Repurposing our waste

Vestre

31 March 2021

By Becks Treharne, Biophilic Urbanism Consultant

Right now, there are five vast plastic rubbish patches floating across our oceans. Five. Together they are estimated to stretch over a million square miles.

This may seem an unimaginable amount, but when you consider that about eight million metric tonnes enters our oceans every year (equivalent to an average-sized rubbish truck dumping its load every minute), you can see how the numbers add up. However, while this is the harsh reality for too much of our country’s rubbish, even the items we thought we’d recycled, it accounts for less than 50% of all plastic waste found in our oceans.

Research suggests the majority of waste plastic found in our oceans is actually discarded fishing gear and other waste from fishing vessels. This is a huge problem. Not only because fishing nets are floating death traps for marine biodiversity, but it shows there is a complete lack of understanding around the importance of ocean health, especially as it relates to human survival. In simple terms no life in oceans equates to no life on earth. But this is a topic that deserves an article of its own, so I will leave it at that for now and focus this article on the consumer-based rubbish found in our oceans.

Because here, drastic changes are still needed. Don’t let the fact this accounts for less than 50% of ocean rubbish lead you to think it’s less urgent. Because it isn’t. Globally, we throw away millions of tonnes of items, food and clothing that could have been salvaged, reused or repurposed. And consumerism is the main driving force behind this behaviour. It has us chasing the latest trends, purchasing the newest upgrades and tricking us into buying more than we actually need – too much of which ends up being wasted.

To put our consumer waste into perspective, MetaBallStudios and Beyond Plastic created this short video. It visually represents the scale of our waste and is a powerful reminder our individual decisions ultimately add up to create a much larger whole.

But there is hope. There is so much we can do as consumers to reduce our waste and even support a more circular economy going forward.

Sure, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the problem, only focussing on what we’ve been doing wrong, and the scale of the chaos and mess that’s been created. It’s also very easy to only focus on those companies who have played and are continuing to play a huge role in causing this destruction, (I’m looking at you, Coca Cola).

But instead, I’d like to focus on the companies who are making steps towards solving the problem. Who are not only trying to reduce the scale of the current situation, but who are also helping to safeguard our planet for future generations.

It’s time to focus on who’s going to take us forward, instead of who’s dragging us down.

Finisterre

In the design industry, more and more companies are considering their impact on the environment and the responsibility we all must take when it comes to reversing the effects of climate change. At Planted, we’re proud to showcase just a few.

Modus have designed a new chair, Richard, that uses 100% recycled materials. Plastic bottles are broken down into long strands, layered and then pressed into felt sheets. They are then moulded to form the shell of the chair, which has been ergonomically designed to deliver a strong, comfortable and high-quality product.

“As much as possible we aim to operate in a circular way, using a minimum of energy and materials, keeping our products in use as long as possible and creating a minimum of waste,” said Jon Powell, Managing Director at Modus Furniture

Modus

Finisterre not only uses water soluble, recyclable and biodegradable packaging, which breaks down harmlessly into non-toxic biomass, they source quality sustainably materials that are good for the environment and also offer a repair service that breathes new life into products you already own.

Vestre is a Norwegian manufacturer of public furniture, who are turning ocean plastic into public benches. They work with beach clean volunteers to collect the rubbish, which is then transformed into these quality benches for public use.

“If we’re using less resources and manufacturing fewer products, we’re not utilising resources at the speed that maybe other manufacturers are,” said Romy Rawlings, Commercial Director at Vestre

Supernovas

Storm Board repurposes plastic waste into a recyclable and high-quality plywood alternative. The best part about this is that their boards can be reused many times before being recycled into a new board when it is no longer fit for purpose. Planted partnered with Storm Board for our first live event last September, when all our signage was made from waste plastic.

Supernovas sees waste as the new ‘raw material’. In their first two collections they have used recycled PET in the form of plastic bottles, caps, containers and so on, to design 3D printed furniture and everyday products.

“So instead of asking people to live less, as most of the environmental activists do, we asked ourselves to design better products – beautiful, useful and endlessly recyclable, and designed to preserve the beauty of our planet while enabling people to keep enjoying their life to the fullest,” said Massimiliano Rossi, Founder at Supernova

These businesses are just a selection of those contributing in crucial ways to a more sustainable and consumer conscious future. Their work is removing plastics from our oceans; creating better quality, longer living products; recycling used and unwanted materials; not leaving consumers with waste to get rid of and even shifting the mindset around a circular economy and the use of waste materials in new products.

However, in order to complement and enhance the work they’re doing, we as consumers need to up our game too. Right now, there is more rubbish entering the ocean than there is being taken out. And this is where we come in. By being more selective about what we are purchasing, by supporting companies – like those above – working so hard to ensure their impact on the world is minimal and by considering how we too can upcycle, repurpose or donate unwanted items, we can begin to make a huge difference.

Simultaneously, we definitely need to still demand more from those companies who have not yet made the transition to sustainable operations, or who are not doing it well enough. Because if we, as individuals can begin taking steps to safeguard the future of our planet, just imagine what a billion-dollar company could do…

If you’re inspired by this, check out our How to Repurpose Household Items guide.

Ends

Did you know that a number of companies have schemes to help tackle the plastic/ rubbish problem?

Walkers are aiming to make all their packaging 100% recyclable, compostable or biodegradable by 2025. Until then, they’ve partnered with TerraCycle to make it easier for people to recycle crisp packets.

The Acuvue Contact Lens Recycle Programme is a partnership between TerraCycle and Acuvue to offer free recycling of soft contact lenses and blister packs for any brand. Find your nearest drop-off location.

Nike’s reuse a shoe programme recycles athletic shoes when they are no longer usable and gives them a new life through Nike Grind. They now make it easy for materials to be used in future products after their original life and purpose.

Footnote

[1] https://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6223/768

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene_terephthalate