Old techniques or young solutions?
30.8.2020
A report from Pew charitable and Systemiq shows that in tackling the plastic waste crisis, there's no time to lose. A delay of just 5 years would result in 80 million tonnes of plastic entering our oceans between now and 2040 - equivalent to 13,000 bottles per second for the next 20 years
Source: Ellen Macarthur Foundation
The global packaging market size is expected to grow from USD 909 billion in 2019 to USD 1,013 billion by 2021—with the plastic segment leading the market. Not only are we not slowing down, we are in the opposite direction. The solution is not increased efficiency, it is closing the loop. Concept like refilling your detergent packaging for example. It is not a new concept, but in the case of this refill station in NYC I liked the RFID link making the packagingyour digital wallet.
An interesting bill in California proposes to put the responsibility for and the cost of dealing with discarded plastic packaging and takeout containers on the companies that make them, rather than the consumers who buy them. Areold-school green tax ideas, the solution? Or perhaps the promise lays in young designers? Tim Brown, the CEO of the design agency IDEO said this week that the young designers have advantages we didn’t have – they are much better connected, they understand that the system requires major fixes, they are exposed to many DfE tools from the beginning of their career, and they have many tools in their toolset – from material sciences to digital tools such as AI and blockchain.