Yann and Caro assembling one of their Shredder Pro machines.

Mad Plastic’s mission is to empower local communities with practical plastic recycling solutions.

We design, build, and install simple and reliable recycling machines, helping small to mid-scale initiatives turn plastic waste into valuable products while promoting circular economy principles.

Meet the founders

A portrait of Caro, one of the two founders of Mad Plastic, in front of a sheet made from recycled plastic.

Industrial Designer

carolina espinoza [CL]

A portrait of Yann, one of the two founders of Mad Plastic, in front of a sheet made from recycled plastic.

Material & Welding Engineer

Yann Chauvin [FR]

Our origin story

Group pictures from the Version 4 volunteers for Precious Plastic.

We started by volunteering at Precious Plastic in 2018. We were helping develop version 4 of the project, which included new machine and product designs as well as new online tools. Everything to be shared open source, online, for free.

Later in 2020, we joined the team full-time, managing projects and setting up machines in different parts of the world. Becoming the founders of the Precious Plastic Collabs.

Yann is helping some newly trained plastic recyclers in Gabon with the construction and assembly of a bench made from recycled blue plastic.

In 2023, Precious Plastic decided to stop offering machine installation support. Around that time, we were already in talks with a small group of recyclers in Gabon, and we didn’t want to leave them hanging. So we took a leap of faith: we stepped out, set up our own machine shop, and continued to help them and many others build their own fully functional recycling workspace.

People assembling a recycled plastic bench made with mad plastic machines

and That’s how Mad Plastic was born.

Since then, we’ve kept doing what we do best: building solid machines and delivering what people actually need to make recycling work, anywhere.

a group of people collecting and sorting plastic waste from a landfill
Caro is demonstrating the properties of different types of plastic waste during a training session in Gabon.

With contributions from:

  • johannplasto

    Thomas Peterberns (johannplasto)

    Has contributed with support on machine and mould design documentation, on-site trainings and more!

  • joseph klatt marble plastics

    Joseph Klatt

    Helped us create the foundation for Mad Plastic, pushing the sales, and was one of the first ones to believe in the project 💪

  • katharina elleke flip flopi

    Katharina Elleke

    Helped us by providing on-site training on the use of our machines in different locations like Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Kenya.