Life in plastic, not so fantastic?

By Sapphire Jones and Zomo S Y Fisher

It is probably fair to say, unless you’ve been living under a rock or have had a complete digital detox over the past year, that you are aware of the current ‘war’ on plastic. In our first blog in a three-part series on this topic, we look at how this has come about, what the problem is, and what alternative solutions are out there.

The problem with plastic…

It is estimated that over five trillion pieces of plastic are floating in our oceans, which can take hundreds of years to fully degrade: From mammoth accumulations such as the famous Great Pacific Garbage Patch, to ubiquitous tiny pieces, known as microplastics, that break down over time and can end up being eaten by marine creatures, affecting the entire the food chain (and we’re not exempt!)

Sapphire has spent her last week doing Accenture Analyst Environment Team’s #PlasticFreePledge, eliminating single use plastic out of her life for a full week. It wasn’t easy — even when making active decisions to eliminate plastic, such as bringing in cutlery to work and using a reusable cup, eliminating plastic for even just a week was next to impossible. Plastic is hardwired into our infrastructure. For example, I’m sure many of you treated yourselves with Easter confectionary over the past Easter weekend, but how many of you considered the environmental impact of your moment of indulgence? Recent research by Which? revealed that, on average, packaging alone accounts for a quarter of the total weight of the most popular Easter eggs on our shelves.

It’s crunch time

This seems to be the year of action for homing in on our plastic waste. The combination of the ‘Blue Planet effect’ (David Attenborough’s award-winning documentary series), alongside China’s refusal to accept any more foreign waste and many other highly visible public campaigns, has led to a consumer ‘war’ on plastic. Even Queen Elizabeth II has backed the movement in phasing out plastic straws across all royal residencies. The UK government has also announced a 25-year plan to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042, forcing organisations to accelerate their search for viable alternatives.

So, what options are out there?

Design it out

Eliminating or reducing plastic through innovation is a first key step, for example:

Removing plastic packaging altogether — UK supermarket Iceland is the first major grocery retailer to go plastic-free, vowing to remove all plastic packaging from its own label products by 2023, following the opening of Europe’s first plastic-free supermarket aisle by Dutch chain Ekoplaza, in Amsterdam

Redesign and light-weighting — Many FMCG companies are focusing on light-weighting and ‘design-to-value’ initiatives that can cut plastic use in packaging by 10–20%. Unilever, for example, introduced chemical foaming additive closures to their AXE body wash bottles in the US, enabling them to reduce packaging weight and capitalise on material savings of 21.6 metric tonnes

Utilising tech capabilities — eBay have launched an app that helps users identify optimal packaging, utilising ARCore based augmented reality that allows box sizes to be overlaid with camera images to find the perfect fit and prevent wasted packaging

Ultra-concentration — Numerous household cleaning products are now being delivered in super and ultra-concentrated formats. One of Method’s laundry detergents, for example, now comes with a dosage of around 12ml per wash, allowing significant per use packaging savings, as well as logistics and space savings (both in delivery and at home)

Find non-plastic alternatives

We must recognise that much of our modern economy depends on plastic’s durability and versatility. Instead of looking to eradicate plastics completely, organisations can find alternatives that provide the same function as plastic, but with a lower environmental impact. Biopolymer-based packaging derived from plant-based sources can be used as substitutes for fossil fuel-based packaging, with bacteria, seaweed, mushrooms and bone based materials having all been trialled to date. The following examples demonstrate true innovation, signposting the future of packaging:

Reinventing coffee cups — One company trying to transform the future lifecycle of disposable coffee cups is Biome Bioplastics, having developed a fully compostable and recyclable cup that substitutes the traditionally oil-based plastic lining with one made from potato starch, corn starch and cellulose. And with Starbucks committing $10 million to develop a “greener” recyclable and compostable cup, watch this space for mass market domination…

Flexible bioplastic wrappers — Soon, gone will be the days of sending plastic cereal, chocolate and nut wrappers to landfill. The VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland has created a wrapper that looks like transparent plastic but is made from wood, rice straw and sugar cane tops, using cellulose barrier properties that overcome the common issue of sensitivity to moisture

Hard plastic alternatives — Lego announced that it would begin making bricks out of plastic sourced from sugar cane, as part of its pledge to transition to more sustainable materials in its products and packaging by 2030

Cushioning solutions — Forget bubble wrap; the future of packaging is marine algae! Japanese designers ‘AMAM’ have developed an eco-friendly cushioning alternative, packaging products with a jelly-like substance derived from algae

Extend the lifecycle

Where plastic can’t be avoided, the next best thing is ensuring maximum utilisation to extend the product lifecycle. By creating a second life for plastics, not only is the carbon footprint per use clipped, but the amount of plastic potentially ending up in waterways is also minimised, as the following examples show:

Protective films — Bee’s Wrap is a washable, reusable natural alternative to cling film. Made from cotton, beeswax, jojoba oil and tree resin, this clever innovation allows you to re-use your food wrap time and time again until end of life, where it is fully compostable

Refills — A wide variety of refill programmes are in place, killing two birds with one stone by making products affordable to more consumers whilst also reducing their environmental footprint. Examples range from Coca-Cola’s refillable beverage containers, aiming to maximise their consumer reach in Latin America, to UK entrepreneur Splosh providing a postal delivery service for refillable domestic and beauty bottles

Upcycling — The Body Shop is an active promotor of upcycling their packaging, through communication of ideas with consumers on platforms like Instagram. Examples we’ve seen range from moisturiser marble mazes to body butter wreathes and even bath bomb piñatas!

Design for recyclability

When it’s not viable to reduce, re-use or switch, the next best thing is to ensure 100% recyclability. Whilst the EU recycled over 40% of its plastic packaging waste in 2016, there is clearly more to be done. One of the bottle necks is that plastic packaging often consists of more than one polymer type (for instance in multi-walled packaging), making it difficult to break-down into different material streams that are recycling-ready.

However, ‘recyclability by design’ is having a resurgence, leading to the likes of L’Oréal, Mars, Evian, Coca-Cola, Unilever and Walmart pledging to use 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025. This creates huge challenges (and opportunities!) in certain markets where the availability of good quality, usable recycled content (in the right structure, colours and quantities) is still limited by infrastructure constraints.

Packaging innovation also needs to work together with the right policy incentives. Just this week, the UK Government finally announced a container deposit scheme that will introduce a small charge to plastic bottles, among other materials, that can be recouped upon return to “reverse vending machines” — a solution which already exists across Northern Europe. Looking further afield, Kenya has joined the growing list of 40 countries that have introduced taxes, levies or fines on plastic bags.

But what now?

So, we know that loads of solutions exist… but many questions remain:

· How viable are these solutions? Will they have a significant impact at scale?

· What are the potential knock-on effects? How great are bio-based plastics really?

· Has the ‘war’ on plastic gone too far? Need we transform the ‘war’ on plastics to a ‘war’ on plastic litter?

The next blog in this three-part series takes a look at the unintended consequences of the recent wave of plastics concern, analysing how rejecting all plastic packaging could prove counter-productive to companies and consumers alike.

Written by Sapphire Jones and Zomo S Y Fisher

All thoughts expressed are our own and no reflection of our employer.