« Trouvez un sujet qui vous parle et lancezvous ! Nous avons tous un rôle à jouer . »
– Victoria Desvaux , Zero Waste Mauritius
Innovation at the heart of change
In recent years , green innovation has experienced a boom . In order to fight against digital pollution , Astrid Descelles created Besyn , a non-polluting website project for which she obtained second place in the ClimateLaunchpad Mauritius 2021 competition of the IBL group . “ We tend to believe that going digital , since it is nonpalpable , has no ecological footprint ,” she says . “ In reality , the industry is more polluting than aviation ! Each time we use a software , a cell phone , that we visit a web page or even send an email , we emit CO 2
”. Besyn , which is currently targeting the foreign market , aims at minimising the amount of CO 2 emitted .
Rahul Ramburn and Zeid Ramtoola identified a key need in Mauritius : reducing the consumption of single-use plastic . They set up a factory that makes containers from organic waste such as sugar cane bagasse and avocado pits . These 100 % plant-based , biodegradable and compostable containers are sold to local businesses such as Les Vergers de Labourdonnais , but are also used for their own brand of drinking water , Water by be . eau . Last but not least , Rahul and Zeid are about to launch Compost by be . eau : a process for collecting and composting their bottles .
Things are also moving on the recycling side . WeCycle , founded by Ludovic Henry in 2012 , collects , compresses and exports paper and cardboard ready for recycling . Now focusing on the local circular economy , the company has a new factory under construction . It will accommodate a technology that , by 2023 , will recycle locally in order to produce raw material to manufacture Made in Moris cardboard boxes .
Citizen initiatives such as Ecobricks ( which transforms single-use plastic into building bricks ), Trash to Music ( musical instruments created from waste ) and Precious Plastic are also contributing , on a smaller scale , to the ecological struggles . Since 2020 , two workshops of Precious Plastic have emerged thanks to crowdfunding . In these workshops equipped with simple technology that can be operated by everyone , the plastic collected is transformed into everyday objects .
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