Alix Langlois: The Plastic Alchemist Crowned by CCIFC

In Phnom Penh, French entrepreneur and designer Alix Langlois has been honored by CCI France Cambodge (CCIFC), winning the 2025 “Businesswoman” award at the Grand Prix des Affaires 2025 — a tribute to her circular-economy initiative that transforms plastic waste into design objects, earning her visibility through the French Embassy and a potential nomination for the 2026 Trophées CCI France International in Paris.

Alix Langlois

From Tropics to Revolutionary Workshop: An Inspired Beginning

In the mid-2010s, during an environmental mission in Southeast Asia, Langlois confronted firsthand the tropical plastic pollution crisis — suffocated oceans, polluted beaches. Back in Europe, she studied circular economy and joined the global low-tech network Precious Plastic, which shares open-source plans for local recycling. In 2018 she moved to Phnom Penh and founded Trash is Nice.

In 2019, Trash is Nice established its workshop at Treellion Park on the urban island Koh Pich. There, grinders and presses hum as collected plastic from households, schools, and restaurants is sorted, melted and transformed into new items — flowerpots, coasters, personalized trophies, decorative pieces. Langlois often says, “The best trash can is the one you don’t fill.” The workshop also acts as a meeting place: artisans, students, and engineers gather for educational sessions that challenge the notion of “waste.”

Measurable Impact: Numbers and Stories That Inspire

Between 2023 and 2024, Trash is Nice diverted over 2.5 tons of soft plastic from landfills and turned it into approximately 32,000 useful and beautiful items — all produced locally to minimize transportation emissions and reliance on foreign factories. Depending on the season, between 2 and 10 local craftsmen work there, creating a “green micro-industry” rooted in solidarity and creativity.

More than 700 people — from curious children to aspiring entrepreneurs — were trained in 2024 through the workshop’s educational programs. Through partnerships with cafés, NGOs, municipalities and green start-ups, Trash is Nice’s impact continues to expand. The trophies awarded by CCIFC itself were crafted from recycled materials by Trash is Nice — a symbolic seal of this virtuous circle.

A Hard-won Victory: Resilience Amid Urban Challenges

The CCIFC award recognizes not only success but resilience — facing Phnom Penh’s erratic waste collection, manual sorting burdens and tropical climate. As a hybrid leader — a pragmatist designer and pedagogue — Langlois stood out among strong contenders through her locally grounded but scalable vision. As Cambodian ambassador of Precious Plastic, she advocates open-source knowledge sharing as a tool for empowerment, breaking down barriers between expertise and learning.

This honor amplifies her mission — granting diplomatic visibility and global reach. In a country where single-use plastic use is skyrocketing, Trash is Nice positions itself as a green pillar: often cited in media and sustainability forums, inspiring a budding circular-economy ecosystem in Cambodia.

Looking Ahead: From Urban Workshop to National Movement

Trash is Nice doesn’t see itself as a solitary enterprise but as a social laboratory where design, education, and ecology converge. Plans are underway to automate sorting, reuse industrial plastic waste, and roll out training programs in rural regions along the Mekong. Langlois envisions a powerful advocacy for circular economy — from Cambodia’s urban heart to its most remote corners. Every gram of diverted plastic becomes a testament to collective intelligence: turning waste into resource, piece by piece, hand by hand.

In a world drowning in plastic, Langlois offers this hopeful message: refuse the throwaway mindset. Reimagine the waste. Reinvent our relationship with materials. And build a circular future — one recycled creation at a time.