Setting sail, achieving scale

We’ve got NEWS! Boat themed news. The No-Trash Triangle Initiative is taking to the water. Thanks to a generous donation from ViewToo, we’ve been able to source our very own boat. Up to now, we’ve been hiring boats as and when we need them to travel round to our resort partners and sorting station, collecting bagged and sorted waste. But this is expensive and not very efficient. Now we’ve got our own boat, we can improve our collection service for resorts and businesses around Bangka allowing us to increase the amount of sorted waste that we’re sending across to Likupang for recycling/further processing.

The boat itself is a thing of beauty. Decked out in NTTI’s brand colours of navy and coral, there’ll be no mistaking it as it moves around Bangka. Built by a craftsman from south Manado and painted on site at Coral Eye, the finished boat took to the sea for the first time this week. Launching a new boat is always a fun time and we had lots of helpers from Lihunu helping us lift it into the water. We’ve hired an extra employee, Ali, who will be in charge of driving the boat and managing the sorting station. Increasing local employment is a fundamental part of the circular economic model we’re creating and we’re delighted to have the opportunity to grow the team even further. Ali lives on Bangka and knows the waters well so is the perfect man for the job!

We’ve spent the past 12 months expanding our reach across the North Sulawesi region. We’ve grown the team, grown our network of resort partners and increased our positive impact. And now we have the infrastructure to back this up! Of course, none of this would be possible without the support of ViewToo, a creative agency based in Milan. Luca Bonzi, CEO and founder of the agency visited Bangka for a diving trip earlier this year. Impressed by NTTI’s work to tackle the ever present plastic pollution problem, Luca returned to Italy to figure out how ViewToo could support.

"Viewtoo has always cared about sustainability issues," says Luca. "This project has particularly involved us for its concrete impact. We are convinced that even with small gestures we can build great results. What we hope is that NTTI can grow and be increasingly supported in its commitment."

The boat is a symbol of the agency’s support for our project but is just the beginning of our collaboration. ViewToo specialises in developing augmented, virtual and mixed reality experiences for marketing purposes. Leaning on this experience, the agency aim to create an omnichannel augmented reality experience for NTTI. Stay tuned for this!

"We want to draw attention and raise awareness on a theme unfortunately still little known but that deserves to be told. To be able to act immediately. To make a difference.”

A massive thank you to the team at ViewToo. We look forward to making a real difference together.