Designing Out Plastic Waste

By now most of us are clearly aware of the worldwide plastic crisis that has developed over the last 60+ years. The problem is primarily driven by the growth of disposable plastic packaging which often finds its way into the environment where is slowly degrades and contaminates the biosphere. Microplastics have been found in every corner of the world from the depths of our oceans to the snow on Mt Everest and many recent news stories report the average human consumes up to a credit card’s worth of plastic every week through contaminated food and water. Recycling initiatives around the world are expanding to capture and re-purpose millions of tonnes annually, but these initiatives only address a small fraction of global plastic production which is generally manufactured from virgin petroleum feed stocks. While mechanical and chemical recycling are a critical part of mitigating overall plastic waste, the problem will only be solved by minimizing the production and use of plastics, especially in single use applications.

Here are five questions companies and designers should consider before incorporating plastics into their products.

1. Do I we really need to use plastic?

Traditional plastics are cheap, light-weight, easy to form and resistant to environmental impacts. These attributes make them very attractive to manufacturers and are the reasons they are ubiquitous; however all applications do not require these performance characteristics. There are often alternative materials that can have a lower environmental impact, provide a greater user experience and are more practical for their ultimate use. For example, single-use cutlery and service items that only require a few hours of service life at most, do not need to be made of a material that will survive the millennium when natural fibers like bamboo, sugarcane pulp and pressed palm leaves can provide the same performance while providing a material lifecycle relative to their use.

2. Can we source a bio-based plastic?

In cases where the characteristics of plastics are essential to a products’ function or manufacturing, there are a range of bio-based plastics that could be substituted for petroleum derived polymers. Often these materials can have similar negative impacts to their petro-counterparts upon disposal, however they still offer the benefit of being derived from renewable resources, having lower carbon footprint and in certain cases, the ability to be composted or recycled.

3. Can we use Post Consumer Recycled PCR plastics?

When plastics must be used, sourcing recycled materials will not only reduce the negative impacts and volume of virgin plastic production, but can also support the industries working towards a circular supply chain. Even when PCR is blended with virgin feedstocks or used in limited elements of a product, the effort can still have a significant impact reducing new plastic production, especially at scale.

4. What happens at the end of product life?

For the small amount of plastic that is recovered and recycled at end of use, ease of collection and separation are critical to their recyclability and market value. Designing products so that the unique materials within their construction can be easily identified and separated will make a large difference in likelihood that they will be recovered. There has also been a growing trend, rooted in extended producer responsibility, to develop producer take-back programs to ensure that products make it into proper recycling streams after use. More an more municipalities are beginning to require that companies take responsibility for their products after use and those who are proactively designing with these regulations in mind stand to hold an advantage in the marketplace.

5. What about re-use?

Our modern consumer culture has become accustomed to the convenience of disposability, especially when it comes to packaging and service items. Generally, consumers want to purchase the product within the packaging and not the packaging itself, so a re-usable delivery methods with durable containers, based on the old milk bottle model, are re-emerging. Currently there are several start-ups around the world with the focus of providing re-use as a service. This business model creates disposable-level convenience for customers while helping businesses transition away from disposables without having to develop all of their own re-use packaging and logistics. Implementing re-usable packaging system can eliminate packaging waste while improving a products’ environmental impact, user experience and potentially long-term cost.

A variety of solutions are required to get the plastic waste crisis under control. Every company and product will require a unique approach, but it is important to recognize that options do exist and need to be designed into the product or service on the front end to have the biggest positive impact down-stream.