Let’s get
plastic savvy.

Let’s get plastic savvy – Living in harmony with plastic.

There’s no denying it; plastic-free campaigns are great. Yet, the pressure to drop plastic altogether can sometimes leave us feeling disillusioned. At Circular, we agree that it’s vital to reduce consumption wherever possible, but we see this as just the first step of an overall plan to live with plastic better.

Plastic Savvy

First and foremost, we know that plastic isn’t going away. In many cases, it’s essential for items we interact with every day, including food preservation and medical equipment. Attempting to become plastic-free can sometimes lead to jumping to solutions that arguably cause more harm than good.

For example, a cafe taking part in a community plastic-free campaign might switch to compostable coffee cups in an attempt to banish single-use plastic. Most compostables require high-temperature industrial facilities to break them down, so very few will actually be composted. Instead, they contaminate recycling streams or end up as litter in the belief they will simply compost away.

Searching for plastic-free solutions will inevitably leave us feeling deflated, so instead, we’re urging our community to get plastic savvy which means valuing and managing plastic better.

BUT HOW?

We can break this down into 2 areas:
Mindset & Money

Mindset: Do we need to make this purchase?

Let’s all make a conscious effort to reduce overconsumption. Can I buy an experience as a present instead, for example?

Next, learn to cherish, not loath your plastic! The only way to stop plastic from ending up on our beaches is to treat it as a valuable commodity; it is not litter. Plastic needs to be valued, captured, and reused over and over, so it stays away from that beach.

Also, remember that nothing is truly recycled until it’s reused. It’s great we all put our recycling out, but the next step is to buy and use products made from that waste to complete the process.

Money: Think Circular when you next buy.

By that, we mean a product that looks to manage plastic better. Truly circular products are made from recycled content, designed to last a long time and then fully recyclable at the end of their life – products that give us the best chance of reusing and re-circulating plastic.

When it comes to money, we also need support from governments and industry to invest in infrastructure so the next time you are out and about and want to recycle, there is a bin there for you.

We can’t do our bit if they don’t do theirs.

Circular&Co. – Changing Tomorrow Together

Let’s get plastic savvy.