We did it: 1000kg of plastic!  That’s how much has been packed and logged thus far on the GoBrik app by our diligent users. This is one small step in packing plastic, and one giant leap for our Collective Plastic Transition.

And… a full out miracle of collaboration!

Normally, to develop an app that can handle thousands of users and gigabytes of data, companies spend tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars.  We’ve been able to reach this land mark, with zero budget.  That’s right… no budget, no investors, no financing.

The 1000kgs of plastic packed is thanks to over 3500 ecobricks that have been logged, one by one, by folks around the world.

Oh there have been costs.  And there’s been hard work.  And there’s been help!  Every month, our users have been working hard making their ecobricks.  Every month they’ve trusted us and our buggy and clunky GoBrik beta app and logged their ecobricks.  Every month, their use of the system has helped us make it better.  And every month, we’ve reached out and asked the financial help of our users, our friends and our family to pay the bill and keep the app online, and the dream alive.   Because, for the last year, that’s all it has been, a dream: another app idea with hardly any users or usage, no income stream, a clunky interface, and no solid proof of what it could do.

But not anymore!  Thank you so much to all who have contributed over the last year of our development to help us cover the finances.  The database and server costs come in monthly at 120$ or so – by far the biggest and most daunting bill for the GEA right now.  Thanks to your help– all personal donations, 100$ here, 20$ there, 10$ a little later… we’ve kept 1000kg of plastic from reaching the oceans, the rivers and the fields.  Thanks to you, we’re going to keep sooooo much more out of the biosphere.

Over the last two months, signups have skyrocketed. You can view the full live and crazy GoBrik Stats here.

Yes… 1000kg of plastic is a drop in the bucket of even a small city’s plastic generation.  But… it’s a start.  It’s what inventors and developers call… proof of concept.  And now that we have proved that we can keep one ton of plastic out of the biosphere, we’re on track to take it to the next level.  We’ve now turned off the bumpy country road, onto the express way!  The foot is coming off the brake, and onto the gas.  We are now set to put the pedal to the metal and dramatically vamp up the plastic sequestration.

And it’s already begun.  The acceleration has been rather dramatic.  We actually passed the 1000kg mark a week ago on GoBrik.  However, we’ve been so busy keeping up with the exponential growth in app usage, that it’s been all but impossible to make this post!

We’re incredibly excited about what lays in store.  As our friends who have been logging their ecobricks on the platform have begun to suspect… there’s a lot more to our app than just logging ecobricks.  Soon, real soon, we’re excited to release the remaining two pillars of the app’s functionality.

These include nothing short of revolutionary new means of valuing plastic.  Most people have heard of blockchain and cryptocurrency technology– but not many have been able to partake. Well, we are set to launch our own manually-powered, community-authenticated, full-transparency coin.  The currency will be based on a value that we can all agree on: the absence of plastic in the biosphere.  Best of all, unlike traditional cryptocurrencies, it will not depend on computers doing vain calculations, nor will it be a store of value that is accessible to the tech savvy and wealthy.  Instead, it will be based on meaningful manual work, and it will be accessible to anyone with a bamboo stick and a smart phone.

Coming soon! We’re working now on releases of our coin, android and iOs version 1.0 apps.

In direct connection to this new coin system, we’re set to launch a brand new way to exchange ecobricks.  Got ecobricks?  Need ecobricks?  Soon, connecting ecobrickers with builders, transferring ecobricks for projects, and exchanging ecobricks for cash or barter, will be a breeze.

Thank you again to all our users, supporters, and ecobrickers around the world who have helped us get this far.  We couldn’t have done it without you.  And we can’t wait to do