Siemens Digital Industries Software provides sustainable technology to social enterprises responding to climate change and environmental pollution, contributing to the reduction of marine plastic waste.

Siemens announced on the 7th that Plastic Fischer, a social enterprise working to prevent marine pollution by reducing plastic waste in rivers, has adopted Siemens Xcelerator portfolio solutions to expand operations and apply the benefits of digital transformation to product development and lifecycle management.

Plastic Fisher, founded in 2019 by three friends who witnessed plastic pollution in Vietnam's Mekong River, is now internationally recognized and expanding its business in India and Indonesia. Plastic Fisher's innovative technology, TrashBoom, is a locally manufactured, low-cost, modular, floating barrier that prevents plastic already in the river from entering the ocean.

Collected river plastic is transported to Plastic Fisher's material recovery facility, where full-time employees sort it into recyclable and non-recyclable materials. Recyclable materials, such as glass, aluminum, PET, and HDPE, are sold and reintroduced into the supply chain, while non-recyclable materials are sent to certified co-processing facilities for incineration, thereby reducing coal usage. Using this type of material as an energy source aligns with international best practices.

Plastic Fisher adopted Siemens’ Solid Edge® software to enhance reliability and support its growing global team. By utilizing the Teamcenter® Share app, they were able to share distributed data and establish a more efficient collaboration environment. While traditional computer-aided design (CAD) tools had limited assembly and drawing capabilities, Solid Edge enabled them to customize existing designs and develop innovative solutions for challenges faced in the field. This solution allows teams distributed globally to work simultaneously on the same project, enabling more effective coordination when modifying designs based on local capabilities and needs.

Plastic Fisher not only develops and deploys technology but also creates local jobs to perform end-to-end operations. To date, it has prevented over 800 metric tons of plastic from entering rivers and stopped plastic from breaking down into microplastics and flowing into the ocean. In addition, it has created more than 85 full-time jobs for underserved communities at its sites in India and Indonesia.

“Our goal is to develop a simple technology that can effectively and efficiently block marine plastic already entering rivers. The TrashBoom system can be installed wherever local residents want, and by eliminating imports, it can be implemented quickly, saving time, costs, and carbon,” said Aviel Itzhak, CTO of Plastic Fisher. “The combination of Solid Edge and cloud-based collaboration via Teamcenter Share provides the engineering capabilities, scalability, and collaborative environment needed to advance to the next stage of development.” "Furthermore, it supports the expansion of Plastic Fisher to provide affordable and sustainable technology capable of removing plastic from the world's rivers," he added.

Karsten Hirsch, CEO and co-founder of Plastic Fisher, said, “We are proud to have Siemens as a partner, a strong and strategic company that can support Plastic Fisher’s expansion of influence. Securing the specialized tools to design technology is a critical foundation for conducting business. Our next challenge is to introduce the designed technology to polluted waters around the world, and we are seeking sponsors to make this possible.”

“I am pleased to see Plastic Fischer utilizing the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio. Through Siemens Xcelerator, they are designing and engineering next-generation innovative technologies. Furthermore, supported by global collaboration with teams distributed worldwide, they are manufacturing Trash Boom systems using local resources. This is another excellent example of how Siemens technology is helping pioneers address climate change. I am proud that our customers are working to solve urgent global challenges.”

Here, you can see how startups like Plastic Fisher utilize Siemens' startup program.