Recycler
Abdelkader Arous
KERKENNAH, TUNISIA
“Fighting plastic pollution in Kerkennah and providing cost-effective waste management.”
Founder and manager of the plastic waste shredding company in DEVLOK Project.
Abdelkader is a young Kerkennian with a degree in Industrial Maintenance, who worked in several Tunisian factories as a maintenance technician to widen his knowledge of industrial processes and better understand the reality of the business world in Tunisia.
In 2016, Abdelkader decided to return to Kerkennah and use his industrial experience to help improve and protect the environment of his archipelago, which has been flooded by plastic waste. The same year, he designed a homemade shredder and started shredding and selling plastic waste on premises belonging to his family. The equipment he had did allow him to transform plastic waste into flakes, but it was not very productive and the economic health of his business suffered.
The financing provided by DEVLOK has allowed him to buy a new, more efficient shredder and to launch a new company which has shredded more than 25 tons of plastic in less than a year.
Abdelkader has established an economic and geographical collaboration with Omar Kcharem to establish waste collection systems across the whole of the archipelago. The collaboration has strengthened the administration and efficiency of the local plastic pollution management value chain and it is ranked today as one of the most successful models in Tunisia.
SEAQUAL INITIATIVE is adding value while ensuring the traceability of plastic and enhancing the history of the Kerkennah territory in its fight against plastic pollution.