Innovation

The Ploy and Myth of Plastic Recycling

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Is that plastic cup really getting recycled?

“The perception that plastic is easily recyclable — and that the burden of recycling lies solely with the consumer — has been shaped by decades of carefully constructed campaigns paid for by many of the most prevalent producers of plastic.” –Christopher Marquis for Forbes Magazine.

It was Earth Day 1971 when a compelling public service announcement calling for environmental stewardship and featuring a grim Native American gentleman decked out in full buck-skinned splendor took to the airwaves. 

The minute-long advertisement, produced by a group calling themselves Keep America Beautiful (KAB), depicted an indigenous man slowly paddling down a pristine river at sunrise in his canoe while thunderous drumming sounded in the background. Suddenly, pieces of litter debris float by the canoe. Next, the camera pans out to what looks like an industrial shipping area, with smokestack plumes billowing in the distance. The man then brings his canoe to the shore, where even more trash resides on the ground, and begins walking. Finally, he makes his way to the side of a highway where a car zooms by him, but not before carelessly tossing a small bag of to-go food trash that explodes right at our protagonist’s feet. The camera then zooms in for a close-up as a single teardrop runs down his deeply disappointed, not Native American face (the actor was actually Italian). Finally, as the metaphorically ironic fake tear falls, a narrator dramatically states:

“People start pollution. People can stop it. “

As a child growing up in the ’70s, this iconic PSA (public service announcement) hit me hard. Between “The Crying Indian” (as the ad became known by) and Woodsy Owl reminding me to “give a hoot, don’t pollute,” I was well schooled on the many evils of littering and never wasted an opportunity to call out the litterbugs around me, adults and children alike. 

But there was more behind the crying Indian than met the eye. 

With aid from The Ad Council, Keep America Beautiful, comprised of the American Can Company and the Owens-Illinois Glass Company (eventual parent company of the Dixie Cup Company), devised a profoundly emotive and highly successful public relations campaign.

Their objective? To shift the focus of litter and its disposal away from the manufacturers and onto the consumers and municipalities. Already there were whispers of the passage of new laws to address the voluminous waste created by throwaway containers and the recent proliferation of single-use plastics. However, the bottle (and packaging) companies were adamantly against any laws requiring them to sell their drinks in reusable bottles, as it would cost them more than throwaways. 

Though the PSA did focus on the detriments of litter and pollution and helped establish a much-needed shift in attitudes of the time around littering, it also subtly imprinted the idea in the minds of Americans that litter was a human behavior problem, and that it was solely the responsibility of the consumers to handle the disposal of these throwaway bottles and containers; not the responsibility of the companies producing them. Additionally, the companies behind the KAB veneer argued that consumers preferred the easy convenience of throwaways over the hassle of reusables. 

Today, that shift of burden over to consumers is alive and well. Recycling has become just one more tool for plastic packaging producers to put the onus of disposal on us. And while recycling works adequately for some materials, such as aluminum, glass, and paper, the landscape changes drastically when it comes to recycling plastics. 

The Sad State of Plastics Recycling 

” Plastics recycling is like placing a band-aid on gangrene.” 

          -Dr. Max Liboiron

To be honest, before 2018, I did not think much about what happened to my plastics after pick-up from my blue recycling bin. I had no idea our plastic waste got shipped to China for “recycling.” My thoughts around it were akin to the stories some of us were told as children about what happened to our family pet that was suddenly no longer around. “Baxter has gone to live at a farm out in the country, where he’s free to roam and live a happy, fulfilling doggy life.” Similarly, I assumed my plastic was living its best, most sustainable life by going straight to a recycling plant where it would magically continue living out its reuse and recycle circular journey indefinitely.

Unfortunately, reality paints a different picture. 

Before “National Sword”- the name given to China’s 2018 policy restricting the import of foreign recyclables, around 70 percent of America’s plastics were sold and shipped to Chinese processors, where the high-grade plastics could then be broken down and repurposed by plastic manufacturers. But because of excessive contamination issues and immense amounts of low-quality plastics that are not really recyclable, China put its far-reaching ban on the plastics it would accept. As a result, after the 2018 ban, the U.S. began shipping nearly half its plastic waste to other countries in the Global South, such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam. In 2019, Africa saw a fourfold increase in plastic waste imports after China’s ban went into effect. Without the proper infrastructure to handle the immense volume of imported plastic waste, many of these countries have become quickly overwhelmed.

Ultimately, the destiny of these plastics shipped overseas was (and still is) virtually unknown: which plastics are recycled and which are landfilled, incinerated, or littered are not part of the equation when determining America’s recycling rates. Instead, if it’s shipped overseas, it is counted as “recycled,” regardless of its ultimate fate. 

Additionally, as we assess the reality of plastics recycling, we must recognize the fact that not all plastics are created equal. 

Graph depicting the seven various plastic resin codes.

Figure 1: Plastic Resin Codes. Image from Brown County Resource Recovery

The numbers on plastics represent their resin identification code which identifies the type of plastic the product is made from. But this can be misleading, as many plastic chemicals and resins are combined to make proprietary blends of plastic that have different chemical and temperature properties which makes it almost impossible to separate for recycling purposes.  

Of all our numbered plastics, numbers 1 and 2, PET and HDPE are considered the easiest plastics to recycle. But even recycling these two kinds of plastics can be misleading. 

Each time, for example, a plastic water or soda bottle is recycled (a #1 PET), the heating process necessary for recycling the plastic decreases the structural quality of these bottles until it can no longer be recycled. This equates to just two or three recycling cycles. When these plastics can no longer be recycled, some may be “downcycled” into products such as patio furniture,carpeting, fleece jackets and other clothing items that eventually end up in our landfills as well. 

I used to think clothes made out of plastics was a great solution until we discovered that when washed these clothing fabrics, such as nylon, polyester and rayon, release microplastics. (Plus, plastics are made from fossil fuels, which contribute greatly to climate change-more on that later).

Getting back to plastic’s complicated numbering system, the fact remains that some plastics may have the same resin code number but the products themselves are created differently, thus making it impossible to recycle them together despite having the same number. Take for example, the ubiquitous clamshell packaging container-those transparent, plastic containers with tops used in the produce section for holding an array of various fruits and vegetables. 

FIgure 2: Common clamshell containers. Are these containers actually getting recycled? Acceptance at your local recycling center is no guarantee.

The resin code emblazoned on the bottom side of these clamshell produce containers are also PET #1; the same number you find on the “easier-to-recycle” water and soda bottles. The process for making these two plastics, however, is very different despite both being PET, making it difficult to recycle them together. In fact, many material recovery facilities (MRFs) will not even accept clamshell packaging.  

So which plastics do MRFs accept?

In 2020, the non-profit organization, Greenpeace, conducted a comprehensive audit and report of findings on all 367 MRF’s in the United States in order to quantify which of these plastics are accepted (those MRFs that do accept certain plastics are not necessarily an assurance of recycling, as many plastic bales are sent overseas where recycling cannot be guaranteed).

Some of the key findings of this report include:

  • “Only some PET #1 and HDPE #2 plastic bottles and jugs can be legitimately labeled as recyclable in the U.S. today.”
  • “Plastics #3-7 have negligible-to-negative value and are effectively a category of products that municipal recycling programs may collect, but do not actually recycle. Plastic #3-7 waste collected in municipal systems across the country is being sent to landfills or incinerated.”  
  • “Common plastic pollution items, including single use plastic food service and convenience products, cannot be legitimately claimed as recyclable in the U.S.”

Figure 3: Greenpeace 2020

What must also be considered is that the market for low-quality plastic scraps, which comprises a majority of global consumer plastic, is currently bleak and must compete with cheaper virgin plastic. Acceptance by some MRFs does not guarantee that the plastic, particularly numbers 3-7, will even get recycled. Without a viable, competitive market, these plastics are sent overseas where their fate is questionable, though we do have a generally good idea of what happens next. 

According to Our World in Data, of the 5.8 billion metric tons of plastic produced between 1950 to 2015, less than ten percent has been recycled.  And the latest numbers for recycling rates in the United States from 2021 are not much better.  A study conducted by the nonprofit, The Last Beach Cleanup, and the advocacy group Beyond Plastics found that in 2021, only five to six percent of the U.S.’s plastic waste was recycled.  The rest was landfilled, littered or incinerated. 

So, despite what we’ve been told for decades about recycling by the industries (largely fossil fuel companies) that profit both directly and indirectly from producing more plastic, we now know that most plastics are NOT being  recycled. 

Figure 4: Plastic waste. Photo from Greenpeace website

It’s not a stretch to say that “plastic is the new coal.”

Plastic creates greenhouse gases in practically every step of its life cycle. The production of cheap new virgin petroleum-based plastic is continuously pumped out annually. From 2000 to 2019, global plastics production doubled reaching 460 million metric tons and accounted for 3.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. 

According to one report, “plastic production releases about 1.89 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of virgin plastic produced.” 

Additionally, another report stated that as of 2020, ” the U.S. plastics industry is responsible for at least 232 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year; this amount is equivalent to the average emissions from 116 average-sized (500-megawatt) coal-fired power plants.” As the production of new plastic increases, the already miniscule impact of plastics recycling will be diminished even further. 

So, what can we do about it?

First and foremost, we must reduce our dependence on the use of throwaway, single-use plastics while concurrently holding companies accountable for the plastic pollution they generate. Just as industries are responsible for air and water pollution through regulatory laws, so must the plastic industry be held responsible. 

It must be noted that although recycling is not currently a viable solution to our plastics waste crisis, innovations will continue to expand and improve upon the process. Many companies, such as TerraCycle, are researching and implementing solid solutions for hard-to-recycle plastic and other waste products, though the massive amounts of new plastic created each year and lack of recycling infrastructure makes this endeavor challenging.

Here are some additional ways to help combat the serious problem of plastic pollution:

  • Support statewide and federal efforts to pass Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation that addresses recycling and plastic pollution. Write your representatives, and keep a watch on relevant policies in the works.
  •  Refuse all single-use plastics, disposable plastics. Make the switch from plastic containers to glass jars when buying groceries. 
  • Encourage coffee shops and restaurants  you love to make the switch from disposable cutlery, cups and packaging to in-house washable and reusable options and to design Bring Your Own (BYO) messaging to encourage their customers wanting take it to-go. 
  • Join the reusables revolution and BringIt! In collaboration with local Durango businesses, Cream Bean Berry, Sew Alpine and WeFill, Live Creative Studio is proud to lead the charge for a more sustainable, conscious community by encouraging visitors and locals alike to bring their own reusable cups and cutlery sets to restaurants and cafes around town. Buy your own reusables at WeFill and the Durango Visitors Center or purchase at Cream Bean Berry for a discount!
  • When available, buy products made with recycled plastics rather than from virgin plastic. This helps recyclers compete with virgin plastic producers by increasing demand for recyclables.
  • Support your local refill station by refilling your old plastic bottles and other containers rather than buying new ones. Many household products may be purchased via refilling, such as dishwashing liquid, shampoos and conditioners, laundry detergent, glass cleaner, facial products and so much more. Here in Durango, we go to WeFill!
  • Support your local sustainable businesses and purchase sustainable goods. There is a next generation material revolution going on. You can now find most of what you want/need for your home and lifestyle made out of organic, recycled, upcycled, and even food waste materials (i.e mushrooms, pineapple, apples, cactus and more). 
  • Learn more about the plastic crisis we are facing and share the plastic-free movement with others. Together we can change the mindsets around plastic, and help spread the word! Share what you learn with others through conversations and social media platforms. Transformation takes time.

And for those of you who are curious, here is the original Keep America Beautiful PSA featuring the “Crying Indian”.

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Blog about reusables and sustainable packaging.

Live Creative Studio is a sustainable business, marketing, and shopping hub. Our Creative Studio offers authentic marketing, branding, and sustainable business expertise to ethical, sustainable, and purpose brands. And our Lifestyle Team brings the curious and the conscious inspiring sustainable lifestyle, zero waste tips, and examples of innovation changing business for good.

Back to the Future Packaging—The Reusable

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     Photo by Jeremy Bishop

“There is no such thing as ‘away.’ When we throw anything away, it must go somewhere.”    

–Annie Leonard, co-executive director of Greenpeace-USA

Cream Bean Berry founder and owner Katie Burford had a dilemma regarding how best to serve up her crazy delicious, homemade artisanal ice cream to customers in Durango, Colorado, in the most environmentally friendly and minimal-waste possible way.

Of course, those who ordered edible containers, such as the cake, sugar, and waffle cones, eliminated the issue. But those customers who wanted disposable cups and spoons for their scoops of ice cream and milkshakes challenged the sustainably-minded business owner. Ultimately, this set her on a path to explore ways of minimizing the waste and climate impacts associated with single-use, throwaway containers and cutlery.

“When I began, I was using wooden spoons because those were the most biodegradable-friendly option,” Burford said. “But pretty quickly, I started getting feedback that some people have an aversion to the sensation of wood in their mouth. Too much like a tongue depressor”, she said.

Burford was already using home-compostable cups (and corresponding composting receptacles in her shop) for her scoops. However, she was still mulling over possible solutions for her to-go spoons, straws, and milkshake/drink containers. Reluctant to contribute to more disposable plastic waste going to the landfill, Burford tried the go-to alternative commonly used in many food and beverage businesses around town: BPI-certified compostable, cornstarch-based PLA bioplastics for her larger cups, spoons, and straws. With the assistance of Durango-based Table to Farm Compost to assess the local composability of these products, Burford soon realized these products were not going to break down easily and certainly not at the local level.

Like most PLA-based bioplastic products, there are specific temperature and pressure parameters required for these products to break down; these parameters are found only in specific industrial compost facilities absent in most backyard and commercial composting facilities.

Furthermore, even if these products were locally compostable, how would the spoon or straw even make it to the compost facility if people don’t have a compost bin handy to throw them into, whether at their own home, hotel or strolling downtown? Once in the landfill, these bioplastic products contribute to methane and other greenhouse gas emissions as any other organic product would, thus eliminating the perceived “less waste” benefit from purchasing the “compostable” alternatives.

Burford wondered, what ARE the best options for packaging if you want to benefit the planet? 

For sustainable business owners like Burford, packaging and takeaway service-ware containers that reduce the amount of end-of-life waste thrown away (I’m looking at you, plastic) pose a real challenge.

Sustainable, eco-friendly packaging is a complicated subject and there is not one magic bullet solution. While all materials- plastic, compostable, paper, aluminum, glass, etc.- have varying limitations and impacts across different environmental metrics, fossil fuel-based plastic is by far the most damaging to sea life and a major contributor to climate change as more and more fossil fuel companies grow their plastic production. For the rest-people and planet- impact trade-offs are inevitable when considering overall energy use, water use, production pollution, land requirements, waste generation, and ecosystem integrity.

Although the most appropriate sustainable packaging solution will look different for each unique business, one unifying principle remains: 

We must wean ourselves from disposable plastics, and other single-use materials while embracing a new approach that minimizes environmental impacts and focuses on climate-smart strategies.

Here are some of the reasons why:

Source: Reuse Wins Report Prepared by Upstream

Shifting the Packaging Paradigm to a Circular Economy Model

“In our current economy, we take materials from the Earth, make products from them, and eventually throw them away as waste – the process is linear. In a circular economy, by contrast, we stop waste being produced in the first place.” -Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

The traditional linear economic model of materials production is rife with inefficiencies built into the system. Under this model, raw materials are extracted from the earth and transformed into products, used, and then thrown away as waste. In the case of packaging, the actual use-time of these products is relatively short.

 Photo by The Blowup

As the Ellen MacArthur Foundation aptly describes, the circular economy model is based on three underlying principles:

  • The elimination of waste and pollution.
  • The circulation of products and materials.
  • The regeneration of natural systems.

This model moves the focus from extraction and end-of-life waste to reuse and regeneration, thereby transitioning away from finite resources that ultimately result in landfill trash and a substantial carbon footprint after a limited-time usage. Given the amount of waste and greenhouse gas emissions produced in the packaging industry, it seems advantageous to minimize as best we can the environmental impacts associated with each step in a packaging materials’ life cycle and participate in more innovative, circular approaches that many companies are now embracing.

Customers seem to agree. Around 60% of all packaging material results from goods purchased by consumers. According to a 2020 study conducted by Forbes, 65% of consumers seek out products that they perceive as helping them live a more sustainable and socially responsible life; 60% buy products from companies that are socially and/or environmentally responsible. And just recently, Yelp added a “eco-friendly businesses” search filter to their app, where users may now find EV charging stations, businesses with plastic-free packaging, which businesses support “bring your own container” initiatives and if reusable tableware is offered.

As the public becomes more aware of the sustainability implications of their purchases and EPR legislation (extended producer responsibility) gains traction, the demand for greater sustainable options in packaging will rise. Consequently, the packaging industry may be forced to follow suit and continue transitioning to a more circular economic model, which seeks to design out waste and pollution on the front end while also acknowledging the role of recycling and recirculating materials and products on the back end, as progress is made on the path to greater sustainability.

bringit-hu-nu-ocean-cup
Hunu Reusable Silicon Cup

“Packaging communicates more than just a product’s contents; it’s an opportunity to share your company’s values and impact on people and the planet.” –The Climate Collaborative

Here are just a few examples of the many businesses worldwide that are already shifting the sustainable packaging concept in innovative ways:

  • EcoEnclose– offers custom, eco-friendly shipping solutions including 100% recycled mailers, recycled and post-consumer waste cardboard shipping and retail boxes, and protective packaging, including recycled tissue paper and upcycled corrugated bubble wrap.
  • Genecis– a “cleantech” startup that is turning food waste into biodegradable and compostable PHA bioplastics for a variety of industries, including packaging. Unlike the PLA bioplastic more commonly found in today’s “compostable” cups and other servicewares, PHA materials do not require an industrial composting facility to break down. One pilot study conducted by the company in Toronto, resulted in the diversion of 1,430 kilograms of food waste and 1,210 kilograms of CO2 gas emissions in six months. Wow!
  • Notpla– offers 100% natural, biodegradable and home-compostable to-go ketchup condiments and to-go boxes without the inner plastic coating found in most takeaway boxes that make them unrecyclable. These products are made from seaweed and plants, and also include Oohos- their edible hydration packages that serve as an alternative to plastic cups and bottles at sporting events.
  • Ecovative– uses mushroom roots (mycelium) and low-value agricultural feedstock to make fully compostable packaging products that can be easily composted at home. It breaks down after use just as it would in the natural world.
human-Kind-products
Product Packaging Designed for Reuse by Humankind

The food and beverage industry contributes substantially to packaging waste, most of which is single-use plastic. Though recycled materials do make a better environmental choice for packaging compared to the use of virgin materials, recycling has challenges as well. In the case of food and beverage serviceware, much of what is thrown in the recycle bin is often too dirty to be recycled and ultimately ends up in a landfill, an incinerator, or the environment. Also, as some materials are recycled for re-use, their quality decreases, as is the case with both paper and plastic recycling.  Plastic may be recycled two to three times, while paper is recycled five to seven times. Both glass and aluminum, scrap metals may be recycled an unlimited number of times.

Packaging, Circularity and the Reusables Revolution

Source: Reuse Wins Report Prepared by Upstream

“For the planet, re-use beats single-use every time.” -Miriam Gordon, “Reuse Wins”

What is now emerging as a climate-smart solution to these challenges around packaging materials, particularly in the food and beverage industry, is the comeback of reusables. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation conducted an assessment on more than 100 reuse models and found that “reuse” results in significant benefits to not only the planet but to consumers and businesses as well. The number of innovative companies jumping into the reuse model are growing fast!

For example, RePack offers reusable mailing packaging for e-commerce businesses and more. The mailing packages are made from post-waste recycled polypropylene plastic BUT are upcycled at the end-of-life into purses and bags.

Loop offers a global platform for reusable packaging. They work with a variety of brands and manufacturers to bring refillable versions of single-use products, such as condiments, shampoo bottles, coffee and cleaning products. Once emptied, containers are returned for reuse using reusable shipping material and return delivery service provided by UPS.

In the food and beverage service sectors, reusables are generating significant benefits to the battle against single-use disposables such as cups, cutlery, straws, boxes and other takeaway containers through the use of reusable containers that may be returned, cleaned and sanitized and then used again. Comparing the overall environmental impact, including waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions, of reusables versus disposables of varying materials shows reusables as the smarter option moving forward.

Some shining examples (among many others) in this sector include Durham Green-To-Go, Dispatch Goods, Deliver Zero and Go Box.

Graphic provided by www.upstream.com

BringIt!
Introducing the Circular Model to Our Durango Community

Cream Bean Berry’s Katie Burford contacted Live Creative Studio’s Claire Attkisson with the previously mentioned dilemma and an idea. Seeking an answer to the disposable, single-use waste her business generated annually, Burford began contemplating solutions utilizing the reusable model. Burford soon hired Live Creative Studio, to develop a “bring your own” branding and marketing campaign.

Joining forces with Live Creative Studio, and in partnership with local sustainable businesses Sew Alpine and WeFill, an initiative to bring the circular model to Cream Bean Berry and Durango was hatched.  Having already created Carbon Crunch, a sustainable food business incubator with a focus on food packaging waste and climate change, Live Creative Studio was excited to assist in this endeavor.

What began as a sustainable marketing campaign for Cream Bean Berry, BringIt! has turned into a community-wide campaign to encourage locals and visitors alike to bring their own cups, bags, and utensils when they order to-go from local restaurants. 

Through the BringIt! project and other Carbon Crunch projects, such as the one currently exploring locally compostable options available for takeaway food and beverage packaging, Live Creative Studio aims to provide leadership and guidance for sustainable businesses looking to transition to a more circular packaging model.

For more information on BringIt! and Carbon Crunch or on how to better incorporate the circular model into your business’s packaging needs, feel free to contact us at claire@livecreativestudios.com.

We’re happy to help you reach your goals around sustainable packaging!

cream-bean-berry-bring-it-campaign

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Blog about reusables and sustainable packaging.

Live Creative Studio is a sustainable business, marketing, and shopping hub. Our Creative Studio offers authentic marketing, branding, and sustainable business expertise to ethical, sustainable, and purpose brands. And our Lifestyle Team brings the curious and the conscious inspiring sustainable lifestyle, zero waste tips, and examples of innovation changing business for good.

More Plastics Than Fish? Getting Real On How to Stop Drowning in Plastic Waste

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By Kathleen O’Connor with sustainable innovation additions by Claire Attkisson

“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall

Let’s talk about plastic. As I glance around my home office, I notice it all around me: the various pens on my desk, the lens caps on my binoculars, my sparkly phone case, the leftover Lego bricks on the floor from my son’s impromptu building project, and in my laptop as I type. But, of course, a stroll down any aisle in your local grocery store will aptly show just how prolific plastic is. 

A Wave of Plastic

Rising to popularity in the 1950s as “throw away” culture was beginning to take root with the creation of plastic plates, glasses, cutlery, and other products deemed disposable, global production today accounts for approximately 407 million tons of plastic annually. Plastics became the perfect tool to convince women from the “Rosie the Riveter” WWII era to come home, give men “their” jobs back, and fall in love with cleaning, cooking, and raising the kids. The plastic revolution made convenience synonymous with progress and the future. Remember, in the famous movie “The Graduate” the line: “I’ll give you one word, son, that will define your future: plastics.”  What a cultural marketing campaign!

Plastic is everywhere.

Fast forward to today, and almost everything, it seems, is at least partially made of plastic. More than one million plastic bags are used every minute worldwide, with an average use time of around 15 minutes and a landfill decomposition rate ranging from 500 to 1,000 years. Americans alone throw away about 35 billion plastic water bottles annually. And as we’ve learned in the last decade, recycling is not the silver bullet solution to the plastic predicament we hoped it would be. Not all of our plastic is recyclable, and those plastics that are recycled eventually end up in the landfill or are incinerated anyway due to quality degradation during the recycling process. Most of these plastics can only be recycled once or twice, and recycling is often cost-prohibitive compared to producing new plastic.

In addition, The World Economic Forum estimates that 4-8% of annual global oil consumption is associated with plastics. Big oil is now scrambling to move its operations to even more plastic production as fossil fuel companies struggle to stay in business in the midst of the climate crisis. As if we could be duped again into thinking plastics aren’t made from fossil fuels. Or can we be?

Packaging is a considerable part of the plastics predicament. Though serving an essential purpose for the transport and quality of perishable food products, this benefit comes at a cost. In 2015, 42% of all plastic production was attributed to the packaging industry. Packaging contributes to more than half of all plastic waste globally.

No Plastic Here

Wait, let’s turn the story around

Convenience is pretty cool, right? What if instead of using chemicals and fossil fuels to create the Dixie Cup revolution, we had used natural, compostable materials that really could be “thrown away” or even eaten by the very fish and turtles that today are being suffocated by plastic? What if we designed our convenience packaging to actually be recycled and upcycled again and again? You see, the problem is not so much the idea of convenience, as it was how the Dixie Cup and so much more were designed that is the heart of the problem today.

According to architect and sustainability/circularity thought leader, William McDonough, “design is a signal of intention.” He further argues that “waste” and “pollution” are a consequence of bad design. Nearly 30% of all carbon released into the air come from our “stuff”; our clothing, chairs, bags, products and goods.

Important choices are made in the design stage.

Circular design is about changing the choices we make at the beginning of the design process. Designs also includes how people interact with goods and services and systems along their journey, such as with logistics, collection, and infrastructure systems. In the case of physical products, how different materials are combined and how easily they can be reused, repaired, refurbished, or disassembled is also decided at the design stage.

These crucial choices radiate across the entire design system, affecting sourcing, production, and how we use things. Importantly, they also determine ‘what happens next’ and what is possible after something has been used. Does it become waste? Or can it be part of a circular economy, where waste is designed out and materials are destined for one valuable application after another?

It’s hard to reverse the impacts of design decisions once they are implemented. Design decisions often lead to long-term investments that lock us into a certain model for years to come. As Radjou and Prabhu in their book Frugal Innovation argue, “over 70% of a product’s life-cycle costs and environmental footprint is determined during its design phase.”

Fast Growing Bamboo is One Plastic Alternative

Today, most of the materials we lose, and often after just one short use. 

In industries such as fashion and plastic packaging more than 80% of all materials in our products and services are destined for landfill or incinerators, with a significant amount also leaking out of the system and into natural environments. They are part of a “take-make-waste model”. We take finite resources, use them only for a short period of time, after which they are lost from the economy. This is an enormous loss. We miss out on the opportunity to keep products and materials in circulation, and with it all the creativity, labor, and energy that went into them.

That’s why we need to adopt a fundamentally different approach in the way we create the products, services, and systems around us. We need to look ‘upstream’ to tackle the challenges we are facing — tackling them at the design stage rather than treating the symptoms of problems. We need to look at systems as a whole to understand how our creations fit into the bigger picture. And we need to have an inspiring vision and framework that can work in the long run to protect instead of harm, nature and ourselves.

Circular Design and the circular economy offer such a framework, built on the principles of eliminating waste and pollution from the outset, keeping products and materials in use at their highest value, and regenerating natural systems. Just like in nature, by design everything as food for something else — materials flow from one (life) form into the next. It is a model that can work for eons. Just like it has in nature for 3.8 billion years.

By decoupling economic activity from linear material flows, it is a model that goes beyond “doing less bad” (McDonough) to being one of regeneration. 

Therefore, the more we create within the circular economy model, the better the results — for customers, businesses, society and all living things. It’s about designing better solutions for people and meeting needs within a regenerative system.

It’s easy to feel both inspired by circular design thinking and overwhelmed at the same time by the sea of plastic (pun intended), as it accumulates in our oceans and our landfills. But the good news is that how this story ends is yet to be determined. Our collective actions- what we buy (and don’t), how designers design and embrace circular principles, and businesses adopting zero tolerance for plastics in their supply chains, products, and – will have a significant and scalable impact on solving the problem.

Live Creative Studio launched the Durango Sustainable Business Guide featuring local, solution-based businesses that are address the many challenges our planet faces, including solving for plastic waste by redesigning their business models, products, and building in re-use systems. 

 

Cristin Salaz, Owner of WeFill | Durango, Colorado

WeFill Durango is one such business. Since its inception in 2018, WeFill has prevented approximately 31,935 plastic containers from landfills through its refilling station for household cleaning products, as well as for bath and beauty supplies. WeFill also provides alternative options to single-use plastic products, such as the bamboo travel cutlery set. One of these sets can eliminate the use of 1,625 plastic forks, knives, and spoons one uses throughout a lifetime. 

betty-blue-bird-homemade-candles/durango-sustainable-business-guide/
Betty Bluebird Homemade

Betty Bluebird Homemade is another Durango local business doing its part to promote sustainable practices by reducing plastic packaging in favor of reusable, recyclable, and compostable options. Betty Bluebird’s soy and beeswax candle products are all wrapped in reusable cloth napkins that can also serve as reusable wrapping paper. In addition, customers are given the option of receiving a discount on candle products when they return used candle jars, paper gift bags, packaging, and even old t-shirts and fabrics for reuse, thus providing a circular model for reducing waste.

Cura.te is also joining in to reduce plastic packaging by offering eco-friendly, plant-based alternatives to traditionally plastic-packaged products such as shampoo bars, toothpaste powders, dishwashing, and laundry soap.

These are just some of the 32 (and growing) local companies (with more highlights to come!) that are a part of the Durango Sustainable Business Guide, a one-stop shopping source for the conscientious consumer looking for more sustainable, earth-friendly options. Live Creative Studio is a sustainable business, marketing, and shopping hub. Our purpose is to empower shoppers and inform their spending choices through this guide and also through our global Sustainable Marketplace. 

Sustainable innovations that eliminate the concept of waste, use non-toxic chemicals, and reuse existing materials to generate new ones are rapidly redesigning our world of every day things, even here in our hometown of Durango. And you can make a difference just by supporting these new innovations and businesses every time you shop.

Never doubt that your daily choices can make a difference. 

  • Stats taken from OurWorldinData.org

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The Re-Use Revolution is Here: 4 Tips To Get Your Brand Competitive

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Jeans with rips, tears, and holes are all the rage these days. This trend suggests that we may be ready to wear actual used clothing with real patches. Can marketers move brands into this realm, turning patches that extend the life of a product from a signal of low-class to a signal of care?

“Built to last” used to be Ford’s tag-line; ironically however, this brilliant slogan didn’t last as the 1980’s ushered in “planned obsolescence” as a signal of “progress”. And now we’re all traumatized by the wasteful “fast fashion” movement so prevalent today, as more clothes are incinerated each year than are on the market.

What can your sustainable brand do to buck these trends? Consider integrating into your triple bottom line business model one or more of the following sustainable innovations:

1. Bring the WWII “built to last” culture back: The power of heirloom thinking

Build your purpose brand around a truly tough and long lasting product designed for 9-lives. Use high quality, durable materials. Build your marketing campaign around passing down your products to the next generation (much like the watch and jewelry industries do today).

2. Design your ethical products for the circular economy.

Cradle-to-Cradle is a brilliant sustainability framework to help you design for easy disassembly of a product at end of life, separating each material into technical and biological categories for continuous re-use. A circular economy eliminates the idea of waste and the idea of mining virgin materials.

Products built for circularity are perfect for stand-out marketing campaigns, setting your purpose brand apart as a leader, an innovator, a problem solver, and part of the solution. Don’t miss out on that opportunity to build your brand.

Example: Gugler, C2C Certified

In November 2011, Gugler GmbH succeeded in earning the first Cradle to Cradle Certified™ – Silver certificate for offset printed products. Pureprint Gold by Gugler GmbH is an offset printed product group designed to be recyclable and compostable. Based on the Pureprint Gold components, Gugler GmbH offers a wide range of offset printed paper and cardboard products such as books, magazines, cardboard children’s books, folders, brochures and folding boxes.

3. Offer your customers repair services

The outdoor industry has been a leader in the repair realm for decades. Now we’re seeing the fashion industry move in this direction. Here’s an example and a great marketing campaign (video below) to inspire you:

Barbour

Founded in 1894, Barbour has been rewaxing and repairing jackets in its South Shields, UK headquarters for almost a hundred years. Regular rewaxing (and repairs if required) extends the life of a Barbour jacket; and many wax jackets are handed down through generations of a family, making them a timeless and responsible choice.

This holiday season, Barbour created a film is based on the true story of Dudley the dachshund, who chewed his owner’s much-adored Barbour jacket. His owner sent it back to Barbour with a note from Dudley to say he was sorry.

“This is a very special Christmas campaign for us, as it’s based on a true story from one of our customers,” says Paul Wilkinson, Global Marketing and Commercial Director at Barbour. “The film highlights how much our Barbour jackets are loved and become an important part of the family. Barbour wax jackets are made to last; and if you rewax your jacket at least once a year, it could last you a lifetime — even if a naughty dachshund does decide to get his teeth into it!”

Drop it in the mail, not the landfill

The company Patagonia has even created a new brand called, Warn Wear to show how re-use isn’t just about patches, but actually recreating a new look and style, using only the best pieces of a returned product.

And more purpose-brands are doing the same. Here’s a list of our favorite purpose brands that offer a repair program:

Nudie Jeans, Mud Jeans and Hiut Denim offer free repairs for life, as well as clothing leasing models; and Eileen Fisher, Levi Strauss, The North Face and Patagonia are among the brands with marketplaces dedicated to selling their recovered and refurbished items.

Purpose, sustainable, and ethical brands have a unique opportunity to inspire their customers and fans to think, act, and spend in new ways. Don’t get left behind. Be part of the new wave of re-use and build your marketing campaign around intergenerational, nature-positive design. Pass down more than feel-good, family memories—pass down the planet too.

4. Become or Support an Upcycled Clothing Designer/Entrepreneur

Suay Sew Shop

Ditch fast fashion and embrace upcycled clothing and design. For example, support Suay Sew Shop. Suay is more than a shop it’s a movement.

Suay Sew Shop products are created from a combination of post-consumer waste, deadstock, and domestic, organically, grown fibers. We produce a diverse range of ethically made and masterfully-crafted products. Remade in Los Angeles, California. 

Cultivating upcycling as a priority will not only massively impact our planet, but our daily quality of life. 

Here’s 4 more upcycled fashion brands to support:

@psychic.outlaw

@upcycled_by_reissued

@shoploti_

@picnicwear

Cultivating upcycling as a priority will not only massively impact our planet, but our daily quality of life. Brands that embrace the re-use movement will gain competitive advantage over the next 5 years. Live Creative Studio is here to help you make this #shift.

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If you liked this and want more, subscribe to our weekly eNews Get Real— an Innovation for Good mash up of marketing and lifestyle tips and positive news about cool sustainable brands and innovators changing business for good. Get Real inspires and offers practical pro-tips to help individuals and businesses increase their positive impact.

Live Creative Studio is a sustainable business, marketing, and shopping hub. Live Creative offers strategic creative for purpose brands; strategic sustainability for any business; and a curated sustainable marketplace for everyone to shop their values every day.

Good Design Doesn’t Just Look Unique and Function Well; it Follows the Laws of Nature

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Guest Blog by Anaïs Passera of Grown.Bio with an update by Claire Attkisson

Carbon is not the problem. Carbon is not the enemy. Carbon is a key building block of all life. It belongs. It belongs in our soil. It belongs in our bodies. It does NOT belong in such huge quantities in our atmosphere and air. This may sound insane at first. You see, sustainability has a narrative problem. The sustainability community focuses on the “moral” narrative too much and at our peril: “do good”; “be less bad” ;“do the right thing”; “zero carbon”; “net zero”….It’s easy to get caught up in this language. I do too. We see climate change as a moral cause because we are finally seeing the true cost of designing and powering an economy outside of the laws of nature: our very own human existence is hanging in the balance. It’s not “save the polar bears” time. It’s “save the humans” time. Now we’re awake. Well, at least some of us are.  

Why I take issue with the moral sustainability narrative is that it makes some of us “good” and others “bad”. This division will never lead to global change and success. Instead, McDonough (founder of cradle-to-cradle design) and Benyus (founder of biomimicry) argue that nature has already figured out how billions of species can thrive together over billions of years.

So how does nature do it? Nature’s laws of life are:

1. There is no such thing as waste, just biodegradability: death=life; waste=food;

2. Energy comes from the sun;

3. Oxygen and carbon are the bases of all life;

4. Nature competes, but mainly cooperates through symbiotic relationships. We didn’t set out to design our global economy to harm people and destroy the planet. Now we know.

Now we know carbon belongs in the Earth and in us. The sustainability narrative I’m promoting is about sharing what makes “good design”. Good design isn’t just how cool something looks or functions (yes, this is very important), but how it incorporates the laws of nature. Good design fosters life.

Grown.Bio Product Packaging

Grown.Bio is a company designing packaging and products that do just that—naturally. Grown.Bio grows material from mycelium and wast-streams, creating a fully biodegradable material that also captures and stores carbon.

Grown.Bio support the transition to a circular economy by creating a biodegradable product through a production process that is CO2 negative. It is the ONLY material, together with algae, that is capable of acting as a carbon sink.

Grown.Bio Planter

How is this possible? Mycelium is a living organism that captures CO2 from the atmosphere during its growth process and stores it in the material. How wonderful is that!

Mycelium is the root system of mushrooms. This allows Grown.Bio to literally grow products such as packaging, insulation panels or interior design objects and furniture. Mycelium has a binding effect and ensures that the grown network of fungal threads glues a substrate together.

Grown.Bio Packaging

Any product shape and size can be ‘grown’ in a mold. The process takes about 5 days, after which the product is removed from the mold to be dried in an oven. This stops the growth process of the mycelium and therefore ensures a sturdy material!

Products made with Mycelium are a sustainable alternative to plastic-based materials such as polystyrene foam. Due to its properties, it can perfectly serve as protective packaging or insulating panels.

Due to its lightweight, velvet touch texture, many companies have already showed interest in changing the way they design and use packaging. A few examples are MyBacs and Haeckels.

Grown.Bio Lighting

Why is this innovation a circular solution? Since Mycelium packaging is a biological nutrient free of toxins and is 100% biodegradable, its end of life is either as an object of interest in your home as a newspaper holder, a candle holder, a pot for a plant, and more. Mycelium packaging also makes for a healthy compost for your home garden: when broken into small pieces, the parts decompose within a few months.

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About Grown.Bio: Our mission is to make a positive impact by changing the way people and companies see and use packaging. These days, it is essential to work together with nature; we grow living organisms into shapes that are useful and then biodegradable. It is the story of circular materials that makes our product as beautiful as it is!

www.grown.bio

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Live Creative Studio is a sustainable business, marketing, and shopping hub. Live Creative offers strategic creative for purpose brands; strategic sustainability for any business; and a curated sustainable marketplace for everyone to shop their values every day.

Join the Sustainable Food Revolution: Waste Not, Want Not

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sustainable-food-innovations-blog-family-meal
Farm Fresh Family Meal

How can we re-design a food system that supports farmers and the land, is truly healthy, and results in a life-supporting local and global economy poised to feed billions?

We’re amazed at what we found out researching these questions. Human innovation, ingenuity, and creativity seem to thrive when times are tough, and we finally recognize natures design constraints. Our blog this month shares cool stories of revolutionary food innovations sprouting up across the globe that are beginning to define a sustainable food paradigm by addressing world hunger, climate change, and turn food deserts into abundant nutrient oasis’…it’s happening, people!

Growing Food in the COVID Context

We humans invented Democracy and we went to the moon—testaments to human potential; yet in crisis it turns out that our survival depends, not on self driving cars or appliances that talk back to us in English and Finnish, but rather on the same basic building blocks that all animals require: clean food and water and washing our hands (that is to say, hygiene). The call is out to return there, to remember who and what we are; to pause (a different kind of action) and look back to what we’ve created and manufactured for growth and progress, and use our new innovative thinking, to get the basics—food, drink, exercise—right. How we do this, our purpose, is the “secret ingredient” or the magic, to make surviving/sustaining our compelling collective cause and lifelong endeavor.

Self-care, at its most generous, is the conversation between friends, companies, school systems, countries. Taking care of each other and our world. Sustainability as the “new normal” can redefine definitions of progress and inspire tremendous design and creative innovation.  Small and big businesses alike know this more acutely now, as ESG investing is out performing standard investing during the crisis. Caring about people and the planet is the new competitive advantage for business. “We, the people”, care what happens to our world, our home. COVID points to the fact that human encroachment on wild land is bringing human contact ever closer to new life-threatening diseases. For growing numbers of people, a spot-light is shining on our economic and business as usual model. Our global economy connects us all. The time is now to design a life-sustaining economy. This is no longer abstract. COVID makes it real.

farmers-market-sustainable-innovation-food-blof
Farmers Market Bounty

Inspiring Food Innovation Companies You Should Know and Support

There are five trends emerging in restaurants that we will once again leave our homes to dine in—likely, with greater elbow room. Pockets of sustainability-inspired venues have been popping up across our country and others; now the movement is inspired, bringing whole new tastes and smells, and acres and networks that create purpose and repurpose to what and how we eat food. There is a tacit understanding and trust between patron and establishment on the terms of their relationship. “Infusion” is not in the tiring details of self-conscious waiter’s recitations (thyme and whats-its in meat, pistachios in chocolate chip ice cream.) It is trust that the triple bottom line (people, planet, profit) is infused in the fabric of the menus and how the business operates.

The meals we make and bring to our table require the same standards. We cringe at what we perceive as the inhumane acts of taking fins from sharks and throwing the bodies back into the ocean. We are care about where our food comes from and where it goes.

Our nomadic ancestors chased their prey into canyons and slaughtered them. It was their only way and they used every bit of the animals they caught. We are moving away from the mass slaughter idea and embracing the habit of using the whole animal once again. Restaurants and chefs are often personally connected to local butchers, farms, and fish nurseries.

London-Meat-Free-Buther-Food-innovation-blog
London’s First Meat Free Butcher Shop

Then there’s the “Beyond Meat” movement. London just opened its first “Meat Free Butcher Shop“. An in-store butcher, trained in plant-based cooking, will do live demonstrations of meat-free recipes and give tips to customers on how to create mouth-watering vegetarian and vegan dishes at home. Customers will be able to choose from 20 animal-free products, including the likes of BBQ-pulled jackfruit, chorizo-style Shroomdogs, meatless bacon, veggie ribz and Moroccan vegbabs. All purchases will be weighed and wrapped just like in a traditional butchery.

Spoiler Alert

Composting our food waste is a successful end of life solution for farms and individuals, however, for grocery stores this is simply not done. What if we knew when food was going to spoil on grocery store shelves before it spoils?  Spoiler Alert is a new company doing just that—using data to manage waste and unsold inventory so effectively that they are helping their customers feed the most needy as a result. “Since the start of our pilot program with Spoiler Alert, we were able to donate over 1.5 million meals over the last year” said Laura McCord, Executive Director of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility at KeHE, a national food distributor.

ReFED 

ReFED is another food innovation company that has created a road map of 27 different ways to reduce food waste, while creating new jobs. Imagine that—no more Jobs vs. the environment grid lock! The organization has launched the ReFED COVID-19 Food Waste Solutions Fund to quickly deliver vital funding to organizations that can rapidly scale food waste reduction and couple them with hunger-relief organizations.

stockton-CA-farm-to-family-program-sustainable-food-innovation-blog
Stockton, CA Farm-To-Family Program

Meanwhile, in California, the #1 agricultural producer in the US, amidst the COVID pandemic Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced an expansion of the state’s “Farm to Family” program, that will aim to address the disconnect between the state’s farmers — who, since the onset of the pandemic, are experiencing a 50 percent drop in demand for their mostly perishable food — and food banks, many of which are scrambling to meet skyrocketing demand from families in need.

The initiative will enable food-insecure people across the state to receive roughly 20 million pounds of fresh, locally produced food per month. Participants will receive fresh food boxes — each of which feeds a family for three to four days.

Upcycled Food —What?

“Upcycled Food” is not as bad as it sounds (we’re not talking mother birds regurgitating into their chick’s hungry mouths!). It’s a fast growing fledgling industry, which creates new, valuable food products out of the overlooked nutrients falling through the cracks in our food system. Imagine: vegetable stems turned into chips and leftover juice pulp transformed into granola to surplus bread (reborn as beer!). This spring, food waste prevention nonprofit, ReFed, released a census that said 11 such food companies existed in 2011. In 2017, there are 64 and counting. An amazing 400-and-growing upcycled products are currently on the market (according to the Upcycled Food Association—yep, there is one!)

upcycled-food-brands-food-innovation-blog
Upcycled Food Brands

An Upcycled Economy is Climate Positive

Last year, Future Market Insights produced a report in which it estimated that the value of the upcycled food economy was more than $46 billion, and predicted a five percent compound annual growth rate over the next decade. This is real money!

According to scientific and policy experts, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Project Drawdown, the world leaders on ranking climate change solutions, rank reducing food waste as the number one solution to the climate crisis.

According to the Upcycled Food Association upcycled food businesses are currently preventing at least eight million pounds of food waste per year, equivalent to millions of pounds of CO2 emissions prevented, and millions of gallons of water saved. 

As the Great Depression era taught my grandparents to save and reuse everything, this same ethic is being recognized again in the era of COVID as a key driver of a new life supporting upcycled food economy.

Business innovation is leading the way, are you ready to get on a much more fun and creative merry-go-round and reinvent business as a force for good? Join us.

food-waste-scraps-food-innovation-blog
Waste Equals Food

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If you liked this and want more, join us by subscribing to our weekly eNews Get Real— an Innovation for Good mash up of marketing and lifestyle tips and positive news about cool sustainable brands and innovators changing business for good. Get Real inspires and offers practical pro-tips to help individuals and businesses increase their positive impact.

Live Creative Studio is a sustainable business, marketing, and shopping hub. Live Creative offers strategic creative for purpose brands; strategic sustainability for any business; and a curated sustainable marketplace for everyone to shop their values every day.