We produce well over 200 billion pounds of plastic each year.\u00a0 This is a well-documented environmental issue of grim proportions; plastic is literally trashing our planet.\u00a0 Brands, manufactures and consumers are fully aware and the search for solutions is in full swing.\u00a0 Fortunately, our awareness has spurred incredible technological advances to address this problem, some better than others.<\/p>\n
As a brand, being environmentally accountable is a trait that serves well in the marketplace.\u00a0 It\u2019s a hallmark that projects the greater good.\u00a0 But in a Cass Sunstein<\/a> meets George Orwell<\/a> world,\u00a0 where the FTC, EPA, FDA, IRS, (insert acronym), \u00a0are watching your every move and new terms such as Extended Producer Responsibility emerge, it can be paralyzing to make that technological decision.\u00a0 You want to choose something that is justifiable, reliable and proven.<\/p>\n In a small microcosm of the larger issue, we catch a glimpse of the efforts and problems we face.\u00a0 In a recent article Coffee Makers wrestling with recyclability of single-serve pods<\/a>, \u00a0TerraCycle<\/a> is boasting about recovering 25 million coffee capsules over the last couple years, but has essentially found no use for them.\u00a0 Are we to understand that companies are paying TerraCycle to collect and store these things in some warehouse?\u00a0 Add to this,\u00a0according to the article, 41 million adults drink a coffee made in a single-cup brewer every day.\u00a0 So in a two year effort, TerraCycle could not recover a single days\u2019 worth of coffee capsules?\u00a0 Clearly, the Customary Disposal Method for this application is the garbage, in other words, the Landfill.\u00a0\u00a0 Let\u2019s not jump on a bandwagon for the sake of waiving a green flag, the overall effect is useless.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s one, California is now floating a new Bill<\/a> to put the burden on companies to find solutions for plastic waste in our waterways.\u00a0 The same State that bans the claim of biodegradable materials (and has sued companies legitimately making those claims), is now requiring brands and manufacturers to seek out and implement biodegradable solutions?? Are they expecting producers to put their necks on the line in search for innovation? Good luck taking that bait!<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the principle concern of environmental safety is being contaminated with agendas that have not proven capable of long term sustainability.\u00a0 There is a tendency to gravitate towards colorful Green language instead of clear, black and white solutions.\u00a0 Today, we have the capability to address plastic pollution on an incredible scale, without contamination.\u00a0 Unfortunately, too many producers are paralyzed with uncertainty or are turning to the least point of resistance.<\/p>\n A perfect example is the less than\u00a0bold stand\u00a0that one of the\u00a0largest producers of bottled water took, “Lightweighting”.\u00a0 Holy crap! That\u2019s it?\u00a0 Reduce your costs and provide a rigid bag for a bottle? \u00a0C\u2019mon\u2026the “commitment to minimizing the environmental impact\u201d is lackluster., considering 50 billion plastic water bottles end up in U.S. landfills each year.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s my humble opinion.\u00a0 Within a generation, we have witnessed the birth of the plastic EVERYTHING.\u00a0 We began filling-up our Landfills with EVERYTHING and noticed NOTHING was reprocessing back into nature.\u00a0\u00a0 The raging river of plastic is pouring onto our planet and we place the majority of this material in Landfills.\u00a0\u00a0 There is a biodegradation process in Landfills that is beaming with potential and we have the proven ability to produce, capture and harness one of the most inexpensive and cleanest energy resources<\/a> and fundamentally address our plastic pollution problem.<\/p>\n Recycling is an industry I support, but the numbers don\u2019t lie and the goal is not to prop-up one particular industry, it\u2019s to clean our planet<\/strong><\/u>.\u00a0 We need to stop kidding ourselves and start dealing with reality.\u00a0 I also understand Sourcing from renewable resources, but harvesting Corn for plastic in order to claim “Compostable” is absolutely wrong.\u00a0 I\u2019ve lived in many places over the years and I have yet to find my local Industrial Composting facility.\u00a0 But if I did, I would respectfully not bring them my plastic waste.\u00a0 Let\u2019s face it, you can claim it, but it\u2019s not going there and where it is going, this technology does nothing.\u00a0 \u00a0For those adding metal into the equation, this technology is borderline criminal.\u00a0 That probably explains the parasitic tendencies of this technology in underdeveloped countries.\u00a0 Both of these technologies have an adverse effect on our Food Source\/Supply, which alone is highly irresponsible.<\/p>\n When making the decision on how to be accountable for your Plastic Footprint, know what is out there, get the full story and get the proof that it performs as claimed.\u00a0 If you stand in the light of truth, you will be safe.\u00a0 70% is greater than 30%, 2+2=4, what\u2019s right is right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We produce well over 200 billion pounds of plastic each year.\u00a0 This is a well-documented environmental issue of grim proportions; plastic is literally trashing our planet.\u00a0 Brands, manufactures and consumers are fully aware and the search for solutions is in full swing.\u00a0 Fortunately, our awareness has spurred incredible technological advances to address this problem, some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[737,356,736,1053,738,999,4,246,740,739,743],"tags":[77,296,310,485,723,52,35,597,80,819,835,291],"class_list":["post-2112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biodegradation-2","category-bioplastic","category-environmental-news","category-good-causes","category-green-marketing-2","category-labeling-and-claims-2","category-latest-news","category-plastic-news","category-product-innovation","category-recycling-2","category-thought-provoking","tag-biodegradable","tag-collecting-methane-in-landfills","tag-earth-friendly-plastics","tag-enso-technology","tag-environment","tag-green","tag-innovation","tag-landfill-biodegradation","tag-pla","tag-plastic-bottles","tag-plastic-recycling","tag-sustainability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2112"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2129,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2112\/revisions\/2129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}