Episode 7: How Your Company Can Help Solve the Ocean Plastic Problem
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Ocean plastics are a significant problem we are currently facing. In this episode, Tad explains how plastic actually gets into the ocean, what companies can do to solve the ocean plastic problem, and how consumers can help as well.
How does plastic actually get into the ocean?
Plastic gets into the ocean through a few different ways. There are situations during a waste collection in a community where plastic waste can make it’s way into the environment. For example, when we put out our recycling in our open top recycling bins, you can get a really big windstorm and those bins will be blown all over the neighborhood. The plastics in those bins, like plastic water and soda bottles, end up flowing along the gutter into the storm drains where they eventually run into creeks. The other way plastic gets into the environment is through littering. Littering can happen when people throw materials out of their vehicles, when people leave trash on the ground, or when people don't put materials in the right place for disposal. Sometimes trash blows out of the back of trash trucks when they're driving, or you could even have flash flooding where materials get washed off different properties. These plastic bottles and film plastics get onto the land in one of these ways, and eventually get into storm drains and small creeks. Once they get to the small creeks, they run into bigger creeks through the watershed. They keep making their way through all these waterways until they finally flow into the ocean. Once these materials get onto the land or in small creeks, they will eventually end up in the ocean.
WHAT CAN COMPANIES DO TO SOLVE THE OCEAN PLASTIC PROBLEM?
A few different bottling companies are making commitments to recover used plastic bottles. Water bottles, soda bottles, and beverage containers are really valuable materials. When collected properly, and then managed and recycled, they can actually be recycled back into themselves. We completed a closed loop certification for a beverage company that actually worked out a deal with one of their online retailers to take back all the plastic bottles from products that they sell. The online retailer collects all the bottles back from their customers and returns the used bottles to the producer. Then they go through a complete process of recycling those bottles and turning them back into a new beverage bottles. If more companies would step up like this, that would be a really big help to facilitate the collection of those materials and ensure that they are coming back and being recycled back into other useful materials instead of ending up in the environment.
The other thing that is really important is education. Bottlers tend to get a bad rap because people see their labels on the bottles in the ocean, but retailers have a big responsibility too. The stores that sell these materials usually provide recycling containers and trash containers at these locations, but there still are lot of people that don't do the right thing and they end up throwing these on the ground. We’re working with some different companies to promote the recovery of these materials. We are letting people know that when they do actually properly recycle them, they can turn into really valuable materials. They can possibly get upcycled into building materials, into other beverage bottles, or different things like that. There are also companies doing some really neat things right now. We recently did some Life Cycle Assessment work for the Hefty Energy Bag. The Hefty Energy Bag is a program that facilitates the collection of plastics that aren't easy to put in your recycling bin. These can include film plastics like chip bags and cookie bags. Once these materials are collected, they can be used for a few different things such as use as a fuel in cement kilns. They can also be sent to pyrolysis plants where they can take those materials and turn them back into an oil that can be made back into other plastics. Finally, some of them are going off and being blended into building materials. We're seeing companies stepping up and starting to provide the infrastructure because that's where our big limitations are.
hOW CAN CONSUMERS HELP SOLVE THE OCEAN PLASTIC PROBLEM?
Consumers can make sure that they are making conscious decisions on the products they purchase. They should be communicating with the manufacturers of these products, and also the stores and fast food restaurants that they frequent. Consumers should be letting these outlets know there's a problem because they are seeing packaging and materials all over their community because people are littering. Consumers should be requesting that these companies to step up and educate their customers, to provide the proper containers at their locations, and encouraging their customers to dispose of these materials properly. It is also important to continue supporting companies that are doing the right thing. Consumers can also help by being avid recyclers in their own lives and try to choose products that have less packaging. We personally encourage and support companies that are providing products with minimized packaging. At our company, we encourage our clients to think about alternatives for recovering their materials to turn them back into useful products instead of wasting them. There's a really small percentage of plastics that actually get recovered and recycled back into products. However, there's a tremendous demand for these recycled materials. We were on the phone yesterday with a company that does plastics recycling and they are really interested in polypropylene, which is a material that might be used to make yogurt cups. Plastic take-out containers and large storage boxes can also be made of polypropylene. Those big, clear storage boxes are highly recyclable and very valuable materials, and there's a lot of interest in recovering them. In conclusion, do your part. If you are buying products, make the right selection. Support companies that are really interested in reducing plastic waste. Make sure you're disposing of these materials properly by putting them in the right bins. Finally, don’t litter.
