“Making a real difference”
The start-up Plastic Fischer fishes plastic waste from rivers to keep the oceans clean. Founder Karsten Hirsch explains how this works.
Interview: Verena Kern ,
21.06.2023 
Mr Hirsch, millions of tonnes of plastic land in the oceans every year. Your start-up focuses on rivers in order to prevent plastic waste from getting into the oceans in the first place. How did you come up with the idea?
I completed my law degree in Cologne in 2018 and then went on holiday to Vietnam with two friends. At the Mekong we saw how much plastic floats down the river into the sea. This made us wonder why there wasn’t a company in the world that focuses on rivers so as to stop plastic gathering in the ocean. Shortly afterwards we founded Plastic Fischer.
How do you get the plastic out of the rivers?
We have developed a technology that can be built anywhere in the world. It consists of floating fences that extend far enough into the water so that the plastic can be stopped, but without disturbing fish or other creatures. We collect the plastic manually using landing nets or other nets and take it to our own sorting facilities. This creates jobs, too. We now have 80 full-time employees in India and Indonesia, which is where we mainly operate. The Ganges in particular is one of the dirtiest rivers in the world.
Our goal: we’re aiming to prevent 10 per cent of the world’s ocean plastic.
How much plastic waste have you collected to date?
More than 700,000 kilos since April 2021. We currently collect between ten and 15 tonnes every week.
How do you finance your work?
For every euro that companies and private individuals pay us, we are able to fish, sort and process one kilo of plastic from rivers. The entire process is verified via Empower.eco. Sponsors receive a digital certificate that guarantees our work. A lot of private individuals give the certificates to family and friends for birthdays or Christmas. Companies such as Allianz Group support us, sharing pictures and details of our work on social media and including it in their sustainability and ESG reports.
What happens to the plastic you collect?
PET bottles, glass and aluminium are recycled on site. But most of the waste we collect is unfortunately multi-layer plastic packaging that is not recyclable. This goes into thermal recycling, which means it is burned and used to generate energy.
What are your plans for the future?
We’re already on our way to being the most successful company worldwide in this field. That’s actually scary because we’re still a small start-up. Our goal: we want to become a thousand times bigger than we are now and prevent 10 per cent of the world’s ocean plastic – so as to make a real difference.
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Karsten Hirsch founded the start-up with friends in 2018 with the aim of cleaning rivers and ultimately the oceans of plastic waste. See here to find out more: https://plasticfischer.com/
