Sungai Design is an innovative Startup or a design company that donates a portion of its revenue to river clean-ups. For every chair sold, Sungai Design donates a portion of its revenue to help fund Sungai Watch’s clean-up efforts. Each chair is made from 28–30 kilograms of up-cycled plastic, and all offcuts are reused to make other products.
Sungai Design was founded by the Bencheghib siblings, Gary, Kelly, and Sam, and New York based artist, Rechulski. The company sources its plastic from Sungai Watch, its sister non-profit organization, and uses it to make products that help fund river clean-ups around the world.
According to their official website, they have collected 1,800,000 kilograms of trash from Indonesian waterways and cleaned 360 rivers through their organization, Sungai Watch. Additionally, they have diverted 305,000 kilograms of plastic bags from the ocean.
Through the Startup, they have up-cycled 1,200 kilograms of plastic, with each chair containing 30 kilograms of up-cycled plastic. Remarkably, every chair also helps up-cycle 2,000 plastic bags, further reducing plastic waste.
Sungai Design gets its plastic from its sister organization called Sungai Watch. The Bencheghib siblings – Gary, Kelly, and Sam – started Sungai Watch in Bali, Indonesia, in 2020. They work together to find ways to stop plastic from getting into the ocean.
Sungai Watch is a group that cares about the environment. They focus on protecting Bali’s rivers, and stopping plastic pollution by recycling. They have more than 100 people in their team who try to make products in a way that creates less waste and pollution.
They know that most of the plastic in the ocean comes from rivers, so as part of their recycling endeavours they try to stop it there using barriers. Through Sungai Watch, they’ve put up 270+ barriers in Indonesia’s rivers to catch plastic before it reaches the ocean. So far, they’ve collected over 1,800,000 kilograms of plastic, with alone plastic bags being the largest contributor to it.
They carefully track and document the sources of their plastic, even naming each chair after the river from which the plastic originates. Each chair crafted by Sungai Design incorporates 28 to 30 kilograms of recycled plastic.
Additionally, a portion of the proceeds from chair sales is directed to Sungai Watch, aiding in their ongoing efforts to clean up rivers. This creates a sense of fulfilment for buyers, knowing that their purchase is directly contributing to environmental conservation.
