Lifting the Lid on our Rubbish
Our home is our sanctuary, when we no longer have a need for something in it we throw it out to bring order back into our lives. Ideally we separate the trash into recyclable versus non-cyclable but the reality is that a lot of recyclables end up in the wrong bin, sent to landfill or worse end up polluting our natural environment. Once we’ve put our rubbish & recycle out for collection it disappears from our lives but not the planets, the reality of what really happens to all this waste is quite daunting.
As consumers we go through about 300 million tons of plastic a year, with 8 to 12 million tons of plastics entering our ocean every year on top of the estimated 165 million tons already in our marine environment.
So where does our waste really go?
Some of it ends up in landfills where it can take up to 500 years to decompose whilst potentially leaking pollutants into the soil and water, some of it gets recycled locally but most is sent off-shore. In the UK alone two-thirds of all plastic is sent abroad with countries like the US sending more than 10 million metric tons of plastic waste off-shore over the past three decades.
Up until the 2017 ban from China, more than half of the worlds plastic waste was sent their for disposal. The ban sent first world countries scrambling to find alternatives, with their own waste disposal infrastructure unable to cater to the level of domestic waste they produced. Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam & the Philippines have taken a lot of this trash but the reality is their own infrastructure is insufficient, with limited waste factories, rubbish is ending up on their landscape and in the ocean.
It has been estimated that 90 percent of all the plastic that reaches the world's oceans gets flushed through just 10 rivers: The Yangtze, the Indus, Yellow River, Hai River, the Nile, the Ganges, Pearl River, Amur River, the Niger, and the Mekong (in that order). All of these rivers are high density areas where hundreds of millions of people live, but what's more important is that these places don't have adequate waste collection or recycling infrastructure.
So what’s the answer?
The answer lies in increasing recycling efforts and resources within each country, reducing and then managing waste more effectively through a circular economy. Turning waste into a resource is key to a circular economy, with the objective being to stimulate innovation through recycling, upcycling and regeneration of materials.
Is this realistic?
There are companies across the globe who have already embraced this way of operating, proving that not only can you be a sustainable business but you can thrive.
Gemma Lee Suits are committed to creating beautiful sustainable wetsuits & swimwear. Every design and production decision is consciously made with the impact on the environment top of mind. Gemma Lee Suits craft all their wetsuits & swimwear from eco-conscious materials; from recycled PET bottles to abandoned fishing nets
Solgaard are dedicated to helping remove plastic from the ocean through repurposing post consumer plastic waste into quality bags and accessories. Solgaard’s Shore-Tex product range is made from a textile fabric that has been created entirely from ocean-bound plastic.
Recover produce 100% recycled t-shirts and apparel from discarded water bottles and cotton. 8 post consumer plastic bottles = 1 t-shirt. Recover has a 360° process - from design to manufacturing to fulfilment - sourcing recycled plastic bottles and upcycled cotton for materials; minimising dyes; significantly reduces the use of chemicals, water, and energy; and completely eliminates plastic packaging.
Wolven’s eco-friendly range of swim, surf and athletic wear is made with OEKO-Tex certified Recycled P.E.T, a fabric that is made from recycled plastic bottles and free from harmful and toxic chemicals as well as carbon neutral modal fabric that is produced from wood-pulp fibres sustainably harvested. 27 recycled post consumer plastic bottles = 1 pair of leggings. Packaging is as minimal and low-impact as possible.
For brands like these, it starts with their ethos and goes right through the design concept and production cycle, ending in the packaged product - all with sustainability and minimal waste in mind.
Why is this so important?
Improved design and manufacturing waste management reduces both health and environmental problems;
Reduced dumping cuts emissions from landfill, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions
reduces litter, ocean and air pollution
If we re-manufacture, reuse and recycle, and if one industry's waste becomes another's raw material, we can move to a more circular economy where waste is eliminated and resources are used in an efficient and sustainable way, leaving our planet and the species we share it with to thrive.
Photo by John Hult, Unsplash