Greentech Alliance’s Industry Spotlight Series highlights members across all sectors represented in our community, with the aim of bringing great awareness to the sustainability challenges of the current and future generations. This is the second blog in the series. Our inaugural blog – launched on World Environment Day – spotlighted companies focused on biodiversity and conservation. Read it here.
Plastics are part of our everyday lives. They package our food and water, carry our purchases, and comprise our hygiene and beauty products. In light of rising plastic levels in our landfills, waterways, and even our own bodies, companies and municipalities across the world have begun eliminating single-use plastic.
Even though we use more bamboo straws and canvas tote bags than we did 5 or 10 years ago, plastics still dominate industry. The improve the safety and design of cars, trains, and planes, and even form the composite materials in clean energy technology like wind and solar. And because plastic is a petroleum product, the longer we rely on it for our daily conveniences, the longer we prolong the fossil fuel industry.
It goes without saying that plastics are a big problem. But the first step to addressing the problem is targeting takeaway packaging. That’s why Greentech Alliance is encouraging members to participate in the Plastic Free Foundation’s Plastic Free July campaign and dedicating this month’s spotlight blog to the great work of our member companies focused on solving the plastic waste issue.
From microplastic ocean cleanup to sustainable food delivery and alternative packaging, our members’ solutions aim to address plastic waste from as many angles as possible. The plastic problem can be overwhelming, so we posed a simple, open-ended question to founders: “What is one thing you wish more people knew about plastic?”
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Mission: 3Dimensioni provides 3D-printed furniture from recycled plastic and metal components, minimizing impact and enabling local circular economies.
Federico and Judith on the connection between plastic waste and emissions: “Since 1950, more than 8 billion tons of plastic have been produced. Only a fraction of this has been recycled, and 6.3 billion tons ended up as trash by 2015. While the production of one ton of new plastic produces approximately 5 tons of CO2, recycling can save 1.1 – 3 tons of CO2e per ton of plastic processed. By 2050, the amount of plastic waste is expected to increase by another 30 percent. The projected growth of the plastics industry will result in 56 billion metric tons of CO2e by 2050. This represents about 10-13% of the global CO2 budget that is still available to meet the 1.5 degree target agreed under the Paris Climate Agreement.”
COMPANY: glassic
Founder: Patrick Bombik
Mission: Glassic tackles plastic pollution at its root cause by introducing drinking water in reusable glassic bottles in Asia’s most affected locations.
Patrick on the energy intensity of single-use plastics: “In order to manage plastics sustainably, a huge industry is required. As this is not present in the majority of the world, we waste a megawatt of energy and tons of resources on single-use plastic products, which are easily substitutable.”
Company: junee
Co-Founders: Caroline Williams & Mary Liu
Mission: junee is making reuse as standard as recycling, starting with the workday lunch. Their borrow-and-return system of reusable takeaway packaging helps restaurants, offices, and individuals reduce their waste and carbon footprint, effortlessly.
Caroline and Mary on reusing and returning: “We’re on track to produce 4x as much plastic in the next 30 years than has ever been produced. Forty percent of this is for single-use packaging. Less than 10% is actually recycled. There is a HUGE opportunity to improve these stats, starting with reducing unnecessary packaging and making reuse as convenient as single-use.”
Company: MAA’VA
Co-Founders: Marieh Mehran & Monika Bleszinski
Mission: MAA’VA is developing new building materials for a sustainable future by incorporating recycled plastics, carbon sequestration, and upcycling of manufacturing waste.
Marieh and Monika on the limits of plastic recycling: “We can’t recycle our way out of plastic pollution because plastics can only be recycled a few times before they become unusable. As a result, we need systemic change and new solutions from industry, governments, and institutions.”
Mission: Naturbeads develops plant-based solutions for a green planet.
Giovanna on the invisible reality of microplastics: “Microplastics are the invisible plastic problem. Because they are invisible to the human eye, the public perception of their risk is limited. However, they have been found in the food we eat, the water we drink, and even in our lungs and our blood.”
Company: Oceans & Us
Founder: Joel Michael
Mission: Oceans & Us is a company focused on building circular economy ecosystems, around the removal and recycling of ocean and river waste.
Joel on transitioning from singular to circular: “Plastic isn't bad, single use plastic is. People simply need to ask themselves if the plastic they buy can be used multiple times and if the plastic they dispose will be recycled. Together, we can transition from a linear single-use economy to a circular recycle-reuse economy.”
Company: PlasticFree
Co-Founders: Siân Sutherland & Frederikke Magnussen
Mission: PlasticFree is a movement for solutions and change, empowering global creatives to rethink how we design, with new materials and systems that eradicate the plastic crisis at its source.
Siân and Frederikke on plastics as plan B for the fossil fuel industry: Plastic is a major contributor to the climate crisis; as a country, the plastics industry is the world's 5th biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. Toxic and indestructible, this miracle material is plan B for the fossil fuel industry, and we all need to wake up to its devastating impact.
Company: Unwaste
Founder: Cameron Smith
Mission: Unwaste.io uses crowdsourced data, cloud, and mobile technology in the Global South to circularize plastic waste by connecting domestic processors with marginalized suppliers.
Cameron on single-use plastic life cycles: “Unwaste wishes that more people understood the true lifecycle of single-use plastic bottles once a consumer has finished with them. While many consumers are well-intentioned and take steps to recycle their bottles, the process is often poorly implemented and not effective for the increasing volume of single-use plastic being produced - particularly in developing countries. We need consumers to understand the full impact of their single-use items, most of which are used for small amounts of water or soda, and the impacts on our environment from production to discarding.”
Company: VBS4RH
Co-Founders: Dr. Antaripa Bhattacharya & John Dominic
Mission: VBS4RH aims to create a sustainable and eco-friendly planet by introducing 100% biodegradable products that don’t contribute to landfills and plastic pollution.
Antaripa and John on consumer burden & importance of reuse: “The system mostly counts on us consumers to execute the correct process with regard to the plastic waste problem, which is larger than any of us. Almost 80% of non-biodegradable products like chip bags, bubble wrap, dirty diapers, and sanitary napkins end up in landfills or the natural environment, where they are likely to be burned and release planet-warming emissions. If we shift the focus toward using and reusing biodegradable plastics that decrease landfills, petroleum consumption, and air pollution, society can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and give the ecosystem a chance to thrive.”