“Tide is truly unique,” ​​said Jan Hoekman Jr, one of the company’s principals.

“You can track the product from collection to the final products, which you see here. Everything is transparent, which is very important if we talk about sustainability.”

Tide claims its product is 40% more expensive than virgin plastic, but customers like Condor Group are willing to pay more.

“We view sustainability not just as a trend, but rather as stewardship for future generations,” Hoekman Jr. said.

Condor Group’s bustling production lines seem a million miles from the quiet off-season beaches of Koh Chang, where Wiranuch Scimone, 54, collects plastic for Tide.

In her 20 years on Koh Chang, she has seen the waste washed up on shore range from mostly fishing nets to huge quantities of non-recyclable polystyrene foam that locals often end up burning.

The monsoon waves bring so much trash that she sometimes spends hours on a beach without being able to pick it all up.

“It would be better if there was no plastic,” she said, adding in English: “Banning is better!”

Tide, a for-profit company, is still a relatively small company, but it is growing and will next expand into Ghana.

“You have to start somewhere,” Krebs said.

“We are convinced that we are at the start of a new wave.”

By Sara Hussein