CEO and co-founder of Dripl. "Plastic packaging achieves a recycling rate of around 50% in Belgium, and only 9% worldwide. As long as we don't all start consuming drastically less packaging, it's just cycling with a flat tire. The best packaging remains the packaging that doesn't exist."  

Making offices plastic-free

Many of these disposable packaging are opened and thrown away in the workplace.

Colin Deblonde: "In many companies, the packaging problem is not addressed. On the contrary, still too often you bump into classic drink dispensers or refrigerators full of bottles and cans, which means that those companies - often with good intentions - unfortunately contribute to the waste mountain. We hope that with our action, which should mainly reach employees, people will be inspired to make do with less disposable packaging."  

"The best packaging is and remains the packaging that does not exist" – Colin Deblonde, CEO and co-founder of Dripl

Endlessly relayable message

Dripl hopes that commuters will eventually take the magnets with them or request a magnet from them to hang in their office. "We deliberately chose magnets instead of stickers. A magnet is more expensive to make than a regular sticker, yes, but it ensures that the message can be reused or passed on endlessly. And that is also our goal, to continue to inspire people." concludes Colin Deblonde.