{"id":2997,"date":"2018-05-31T01:50:35","date_gmt":"2018-05-31T01:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/?p=2997"},"modified":"2024-08-14T18:03:20","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T18:03:20","slug":"the-stupidity-in-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/?p=2997","title":{"rendered":"The Stupidity in Sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a recent article by Laura Parker, \u201cYou Can Help Turn the Tide on Plastic. Here\u2019s How<\/a>,\u201d 6 feeble recommendations are provided for consumers, none of which will turn any tide on the plastic pollution problem.\u00a0 I understand Laura Parker may not be an expert in this field, but when it comes to the sustainable management of plastics, can we stop the stupidity?<\/p>\n

For example, Laura Parker begins with the blanket statement, \u201cThe industry is debating on what biodegradable means.”\u00a0 Really, what industry?\u00a0 If Sustainable Packaging is your expertise and you do not understand the difference between [Anaerobic] Biodegradation, Compostable, Degradable and how today\u2019s waste is being Managed, you might be out of your depth and in need of a career change.\u00a0 For those of us in the field of sustainability there is no debate on what biodegradability means as this is a scientific process with industry testing standards structured to test and validate biodegradation in these types of environments.<\/p>\n

Or this drivel, \u201cBiodegradables don\u2019t live up to their promise, for example, in the dark, oxygen-free environment of a commercial landfill\u2026”\u00a0 The general term means little, but when backed by scientific data to support the claim, like internationally recognized ASTM D5526 <\/a>testing standards, guess what?\u00a0 It does biodegrade in landfills (ANAEROBICALLY MANAGED).<\/p>\n

When it comes to the management of our waste, the \u201copen environment\u201d should never be an acceptable option or target for discard \u2013 do not litter, remember?\u00a0 Also, aiming and designing for Industrial Composting is irrational, sacrifice the entire supply chain and product performance, for what?\u00a0 Plastics don\u2019t end-up there and they do not<\/em> make compost<\/a>, where\u2019s the value?<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the \u201cCircular Economy<\/a>\u201d theory, which makes sense, but let\u2019s be clear, the \u201cNew Plastics Economy<\/a>\u201d does not \u2013 at all!\u00a0 Nearly 50 years of a massive effort to propagate and encourage the recycling of plastics and today the industry is in complete collapse.\u00a0 Yet, with no shame, companies double-down on this nonsense, telling consumers that its plastic packaging will be \u201c100% recyclable\/reusable\u201d in 7 years!\u00a0 The 2 biggest \u201cBS\u201d-ables in Sustainable Packaging and the root cause of why the recycling industry has been destroyed – but Nero keeps fiddling!\u00a0 Why do we insist on science and data to back up biodegradation, but use no science and data to back up plastic recycling?<\/p>\n

What needs to be achieved is a Sustainable Plastics Economy<\/a>.\u00a0 Every plastic application cannot be recycled into another plastic application and plastics cannot be recycled indefinitely. However, if \u201cZero-Waste\u201d is the goal, value must be derived from the entire lifecycle of the application, not just material recycling, but end-of-life and chemical recycling as well, ensuring conversion into useful Energy<\/a>.\u00a0 This happens by taking the contamination factor out of the primary method in which plastic waste is discarded and can be managed.<\/p>\n

Sustainable Packaging 101: Stop blaming consumers and take accountability.\u00a0 Companies need to define the primary MANAGED-WASTE method for its products and packaging and make sure (using science and data) that it works in that<\/em> system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a recent article by Laura Parker, \u201cYou Can Help Turn the Tide on Plastic. Here\u2019s How,\u201d 6 feeble recommendations are provided for consumers, none of which will turn any tide on the plastic pollution problem.\u00a0 I understand Laura Parker may not be an expert in this field, but when it comes to the sustainable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[737,1468,736,246,739,741,743],"tags":[77,342,831,902],"class_list":["post-2997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biodegradation-2","category-compostable-plastics","category-environmental-news","category-plastic-news","category-recycling-2","category-testing-and-data","category-thought-provoking","tag-biodegradable","tag-biodegradable-plastics","tag-clean-energy","tag-plastic-pollution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2997","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=2997"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3012,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2997\/revisions\/3012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}