Every piece of plastic you have come in contact with in your life, still exists. This fact alone is startling as you realise every drink, shampoo, takeaway container, toy, etc that just you has used, still exists somewhere on this planet. Whether it is in a landfills, in our oceans or in our homes, plastic waste is a serious issue that our world faces.

Only 9% of the 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic waste produced has ever been recycled, as plastic is very cheap to make and more expensive to recycle. A leading suggestion made by Andrew Forrest co-founder of Minderoo Foundation proposes a global industry led initiative that fixes the broken circular economy system we have with plastics. It encouraging the recycling of plastic by increasing the value of this commodity.

Plastic is a finite resource, just like other finite resources recycling is the key to making sure we don’t use up all our non-renewable resources. We live in a world where everything needs to have an economic value, without value items will not be seen to be worth the investment to recycle/reuse the resource. By increasing the value of the plastic commodity the price gap between using fossil fuels and recycled plastics closes. This increase in value will also drive the collection of used plastics in countries where waste is at its worst, as used plastics will have a cashable value for people gain. This will also promote countries to stop placing collected recycled plastic into landfills increasing the circulation of usable/recyclable plastics.

With every piece of plastic still being in existence, it gives us an opportunity to harvest the plastic we have already created, and reuses this to our advantage. Reducing our need to create new plastics. The current population can utilise, thrive and survive on the current amount of plastic that the world has ever produced, by simply using the circular economy principle.

How does this fit in with us here at Blu Print?

We know how important recycling plastic is. Our partners at Redcycle help us and our customers recycle our plastic products for them to be reused to create new products. Thus, helping to create the circular economy that Andrew Forrest refers to. We see the value in reusing the plastic that the world has already created. We have produced our Enviro 80 satchels that are made from 80% recycled post consumer waste, reducing the use of virgin polymers. We are stopping tonnes of ‘new plastic’ from entering our environment, while reusing plastic that already exists.

This issue of plastic waste can be a bit daunting sometimes, but focusing on what’s better for the environment, will ultimately be better for business!

Contact us for free samples of our Enviro 80 satchels. They are no more expensive than regular satchels and are of the same great quality!

To find out more information about Andrew Forrest and his theory on a circular economy for plastics, watch his TED talk below.