Plastic update
The National Retailer Association and Victorian State Government have partnered to ban single-use plastic bags by the end of 2019. Earlier in 2018, Coles and Woolworths banned single-use plastic bags from their stores, with an estimated one and a half billion fewer plastic bags used in under six months.1 While banning plastic bags is a seemingly simple way to reduce plastic, a number of brands around the world are investing in innovative packaging or retail initiatives that address environmental concerns.
Many brands are pursuing plastic-free initiatives, a positive step considering ninety percent of the world’s plastic has never been recycled.2 For example, cosmetics retail Lush opened a plastic-free store in the United Kingdom. Products sold at the store have zero plastic packaging including shampoos and conditions which have been designed as a solid soap-like bar instead of the traditional liquid in a bottle. The brand has also expanded into packaging-free makeup with a new solid foundation covered with peel-able wax.
An alternative to plastic is plant-based packaging that allow waste to be composted, rather than incinerated or put in landfill. For example, Earlybirds is a breakfast juice due to be launched in the United Kingdom in April that uses sugar cane in its packaging rather than plastic. Another example is a project called The Shellworks, a group of four designers who have built machines that extract a natural biopolymer from crustacean shells that can be transformed into a biodegradable alternative to single-use plastics.3 While biopolymer packaging has been created before, the project aims to make the process more accessible and allow for greater experimentation.
Brands are also collaborating to provide consumers with a convenient place to purchase zero-waste products. Loop, a shopping platform set to launch in the United States and France in 2019, offers a range of products from major FMCG brands that arrive in reusable containers. Rather than throwing waste, Loop focuses on a delivery system that restocks durable containers – consumers empty the container and schedule a free pick-up where Loop collects the containers, sanitises them, and refills them with the consumer’s preferred products.
The above are only a few examples of how brands are innovating for a more sustainable future. While this Bitesize has focused on packaging, there are brands innovating in other areas of sustainability such as IKEA’s new curtains that cleans indoor air or 3D printed outdoor furniture in Greece made from recycled plastic waste.