About Us
Our solution is simple in concept: classifying reusable packaging as a separate waste collection so that packaging can be collected intact and reused for its original intended purpose. We want to encourage more businesses to go “REUSABLE!” and to take the convenience of our throwaway culture and apply it to a circular culture structure.
We are tackling our global waste problem by creating a circular economy for packaging to meet sustainable supply chain needs of producers, manufacturers, and businesses. It is a more thoughtful and strategic approach to waste management collection. In our system, packaging is reused multiple times for its original engineered purpose until it has reached the end of its life-cycle at which point it is recycled and reused, closing the loop.
With our team’s experience in supply chain management, sustainability, project management, system dynamics modeling, qualitative research, legal and regulatory research, waste management, and plastics engineering, Plastic Tree is leveraging both technical and humanistic approaches to change society’s attitude toward REUSE! and to thoughtfully disrupt waste collection systems.
WASHINGTON D.C. PILOT
The Movement
WASHINGTON D.C. PILOT
We are distributing 32 gallon heavy duty plastic REUSE! bins to households throughout D.C. Residents may place any plastic or glass packaging that can be reused for its original engineered design or purpose. Undamaged packaging that can easily be cleaned and returned to a manufacturer or small business to be refilled or reused.
We will track what is collected over a period of time then publish our results, and work with local recyclers and waste management to recycle and discard what we do not use, respectively.
Plastic Tree Staff
We are a minority and women owned company and, we believe, the only company in the waste management industry that can boast a one-hundred percent electric fleet.
Lara Illao – Founder CEO
Lara Ilao is the Founder and Owner of Plastic Tree, a climate positive waste management company based in Washington, D.C. A lifelong environmentalist and long-term DC resident, she founded Plastic Tree in 2019, after a 12-year career in emergency management law, because she wanted to make going zero-waste easy and accessible to people. She currently serves as Chair of the Leaders in Energy, D.C. Circular Economy Working Group (CEWG), a group that brings together individuals in the public, private, governmental, and non-profit sector to learn about and discuss ways to bring circularity to the DMV region. She also serves as a mentor with the Global Co-Lab Network, a virtual “do tank” that empowers teens to tackle Sustainable Development Goals within their communities and share their stories with other teens from around the world. She studied Philosophy, Economics, and Prelaw at Goucher College and holds a BA in Political Science. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, political cartooning, and spending time with her 2 children.