Cambodia ‘upcycler’ turns tonnes of plastic bottles into brooms

PHNOM PENH – In a small warehouse in Cambodia’s capital, a group of workers sits and spins waste plastic bottles into strips, turning them into bristles for brooms, of which they churn out 500 each day.

For the past 11 months, they have transformed around 40 tonnes of discarded plastic bottles, or about 5,000 bottles a day, by “upcycling” them into brooms they say are more robust than regular brushes.

Those sell for 10,000 riel (S$3.30) and 15,000 riel each.

Plastic strips from the empty bottles are collected into a bundle on a…