ABOUT

The Caribbean island nation of Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti has limited infrastructure or access to clean water, and the local population gets much of its drinking water from plastic bottles. As a result, the country is littered with empty plastic bottles polluting its roadways, waterways, informal landfills, towns and beaches. Sadly, a portion of that plastic waste inevitably finds its way into the ocean.

Lavergne’s Haiti project collects those ocean-bound plastics and uses advanced technology to recycle them into resins for new products. Lavergne Haiti has already made significant strides with 1,200 collectors bringing plastic waste to 77 collection centers throughout the country. We forecast our annual collection over the next 7 years will be around 6,800 metric tonnes per year. Our Haiti facility has grown accordingly. In 2020 we installed a 24-hour wash line that vigorously cleans and shreds the plastic waste, preparing the material for shipping to our North American plant where it will become recycled plastic pellets.

The project participates in the 3R Initiative as a pilot project, with a view of seeking certification to Verra's Plastic Waste Reduction Standard.