Live
Give
Store
Seychelles And The Plastic Challenge: Local Solutions Under Construction
While the Seychelles is positioning itself as a dream destination, the archipelago is facing a major environmental challenge, accentuated by an economy heavily dependent on luxury tourism. The Plastic Odyssey ship called at Mahé, near Victoria, for the 27ᵉ edition of the OnBoard Laboratory program. These meetings highlighted a region where sustainable waste management solutions are being actively sought, and where a local circular economy is being built.
27ᵉ edition of the OnBoard Laboratory – Victoria, June 2025
Plastic waste management in the Seychelles is a complex issue. The local landfill should reach full capacity by 2025. This situation is exacerbated by marine pollution, due in part to waste transported by ocean currents from abroad, as well as waste from the fishing industry. To meet these challenges, many players are mobilizing.
In the Seychelles, plastic recycling management is limited to PET, and relies on a subsidized system set up by the Ministry of the Environment in 2007. This program encourages people to return PET bottles and aluminum cans to “buy-back centers” in exchange for financial compensation. In 2022, this system collected over 22 million bottles. Harini and Co Pty Ltd actually handles the crushing of PET bottles, which are then exported abroad for final processing. Plastics of lesser value are not supported. It is in this context that local initiatives and collaboration are crucial to transforming the challenge into a sustainable opportunity.
Local players and their initiatives
Kyle De Bouter – Brikole
Kyle De Bouter founded Brikole in 2021 to tackle the pollution generated by the fishing industry, which is Seychelles’ largest economic sector. Although beaches are generally clean thanks to strong local awareness, fishing waste such as nets, buoys and fish aggregating devices (FADs) represent a major problem, as they are often abandoned at sea and wash ashore.
Kyle’s initiative is to recover this fishing equipment. He has developed a business pre-treating nylon nets, which he recovers from the tuna industry and his neighbors. In the first two years, Brikole collected 500 tonnes of end-of-life nets. To encourage this collection, Kyle donates part of its profits to local community initiatives, motivating fishermen to get involved.
The pre-treatment process, carried out by a six-strong team, involves removing lead lines and other pollutants in accordance with the specifications of the Chilean company Bureo, to whom Brikole then resells the nets. The nets are cut into 2×3-meter squares for packaging. The company also recovers DCP to give them a second life by repairing or recycling them locally.
Kyle doesn’t intend to limit himself to fishing nets and has equipped himself with a shredder, an extruder and a plate press, enabling him to transform the plastic waste he can’t export (HDPE, PP) into finished products, such as furniture, thus demonstrating the potential of a circular economy on the island. A “sunbed” was built during the OnBoard Lab to enable Kyle to start prospecting hotels, of which there are many on the island.
Lara Guster – SeyTreasure (Precious Plastic Seychelles)
Lara Guster is the founder of SeyTreasure, Seychelles’ first and only Precious Plastic workshop, operational since March 2024. After taking part in beach clean-ups, Lara looked for solutions to prevent plastic from reaching the landfill. She discovered the open-source Precious Plastic project and acquired small-scale machines to recycle plastic locally. SeyTreasure manufactures and sells various items, such as key rings, combs and flower pots, from recycled plastic, thus contributing to the circular economy.
Erik Frank – Helios Power Pty Ltd
Erik Frank is an entrepreneur committed to sustainability, through his company Helios Power Pty Ltd, which promotes the installation of solar energy. In addition to this activity, he explores waste recycling. Its projects include sawing wasted wood, using low-grade plastic for road asphalt or brick and tile production, and turning PET into insulation wool. Erik built a house from recycled materials to demonstrate the savings and environmental benefits. A member of the S4S organization, he also lobbies for improved government legislation on sustainable development goals.
Aurélie Monthy – Green Generation Seychelles
AurĂ©lie Monthy is the co-founder and project manager of Green Generation Seychelles, an organization dedicated to raising ecological awareness for future generations. The NGO’s mission is to inspire a love of nature and promote sustainable living by sharing environmental knowledge. Its actions include public meetings, school presentations, environmental clubs and social networking campaigns. The organization has also set up a waste recycling project and plans to create a “Green Generation Centre” to encourage the daily practice of the “3Rs” (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). The aim is to help reduce the 80,000 tonnes of waste Seychelles produces every year.
Sophie Berlouis – The Ocean Project Seychelles
Marine biologist Sophie Berlouis is associated with The Ocean Project Seychelles, a non-profit NGO created in 2016. The organization’s mission is to mobilize communities, educate the public, influence policy and conduct research. It was behind the ban on several single-use plastics in the Seychelles (bags, straws, etc.). The NGO conducts regular beach clean-ups and a project from 2023 to 2025 to study rivers as a source of marine plastic waste on MahĂ©.
Putting recycling into practice: from theory to practice during visits
For most participants, plastic recycling represented a theoretical solution to their environmental concerns. However, they hadn’t had the opportunity to see the process in action. Visits to the workshops, both on board the ship and at Brikole, were decisive. They not only showed them the practical steps involved in recycling, but also proved that this solution was already a reality on their own island. This awareness strengthened their motivation, encouraging them to turn their determination into concrete action.
Creating synergies to meet the challenge
This panorama highlights a strong and varied local dynamic in the Seychelles, where each player, whether an NGO, a start-up or an entrepreneur, brings a specific solution to the challenge of plastic pollution.
Despite the small size of the island of MahĂ© and shared concerns, participants in the 27ᵉ edition of the OnBoard Lab program were not all familiar with their counterparts’ projects. The event served as a catalyst, federating this group and bringing out synergies. Discussions revealed a collective desire to join forces and develop joint projects.
In this context, the role of Brikole, founded by Kyle De Bouter, is essential. It is currently the only major player in non-PET plastic recycling, with a warehouse and workshop recently equipped with medium-sized machines. Brikole works closely with Lara Guster, who helps it collect waste from certain hotels, a volume of waste that its Precious Plastic machines alone cannot manage.
However, collection remains laborious and unprofitable in view of the volumes and personal means of transport used, and an organization with more committed participation from hotels needs to be found. The woodworking skills that Erik Frank brought to the fore during OnBoard Lab activities have also been put to good use in collaboration with Brikole since we left, perfectly illustrating the emerging collaboration.
The awareness-raising actions carried out by figures like Lara, Aurélie and Sophie fit in perfectly with this overall project. They prepare the public and industrialists to seize the opportunity represented by this semi-industrial recycling tool, transforming the desire to combat pollution into a concrete, unified initiative.
OnBoard Laboratory, our incubation program for recycling entrepreneurs
At each stopover on the expedition, the Plastic Odyssey vessel welcomes on board several local recycling entrepreneurs to exchange ideas and develop concrete solutions to combat plastic pollution.