By Veronika Pařízková
“We’re not afraid of competition — let’s all start processing plastic waste!” says Ondřej Venclík, founder of Plastic guys, a company that produces plastic sheets from recycled materials. “There’s no shortage of plastic in the Czech Republic. One company in Brno alone produces as much plastic as we process in an entire month.”
“Some companies throw a few old PET bottles into a ton of new plastic and call it recycling. That kind of greenwashing really annoys us. We even had the carbon footprint of our sheet calculated so we could understand its real impact.”
“We’re also turning down international offers. It wouldn’t make sense to produce sheets in the Czech Republic and ship them all the way to Japan. We’re not losing income by doing that — in fact, I can reveal here that we plan to sell our machines globally. Clients will be able to manufacture locally from their own waste. It will be a licensed production line that we’ll offer to partners along with our know-how. In two months, our large-scale production line will already be up and running.”
What exactly are the Plastic guys panels made of? And how will their collaboration with mmcité work?
Find the answers in our new episode of the DESIGNNEWS podcast, hosted by editor-in-chief Veronika Pařízková.
PLASTIC GUYS
Ondřej Venclík, founder of the brand Plastic guys, calls himself a board maker. He has devoted his life to plastic — a material that’s been with us for 55 years. After studying architecture, he initially considered starting a construction company but ended up focusing on building materials instead. While still a student, he co-invented Mínus panels made from recycled plastic.
From old PET bottles, he and his team create a visually striking material with new properties — it can be backlit, reheated, and reshaped. The panels can be used both indoors and outdoors and can be recycled up to ten times. The first prototypes were made in pizza ovens in a garage — and today, the company is reaching for the global market.
🎧 Listen to the full podcast episode on all major audio platforms.
