Following the principles of carbon emission taxes, Extended Producer Responsibility is a concept where manufacturers and importers of products bear a significant degree of responsibility for the environmental impacts of their products throughout the product life-cycle.
How Can Plastic Offsets Make Your Business More Sustainable?
Five Reasons You Should Buy Recycled Products
Explaning the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive
TAKE ACTION FOR #PLASTICFREE JULY
What is Plastic Free July?
Plastic Free July is a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution! The aim of the movement is to share important ideas to reduce our plastic footprint so we can have cleaner streets, oceans, and beautiful communities.
To celebrate this event, we want to share with you our tips to live a more eco-friendly life and reduce our plastic consumption!
BUY LESS
Often overlooked, reducing is the first of the three Rs of sustainability, followed by reuse and recycled. And there’s a reason for that: reducing our consumption and buying less is the most important tip to follow if we want to stop creating so much (plastic) waste.
Reducing the number of clothes, furniture, and items we buy can have an incredibly positive impact on our planet as it can translate to less natural resources used and less waste created - waste that could potentially end up polluting our ocean.
Were you aware of this?
2. BULK FOOD SHOPPING
Did you know that the majority of the plastic we found in our beach clean-ups is food packaging?
And it’s not only us!
Flexible plastic packaging is most commonly made from low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), or mixed materials and is notoriously difficult to recycle, resulting in very low recycling rates across the world. As a result, plastic bags and food wrappers are the second and third most common marine debris, and are the culprit for many environmental and health concerns across Asia. What can you do about it?
Try buying your food in bulk at a zero-waste shop (supermarkets or local shops that try to eliminate or reduce the use of plastic) and you will not regret it!
If you are from the United Kingdom you can visit thezerowastenetwork.com to find a local zero waste shop otherwise just Google Zero Waste Shop near me 😉
Try it here 👇👇👇
3. ALWAYS OPT FOR REUSABLES
We know you’ve heard this thousands of times before but, as the Latins used to say, repetita iuvant!
The number of people purchasing unnecessary single-use times is still overwhelming.
If you can avoid bottled water, do it; if you can avoid takeaway containers, do it! Remember that all single-use plastic will probably only be used once or twice before ending up in landfills or worst in our ocean!
4. OPT FOR RECYCLED PLASTIC PRODUCTS
Can’t say no to bottled shampoo? Can’t live without your favorite bottled drink? Then look out for companies that use recycled plastic to create those products or ask your favorite company to use recycled plastic rather than virgin!
It’s essential to support businesses that are giving second life to all the plastic that is collected – be it from curbside collection or from clean-ups! Remember that, while we wait for better long-term solutions, recycling is still the most environmentally friendly way to treat our plastic waste ♻️
5. OFFSET YOUR PLASTIC CONSUMPTION WITH US
We know how overwhelming living plastic-free can be. After all, plastic surrounds us everywhere we go and avoiding it altogether is easier said than done! That’s why we created a system to free yourself from plastic guilt!
You use the plastic and we collect it from the environment and recycle it for you: with a sum as little as 6 dollars you can compensate for the plastic you use and help protect our ocean and its marine life.
Click here to know more about our magical plastic offsetting program or watch the video 👇
5 Mind-Blowing Facts About the Ocean | World Ocean Day
Plastics For Change selected for the Global Innovation Challenge: Future of Flexibles
Which Plastic Can Be Recycled?
As you might know, there are seven different types of plastic being used around the world - they differ in size, color, usage and disposal. But, as a conscious (and curious) consumer, you might wonder: what types of plastic are recyclable? Well, if you are interested in discovering which plastic can be recycled, keep reading!
Here's What's Happening to Waste Workers during the Second Wave of COVID in India
The recent wave of COVID-19 in India has been devastating. While the nation struggles to cope with the crisis, informal waste collectors are being forgotten.
Being daily wage earners, the lockdown has stripped them of all income - putting their families at risk of starvation. They need immediate support.
They provide an essential service to our economy and our planet – but are stigmatised and often have no access to government aid packages.
While developed nations have over time created centralised systems for waste management, most cities in emerging economies like India still rely on fragmented methods of waste management in what are called informal waste economies made up of informal waste collectors.
These parallel systems have become indispensable to these nations and yet hardly receive any recognition for their contributions. Indeed, waste workers collect waste around cities and coastal areas and prevent this waste from entering our oceans and from polluting our environment.
During this second wave of Covid-19, India’s waste collectors have been severely hit. They are daily wage earners and so their livelihoods and the sustenance of their families depend on whether or not they can collect and sell materials like plastic, glass and aluminium on a daily basis. With a new lockdown being imposed, waste collectors have now lost their only source of income. In addition to this, since their jobs are not recognised formally - the public aid they receive is little to none.
“Waste collectors have lost their only source of income.”
With the public system struggling to cope with the crisis and provide basic care to the larger population, it’s needless to say that waste collectors - already subject to social stigma, unhealthy living conditions and a lack of social security - are being forgotten.
With no income and barely any support - their families are going hungry and their futures are at risk. It wouldn’t take long for them to starve or suffer severe health issues.
We’re doing our best to protect these waste warriors that have been left helpless by the current situation. Last year, during the first wave of Covid we were able to help more than 6000 individuals with food and sanitary kits during the worst part of the crisis. We did this with your help.
We need your help again. We’ve set up a fundraiser to support this vital and under-served community. The money collected will go directly to waste collectors, provide them with funds to substitute their absent income - thereby helping them feed their family and get essential items.
We don’t know when this sector will be formalised and when these communities will receive consistent and formal social protection.
In the meantime, we need your help to tide them and their families through this crisis now - so we can avoid the worst.
DONATE HERE
And please HELP US SHARE THIS MESSAGE, please use the buttons below to spread the word.
What Is Plastic Offsetting?
The 7 Different Types of Plastic
What Are the Regulations for the Use of Recycled Plastic?
The Benefits Of Using Recycled Plastic
Where does plastic come from?
It’s in the cars we drive, the technology we use, and the clothes we wear. Plastic is simply everywhere we look. It’s the material that radically changed society and has made modern life possible, in many ways.
But have you ever stopped and wondered: where does plastic come from? If yes, then read on, because you are about to find out!
