The impact of design
To create real impact, change needs to happen at scale. Yet scaling up is precisely what designer Hester van Dijk of Overtreders W finds most challenging. She previously developed temporary architecture such as pavilions and exhibitions. But the global plastic problem is so vast that it cannot be solved through these kinds of applications. A truckload of plastic marked the starting point of a project that grew into a company. Pretty Plastic creates building materials from 100% recycled plastic, making tangible impact in the construction sector.
It started as a local experiment (then called Pretty Plastic Plant) with a truckload of plastic waste, an in-house shredder and an injection moulding machine. During Dutch Design Week 2017, the project gained an international stage. For the People’s Pavilion, designers from Overtreders W and bureau SLA developed a structure with façade tiles made from 100% recycled household plastic waste. The pavilion not only demonstrated aesthetic value, but also revealed the potential of plastic as a viable raw material.
Interest from architects was immediate and significant. However, the step from a temporary pavilion to a product suitable for permanent construction proved to be a major hurdle, requiring time, creativity and persistence. The original mix of household waste did not meet strict fire safety standards for permanent buildings. The team had to return to the drawing board and found a solution in recycled PVC. This material stream is inherently more fire-resistant and made it possible to achieve the required certification (fire class B).
Professionalising into a company
With this technical breakthrough came the realisation that production at this scale could not simply be added alongside running a design studio. In 2020, Pretty Plastic was established as an independent company, with the aim of scaling further. To guide this growth, the founders chose a clear division of roles: as shareholders, they safeguard the creative and sustainable direction, while a specialised team manages daily operations and sales.
Impact figures speak for themselves
Pretty Plastic has long moved beyond the experimental phase, with concrete and measurable results. The impact figures speak for themselves: the company has processed and given new life to over 350,000 kilos of PVC waste. More than 15,000 square metres of façade cladding have been sold and installed. What started with a single façade in Oosterhout is now applied in large-scale international projects, including a university of applied sciences in Bruges, a swimming pool in Eindhoven and an office complex in the heart of Munich by renowned architecture firm MVRDV.
System change
Pretty Plastic’s mission remains unchanged: to use waste as a high-quality raw material without compromising circularity. The company refuses collaborations where this principle is diluted or where the material is made less recyclable for cost-saving purposes. While the tiles are now distributed globally from the Netherlands, the company is already exploring local production on other continents. This enables further growth while contributing to systemic change. By producing more locally, closer to both the waste source and the market, transport emissions are reduced, increasing the overall positive environmental impact.
About Pretty Plastic
In early 2015, designers Reinder Bakker and Hester van Dijk (Overtreders W), together with architect Peter van Assche (bureau SLA), came across a shipping container filled with household plastic waste. Fascinated by its hidden beauty and potential, they wondered whether this discarded material could be transformed into valuable building products. The idea that an old shampoo bottle could be given a new and better life fuelled their drive for transformation.
The first success of Pretty Plastic Plant led to the production of over a thousand distinctive façade tiles, which found their way into high-end interior projects. This formed the basis for a more ambitious next step: the design of the main building for Dutch Design Week 2017, the People’s Pavilion. Its façade consisted of 9,000 unique tiles made entirely from recycled household plastic waste.