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#10 Anna Gracia Herbst - Tackling pollution and poverty at the same time

Author
Jeanne du Sartel
Published
Tue 03 Nov 2020
Episode Link
https://shows.acast.com/brillantes/episodes/10

Anna Gracia Herbst has always wanted to find in her professional life a way to help others. 


So when she first hears about Khalil Radi’s new project in 2018, she is immediately convinced. In Nicaragua, her friend has launched an action to encourage people collect and bring back the polluting plastic bottles in exchange for a hot meal. The project tackles two major problems at the same time: pollution and social misery. And on earth, 80% of plastic pollution is coming from those countries that have extreme poverty. 

In Zurich, together with a small group of other people, they create the association Buy Food With Plastic, whose mission is clear: 'Stop Hunger and recycle at the same time'. 


In this interview, Anna explains the objectives of Buy Food with Plastic, their recycling or upcycling plans, and we also compare with similar projects internationally. Anna details the financing solutions for this project, which for the past few months has been professionalizing and expanding beyond Nicaragua, in Ghana and in India. The young lady, who left her job in a start-up to become a full-time employee of her association, also tells me about volunteering, commitment, entrepreneurship, and shares with me her unfailing confidence in the future. 


So for all of you who would like to learn more about plastic pollution, understand how it can become a weapon against poverty, and be inspired by Anna’s great commitment, I invite you to plug in your headphones and dive into the new episode of Brillantes! 




Time Codes 



03:46 The importance of focusing on women 

04:40 Michelle Obama and Princess Diana: getting inspired by their compassion and empathy to others 

06:34 Being raised between Berlin and Zurich, and sensitised to social topics at an early age 

07:51 Communication as a tool to help the underprivileged people 


Buy Food with Plastic 


10:54 The origins of Buy Food with Plastic  

13:57 How Anna got involved in the project  

15:35 Changing the perspective about the plastic reality 

17:16 Creating a dedicated team 


18:56 Getting fundings “to make this world a better place”

20:58 Distributing warm meals and hygiene kits 

21:48 Creating houses out of plastic bottles 

25:25 The Precious plastic solution  

28:04 How to trust, and control at the same time

30:49 About the successful “Social Plastic” by David Katz, and other inspiring actions 


Scaling up the project 


34:31 What does it mean to be a social start-up? 

36:34 Taking the risk to become an entrepreneur

38:23 How to expand the project in the future: with the team as well as geographically 

40:25 The challenge of finding the right pace for the organisation 

41:59 Having an impact in Switzerland  


43:52 Final questions 




Interesting links and references 



To follow Buy Food With Plastic: 


To follow Anna: 


Books and movies reference 


People she is mentioning in the episode: 




Help me grow up Brillantes! 



If you liked the episode, please share it with as many people as possible, rate it with 5 stars and subscribe to the podcast on your listening platform. This help will be extremely precious to me 


Find all the links to listen to the episodes here: www.flow.page/brillantes


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And her host and founder, Jeanne du Sartel:


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