Next Shipment, the Cook Islands’ first online Mega Mall, has come up with a sustainable project idea to make use of the surplus polystyrene pieces that come with the 10,000 products that they sell on their site. Beanbag by beanbag, they are hoping to make a difference for the environment.

The business, run by Jason Pierre and Jim Perkins, was founded just over a year ago. Customers are able to purchase online or in store a range of goods from laptops to garage supplies to health and beauty and more. Their goods are then placed on the ‘Next Shipment’ from New Zealand to Rarotonga.

Pierre shared that when they first started and got their first shipment over, there was a lot of polystyrene waste that came with the big items such as fridges and ovens.

Soon having much of their warehouse filled with polystyrene, they sat down to think of a way they could sustainably get rid of and make use of it. Bean bags instantly came to mind, because they often cost a lot to be shipped over due to the volume of the beans needed to fill them up.

Pierre and his team began going about trying to develop a machine that could get large polystyrene pieces down into a bean size.

“It was not a pretty process,” he shared. A lot of time, money and frustration went into trying to develop a machine that would work, Pierre said, adding they were aiming for something that would make the beans just a little bit bigger than the size of the beans usually sold in stores.

After scouring the internet and searching all over YouTube, they found that there seemed to be no one who had ever attempted what they were trying to do. So after trying everything from garden mulchers to glass crushers, they custom designed “what is definitely maybe a world first”.

A machine was constructed which sized down the polystyrene to a size that didn’t cause people to sink down to the floor after a while of sitting on it and most importantly, it was comfort. They gave them the name Eco Bags.

Pierre said: “When we built the business, one of the founding strategies was to be as environmentally friendly as possible so we thought of different things we could do to repurpose and not contribute to filling up the landfill. A lot of businesses say this but we wanted to put our money where our mouth was.”

The biggest problem they’ve had lately is getting polystyrene. They have advertised on Facebook for polystyrene and have put it out there that they are really keen to help anyone with their polystyrene.

“The more the better,” Pierre said. If anyone wants to help, he advised them to drop in their clean recycling to Next Shipment Arorangi (opposite Crown Beach Resort) from the hours of 9am-3pm.

Otherwise, they can also help by buying their own Eco Bag. They are selling the adult size for $99 and kids size for $49. Or a massive bargain will be available on the Next Shipment Deals Facebook Live auction.

Pierre said that one of their biggest goals since they set this project up was that everything about it would be local. Ultimately, they are aiming to design and produce a commercial model of the polystyrene recycler to help the Pa Enua and other countries with their waste management.

To achieve this, all the profit they have been making from selling the Eco Bags so far has been put back into the project to ultimately make the commercial model so they can sell it and help the environment on a global scale.

“It’ll take a lot more money and time to be able to do this but we are committed to making a difference,” said Pierre.