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While it could be staff in uniform and neat, shining waste collection bins that cross your mind when we talk about “recycling”, a rather miserable image would, more often than not, pop up if it’s about “waste picking”, which is mostly done by underprivileged seniors – despite the fact that both waste collection and waste picking are by nature part of resource circulation.
“I want to bring industrialisation back, middle- or large-sized, and create job opportunities, and sustainability training to young people, through this Hong Kong Re-industrialisation.” Founder of V Cycle Eric Swinton talked about the start of the social enterprise. “I want to change the stigma of environmental protection among the public – it’s not poor and dirty, at all. Recycling can be fashionable, trendy and practical.”
And we can tell from the sports jersey-style team t-shirt that Eric is wearing, on which the Chinese character of waste “picking” (“拾” /sap6/) creatively replaced by the young, lively homophone “10” (/sap6/).
| V Cycle (Virtuous Cycle) is a social enterprise that was founded in 2017 by Eric Swinton and Cherie Lo. The company is addressing Hong Kong’s environmental issues on two fronts: ecological and social. By integrating these aspects, V Cycle aims to empower the underprivileged and safeguard the natural world. V Cycle’s primary goal is to establish a circular economy by recycling plastic, paper, metal, glass, and electronic waste from companies and schools. They accomplish this by employing underprivileged waste picking elderly individuals who clean and sort the collected materials. Subsequently, V Cycle upcycles these waste materials into sustainable goods. To further support their mission, the team established the V Cycle Education Foundation (VCEF) to provide recycling and sustainability training workshops and educational seminars. These initiatives empower underprivileged seniors and SEN youngsters. Additionally, V Cycle collaborates with the Unity One Charitable Association to establish LOVE&CARE, which focuses on improving the lives of impoverished elderly waste pickers, young adults with special needs, and children from disadvantaged families. In 2020, V Cycle was selected as one of the winners of New World Development’s startup accelerator initiative, Impact Kommons. This recognition acknowledges their efforts in hiring underprivileged waste pickers to collect plastic bottles and upgrading them into eco-friendly umbrella, thereby enhancing their quality of life. Through the program’s extensive network, V Cycle can learn from influential industry leaders and gain valuable exposure. Moreover, New World Development can benefit from V Cycle’s innovative solutions to aid their own endeavors. |
Connecting the Dots of Resource Management for Circular Economy
[Resource Management] [Workplace Culture]
Eric considered it destiny for himself, a marketing specialist, to step into the community via founding a social enterprise. It was 10 years ago when he became a volunteer of Unity One Charitable Association during his low tide time, by how he knew about what social problems Hong Kong was facing after paying visits to elderly living alone and children with intellectual disabilities. Out of compassion and the determination to be part of the change, Eric set up V Cycle to offer systematic and realistic support to the underprivileged.
“I thought about what I could do to relieve the living stress of elderly waste pickers, increase their income and lift them and their family up.” Eric said. “Picking plastic bottles from trash bins is tough and humiliating and I thought, ‘Is there a way to offer a comfortable, weather-proof workplace for these seniors?’”
“I talked to St. James’ Settlement, and they happily offered us some space in their Wanchai office. We set up an upcycling center there and let the seniors take care of light workload tasks such as removing plastic bottle lids and stickers and sorting. We also held workshops there, teaching SEN children sewing skills to upcycle textile waste that we collected, equipping them up for future employment opportunities. The workshops are halted for the moment, soon to be resumed after we’ve bettered our senior services.”
The 17 senior staff of V Cycle are mostly residents in the neighbourhood. They work 6 hours per day, 5 days a week, at a rate HKD50 per hour, which is higher than the current Statutory Minimum Wage (HKD40 per hour) in Hong Kong. In this way, the elderly can be part of the green force working a much safer and more comfortable space than where they were. V Cycle also launched a community hub near the centre, which offers freshly cooked and nutritious daily meals to the elderly – Eric thinks it’s just important to maintain the health of his staff.
“With my experience in production and design, I was originally hoping to recycle and shred plastic bottles in Hong Kong, then ship them to the mainland for processing and using the resulted yarn and fabrics for upcycling designs. This would be an ideal concept of circular economy.” But with China’s waste import ban in 2018, Eric changed his mind and decided to “ReMade in Hong Kong”.
“I was inspired by Precious Plastic – just like how their entire recycle to upcycle processes can be done within the Netherlands; we can, too, all done within Hong Kong.” Eric continued. “We sort the recycled plastics and press them into boards in our Tuen Mun factory, then make them into furniture or decorations. We also collaborate with corporates and use those boards for customised items the likes of umbrellas and jackets.” So, the whole chain from raw materials, design to production, as well as collaboration and education, completes the circular economy. What’s more, V Cycle can accomplish the company mission: tackling Hong Kong’s environmental issues on two levels: ecological and social.
Green Fashion 2.0 & Business Opportunities Created by the Trend of ESG
[Customer Supplier Relationship]
V Cycle boasts a client list, in different industries and scales, such as Watsons, Mannings, Sino Group, Link REIT, SF Express, HKEX, Lee Hysan Foundation, Hung Fook Tong and Disney. “I’m lucky, everything went smooth in our collaborations with these big names.” Eric admitted. “I think it’s karma – we give, and we take. And I won’t be too bothered if it wasn’t smooth. I believe that challenges and difficulties fuel personal growth. You won’t learn to solve a problem if there’s no problem.”
He also thanked the trend of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). “Big or small, companies started to invest in ESG because of the legal regulation. When there’s demand, there’s supply. V Cycle’s services cover the ‘E’ and ‘S’, which fit the need of our clients.” Eric remarked. “Take our first client, L’Oreal and Kiehl’s, as example. We helped them to recycle empty product bottles and mask packaging and upcycle those waste into reusable foldable cups. I still remember that we were sorting the waste on a small 6-seater table – our scale was that small, but we’d gained trust from such a big name. It felt unreal, like a dream!”
Now the small table has expanded to a 6,000-sq.f. factory in Tuen Mun, but nothing much else has changed – Eric remained determined in recycling, poverty alleviation and education. “I still believe that environmental protection starts with the change in mindset, that’s why we focus on education. For example, when we held public workshops for HandsOn Hong Kong and HKJC (Hong Kong Jockey Club), we always start from an introduction about waste management, recycling and climate change. Then we’d move to the trial part, letting the participants to understand themselves how hard it is to just sort waste, before moving to the recycling factory visit. In this way, they’ll understand why we, a member of the society, have to recycle, the best practices of recycling, and the best ways to support the recycling ecosystem of our city.”Talking about the expansion plan, the startup would like to set up this kind of community care sorting & recycling centers in all 18 districts, so that the total amount of recycled waste (most of them plastics, with a small portion of glass, paper and metal) can be increased from 13-14 tonnes to 250 tonnes per month; meanwhile, they’d like to hire 8 more elderly staff (from currently 17).
When it comes to the collaboration between V Cycle and SF Express, Eric believed that this was a mutually beneficial relationship. V Cycle originally relied on its hired drivers to collect recyclables two days a week, but the cost of each trip was high and the recycling volume was small. Fortunately, SF Express is currently helping V Cycle in collecting recycled items at about a hundred points, including B2C, retail stores, schools and offices. Customers can place orders through SF Express’s app, and SF Express uses its strong network of their deliverers to collect the recycled items from these locations. This business model has been greatly reducing V Cycle’s transportation costs. Through SF Express’s extensive logistics network resources, recyclables can be collected in various regions in Hong Kong. These recyclables are placed in V Cycle’s designated green recycling bags for easy identification, and SF Express will transport these items to their warehouse, which will then be redistributed to V Cycle’s recycling centre. The recyclables will then be sorted and processed by elderly workers. With their respective advantages, SF Express can reduce the packaging waste generated by its stores, such as express bags, bubble wrap, styrofoam, etc., while V Cycle can continue to provide employment opportunities to poor elderly people to support their recycling works. This business model allows both parties to create shared value and accelerate the promotion of environmental protection.
“I believe that through collaborations between brands and companies, together we can achieve the best results in sustainability.”
V Cycle is a winner of New World Development’s Impact Kommons 2020, and one of the invited exhibitors of Knowledge Primer 5 of Partnership for Sustainability Leadership in Business (PSLB). The PSLB project is initiated by the Centre for Civil Society and Governance, The University of Hong Kong, and supported by The Hongkong Bank Foundation. It is aimed at fostering sustainability leadership and collaboration in the business sector of Hong Kong through knowledge transfer, capacity building, and network development; in particular, the Project strives to foster strong partnerships between big corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in pursuit of sustainability.
