Trash turned to treasure – Critical design leading the way on plastic waste

When you consider these facts, it becomes clear that Aotearoa needs clever and creative solutions to tackle plastic waste. Rui Peng, co-founder and Chief Executive at Critical Design, is one of those individuals looking to help solve the problem.

Located in The Wiri Business District on Glasgow Ave since 2021, Critical collects hard-to-recycle items such as fishing nets and plastic pipes, which are then crafted into plastic panels for building interiors and furniture.

“We are a clean technology startup that transforms plastic waste and hard-to-recycle materials into what we call Critical Clean Stone, which are beautiful, 100 percent recycled plastic panels for building fit-outs,” explains Rui.

“Plastic was never meant to be single-use; it was always intended to be a miracle material. We’re trying to restore its original purpose by recycling it into usable materials.”

Initially, Rui mentored young people, teaching them how to use design and 3D printing to start their own businesses. However, their business evolved when they discovered a problem they could help solve.

“In 2018, when China stopped buying the world’s plastics, businesses started approaching us with their materials, asking what we could do with them. That’s when we embarked on a four-year R&D effort to turn recycled plastics into panels. We stumbled upon this opportunity and are now deeply committed to addressing the global problem of plastic waste and the construction sector’s need for sustainable materials.”

Critical recently achieved success by collaborating with Manurewa High School to create circular solutions for classroom furniture. The school has nearly 700 desks at the end of their life and lacks the funds to replace them all. While the desks themselves have sturdy steel frames that can be reused, the laminate tabletops have seen better days.

“Approximately 160,000 tabletops around New Zealand will end up in landfills. By replacing laminate tabletops with our Clean Stone panels, we can extend the lifespan of the furniture and at the end of life, we can buy them back’’.

Sustainability is gaining prominence among larger businesses, especially for obtaining green star ratings for buildings.

“We are also in negotiations with big companies to replace single-use building materials with our panels. You might even find some of our panels in the new Eventfinda stadium.”

One of the main challenges Critical faces is scaling up quickly enough to seize these opportunities.

“It’s a good problem to have, but it can be painful when we receive orders and can’t fulfill them as quickly as we’d like,” laments Rui.