Cambodia & CCIFC : Trash is Nice, plastic reinvented par Alix Langlois

In Phnom Penh, a French entrepreneur transforms waste into noble material, a new idea, and a driver of change.

There are projects born from a silent obviousness. That of a world saturated with plastic, oceans suffocated, mechanical gestures repeated without thinking. In Phnom Penh, this obviousness found a face: that of Alix Langlois, designer and social entrepreneur, founder of Trash is Nice. Her local company combines craftsmanship, ecology, and education with a clear motto: to give plastic a second life — and society a fresh look at this hated material.

A genesis at the crossroads of worlds

It all began in Southeast Asia in the mid-2010s. On an environmental mission, Alix Langlois measured the plastic crisis under the tropics. Back in Europe, she trained in the principles of circular economy and joined the international Precious Plastic movement, a network of inventors and low-tech creators. This idea lab showed her the way to combine local commitment and global vision. In 2018, she settled in Phnom Penh and founded Trash is Nice, deciding to turn the problem into a resource.

The workshop where plastic is reborn

In a green corner of Treellion Park, on the urban island of Koh Pich, the small workshop vibrates with the noise of grinders and presses. Here, plastic is collected from individuals, schools, and restaurants; it is sorted, melted, remolded. Flower pots, coasters, personalized trophies, decorative pieces: each object tells the metamorphosis of waste into design.

The machines, built from open-source Precious Plastic plans, embody the low-tech spirit: efficiency, sharing, simplicity.

But Trash is Nice is much more than a workshop. It is also a meeting place where artisans, students, and engineers cross paths. Visitors participate in educational workshops, discover the manufacturing process, and learn to question the very notion of “waste.” In 2024, more than 700 people were trained through these programs, from curious children to future entrepreneurs.

Circular economy and human adventure

“The best trash can is the one you don’t fill,” likes to repeat Alix Langlois. Her conviction: properly treated plastic becomes a resource carrying economic and social value.

Trash is Nice is based on a circular economy model deeply anchored in Cambodian reality: artisanal production, local employment, and environmental education. Between two and ten people work there depending on the seasons, giving body to this “green micro-industry” made of solidarity and creativity.

Measurable impact, lasting effects

The numbers speak for themselves. In 2023-2024, more than 2.5 tons of soft plastic were diverted from landfills, transformed into some 32,000 useful and aesthetic objects. The entire process takes place on site, reducing not only transport emissions but also dependence on foreign factories. Trash is Nice proves that local recycling can be both profitable, poetic, and socially inclusive.

A model for Cambodia’s tomorrow

In a country where single-use plastic consumption explodes, Trash is Nice plays a strategic role. Workshops are offered at low cost to reach all audiences; partnerships are established with cafes, NGOs, municipalities, and green start-ups. The company is gradually imposing itself as a key actor in Cambodia’s circular economy ecosystem, an example often cited in media and sustainability forums.

A social and creative laboratory

Trash is Nice is not just an ecological adventure: it is a social laboratory where design, education, and economic reinvention intersect. The Precious Plastic machines become tools of emancipation: understanding, creating, transmitting. The workshop invites abolishing borders between producers and consumers, between those who know and those who learn. Here, everyone is also an inventor.

The face of a commitment

Alix Langlois embodies this generation of hybrid leaders: designers and educators, idealists and pragmatists. Cambodian ambassador of the Precious Plastic movement, she promotes knowledge sharing and open-source as levers of transformation.

Rethinking micro-industry

Trash is Nice today projects itself into the future: improving sorting through automation, valorizing industrial waste, deploying training in rural areas. The goal: to build a strong advocacy in favor of the circular economy, in Cambodia and beyond. For while the workshop remains modest, its message is universal: every gram of diverted plastic becomes a symbol of collective intelligence.

Towards a virtuous circle economy

Through its creativity and rigor, Trash is Nice has proven that artisanal economy can integrate with great contemporary causes. Transforming plastic is also transforming our vision: relearning to see promise in waste, a material to reinvent. In Phnom Penh, at the heart of a Cambodia that rises and reinvents itself, this utopia takes shape — piece by piece, hand by hand.