Tag: Recycle plastic

8 Emerging Plastic Alternatives We Need To Start Using

Plastics is currently one of the world’s most significant challenges. Consumers are becoming more aware of the thousands of tonnes of plastic that are polluting the ocean thanks to David Attenborough’s Blue Planet. Due of the widespread usage of plastic, particularly in packaging, firms will need to act quickly to identify plastic alternatives. In fact, 25% of customers are extremely concerned about plastic packaging, and 42% believe manufacturers should prioritise making packaging recyclable, while 21% believe the industry should move toward completely plastic-free packaging (Kantar). As plastic continues to be featured in the news on a regular basis, this figure will only climb. Brands must be seen to be taking a responsible approach; else, their hard-earned equity will be harmed.

Photo by mali maeder on Pexels.com

With so many plastic alternatives being produced, we’ve compiled a list of 13 of the most interesting plastic replacement technologies.

1. Plant Based Plastic: Bioplastics are created from a range of materials, including corn that has been broken down into PLA (polylactic acid). Because it’s manufactured from waste products from maize cultivation – which is also easy to grow – it’s highly sustainable to make. PLA can be used to produce beverage bottles, food-grade containers, and films. Innocent, the eco-heroes, are now using 15% PLA in their bottles.

2. Bagasse: Bagasse is a sugarcane manufacturing waste product. It may be easily moulded into packaging ideal for food delivery and food service, comparable to polystyrene, because to its malleability and stickiness. It’s guaranteed biodegradable and compostable, and because it’s a by-product, it’s considerably more environmentally friendly to make than polystyrene.

3. Seaweed Water Bubbles: Ooho, a British firm, has developed a seaweed-based edible (and, by default, biodegradable) water bubble. “To provide the convenience of plastic bottles while minimising environmental impact,” they say. They’ve devised manufacturing methods that are both more efficient and less expensive than creating plastic bottles. When compared to PET manufacture, the process emits 5 times less CO2 and consumes 9 times less energy.

4. Shower Friendly Paper: L’Oréal, the beauty juggernaut, has now introduced Seed Phytonutrients, an eco-beauty line. The products themselves sound wonderful (crafted with 93-100 percent natural ingredients, cruelty-free, paraben-free, etc. ), but it’s the packaging that stands out. The exterior card is made by Ecologic and is recyclable, compostable, glue-free, and water-resistant. The inner liner is composed of recyclable plastic and consumes 60% less material than standard plastic bottles.

5. Stone Paper and Plastic: You might be surprised to learn that stone can be used to make paper. It obviously had an effect on me. I have a stone paper notepad with a lovely smooth finish that feels almost chilly to the touch. This wonderful invention might be used in a variety of packaging applications. It can be used as a paper or plastic substitute because it is printable, recyclable, and water-resistant… and it also has good eco credentials. It’s created from calcium carbonate, one of the world’s most common minerals, and the manufacturing process consumes less water, has a lower carbon footprint, and is more energy efficient than traditional papermaking. FDA-approved food packaging can also be made with stone paper. Paper (supermarket singlet) bags, takeaway food cartons, greaseproof paper wraps, and Ziplock bags can all be made with this.

6. Palm Leaves: The oyster-like casings for Holy Lama’s handmade soaps are constructed from palm leaves from the areca palm. The areca palm’s leaves naturally fall to the ground, where they are collected and shaped into the required shape. They’re brilliantly environmentally friendly because they employ a natural areca palm waste product and the final packaging is biodegradable. Arekapak, a Berlin-based firm, is working on palm leaf packaging for foods like fresh fruit, vegetables, and nuts.

7. Mushroom Root: Packaging is physically grown with Mycelium (mushroom roots, which is also the same substance that Quorn is comprised of). Ecovative Design collects agricultural waste, mixes it with mycelium in moulds, and then watches as the packaging grows. You can see how it works here, but I’m not convinced it’s not magic.

8. Wood Pulp Cellophane: NatureFlex is the more environmentally friendly younger sibling of cellophane, created from FSC-approved wood pulp and certified biodegradable. It is available in three different types: uncoated, which is ideal for chocolate and confectionery as well as household items; semi-permeable, which is suitable for fresh produce and dairy; and barrier, which is suitable for bakery, snacks, coffee, tea, chocolate, confectionery, as well as home and personal care items.

Plastic Ban: An Initiative Towards Better Results!

Reducing Millions of Tons of CO2: EU Single-Use Plastic Ban

Plastic bags are a major cause of environmental pollution. Plastic as a substance is non-biodegradable and thus plastic bags remain in the environment for hundreds of years polluting it immensely. It has become very essential to ban plastic bags before they ruin our planet completely. Many countries around the globe have either put a ban on the plastic bag or imposed tax on it. However, the problem hasn’t been solved completely because the implementation of these measures hasn’t been as successful as expected.

People are more aware of the fact that plastic is harmful to the environment and if we keep increasing the use of plastic it is possible that we are creating a more harmful environment sooner than later. In this aticle on should plastic be banned it is important to understand that plastic in itself is not harmful when used, or recycled and reused, it is rather the littering of plastic on the streets, on land and water bodies, and the single-use plastic bags which are disposed in the same manner and cannot be recycled. Plastic is a non-biodegradable matter and takes lots of efforts to get decomposed so it is only natural that when such matter is only increasing then the threat to nature also rises.

Many countries like Italy, Bangladesh, China, and Kenya have taken the initiative to ban the use of plastic and are not given any to the public at any check out counter. However, there are many countries that have not adopted this, as it is also difficult to find an alternative to plastic that is easily decomposable and safer for the environment. So, rather than completely banning the use of plastic, we must find ways of recycling and reusing the plastic so that the dumping of plastic does not deteriorate the natural environment.

Important Reasons to Ban Plastic Usage:-

  1. Plastic can endure every climate and when littered travels through wind or water and reaches ocean bodies or gets stuck on lands and trees and harms these environments as it is non-biodegradable since it is made of non-renewable materials.
  2. The energy required to drive a car for 1 kilometre is used to make 9 plastic bags and this ratio is irrational as the plastic bag used is rather useful for only 11 minutes to carry materials and then discarded.
  3. An Environment Health Perspective reports that the components of plastic mimic hormones like estrogen and this causes severe damage to our health as it disrupts the natural hormonal balance in our body.
  4. It is a threat to wildlife who in negligence sometimes consume plastic which is littered along with their food. Many aquatic animals like turtles suffer a great deal as their digestive system is entangled in plastic and die.
  5. Plastic bags are not easy to recycle as the recycling rate by the recycling facilities is only 5% so it is tedious work.

Some Major Problems caused due to Plastics:-

  1. They are Non-Biodegradable–

Plastic bags are made up of elements that are extremely hard to be degraded by the microbes in the environment. They take hundreds of years to be completely decomposed, which essentially means that almost all of the plastic ever made still exists in the environment causing pollution! In fact, plastic bags are a major source of pollution of land and water presently across the world. 

2. Effect of Plastic on Human Health–

Due to the excessive use of plastics, there are a number of ways in which plastic finds its way into our food chain. Accumulation of nano plastics over a long period of time can cause organ failure, intoxication and respiratory and gastrointestinal distress. Burning of plastics also produces harmful smoke that can cause poisoning in humans. 

3. Harmful for Animals–

Animals, both terrestrial and aquatic, consume a lot of plastic wastes unknowingly. Consuming large chunks of plastic often cause blockage in their respiratory tract. This may result in respiratory failure due to choking. After consuming plastic bag, an animal is not able to digest it and it stays inside its intestine causing complications and ultimately, untimely death.

4. Clogged Sewage–

Another major problem of plastic bags is that it accumulates in waterways and clogs drains and sewages. This can result in overflowing drains which can then breed various vectors of diseases. Afterwards, from this accumulation of plastic bags oxygen supply to the water is reduced and aquatic animals die due to the lack of oxygen as well.

Conclusion:-

Although plastic is becoming a big threat for all of us, still this problem has often been overlooked and underestimated. This is because people do not look at the long term effect of these small, easy to carry bags they use in their everyday life. Besides all of these people keep using bags due to their convenience. But now everyone has to completely stop using the plastic bag to save our environment and earth.

It is safe to say that like any global problems affecting the environment and the people all over it is not easy to find a particular solution so we can only trust time to see what works and what doesn’t and in the meantime find alternatives which are biodegradable and instead of dumping reuse and recycle and spread awareness about its importance, in this way you can contribute to maintaining nature’s sanctity.