Transforming plastic waste into opportunities: how plastic becomes an asset for people and planet

Recycling, upcycling and enabling: In Sulaymaniyah in Northern Iraq, plastic waste is turned into valuable materials for trainings and start-ups – a win-win situation for people and the planet.

Founded by the NGO Suli Innovation House, Suli Green Alliance was launched late last year. The initiative responds to the massive plastic waste generated in the local manufacturing sector in Sulaymaniyah. The alliance consists of private sector companies that hand over plastic waste and other leftover raw materials generated during the manufacturing process to Suli Innovation House. In turn, Suli Innovation House has designed and built recycling machines to reuse these materials for training programmes and to support entrepreneurs. In this way, training programmes can be offered to Iraqi youth at a lower cost because the recycled waste keeps material costs low.

In addition, young, aspiring entrepreneurs can develop their prototypes without having to pay significant amounts of money for raw materials, which helps foster innovation in the region. The Alliance has already collected, recycled and reused 100 kg of plastic waste and other residual materials. Recycling and upcycling at its best!

So far, Suli Green Alliance has already been able to attract eight companies to provide their valuable waste on a weekly basis – making it a prime example of private sector and civil society cooperation on combating plastic waste. It also sparked the interest of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq who officially supports the Alliance’s efforts and plans to contribute to its replenishment. This is where Ravin Rizgar, founder and director of Suli Innovation House and mastermind of the Suli Green Alliance, sees the future of the alliance, "We want to increase our capacity, expand the alliance to reach more companies, support more startups and local small businesses, and spread the initiative throughout Iraq”.

The Suli Innovation House has been established and supported by GIZ since 2021. With funds from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Suli Innovation House has conducted several trainings, including 3D design, 3D printing, and laser cutting, as well as soft skills courses to prepare youth, especially women, for employment opportunities.