Best of Earth911 Podcast: Obaggo’s Plastic #2 and #4 Recycling Appliance

This “Best Of” podcast takes you back to the founding of a startup that is still going strong. Earth911 welcomed David New, founder of Obaggo, a countertop appliance that turns a variety of plastic films into recyclable pucks that do not jam recycling center equipment. Recycling in the United States is unnecessarily difficult. Plastic, in particular, is hard to sort because of the myriad forms its takes. It is often unlabeled, which means one cannot identify whether the plastic can be recycled locally. And finding drop-off locations that accept the type of plastic you have can be a matter of luck. If your city doesn’t accept, for instance, plastic film, you’ll have few or no options. But that may be changing. Obaggo can compress plastic bags and film, including #2 and #4 plastic shopping bags, Amazon’s recyclable plastic bags, food wrapping, and cereal bags that are in boxes of your favorite breakfast.

The Obaggo appliance is currently available through Indiegogo for $229 — please note that backing a company on Indiegogo does not always mean you will receive the product. Obaggo offers a potentially groundbreaking change in the recyclability of plastic film.

Editor’s Note: This show originally aired on November 10, 2021.