Plastic Problems

Hey everyone!

This week, I’ve been learning about technology combatting one of the biggest sustainability challenges: plastic.

Plastic is a problem that’s been around for decades and will continue to be a problem for decades to come, but reading about the companies working to improve this has got me feeling hopeful for the future.

Here are some developments that have me feeling hopeful:

Plastic-Eating Microbes

Scientists have made incredible progress in the last few years developing plastic-eating microbes. The theory behind plastic-eating microbes has been around for ages, but researchers have recently found a strain of bacteria that’s capable of breaking down PET, one of the most common forms of plastic (it’s used in almost all plastic bottles).

Companies like Carbios are putting a lot of effort into pushing this further to try and engineer these microbes to work even more efficiently.

If this technology can be rolled out at a large scale, it has the potential to completely change our relationship with plastic waste, massively reducing the amount that’s sent to landfill or incinerators.

Biodegradable Plastics

Biodegradable plastics have been around for a good while, but I think 2025 could be the year that we start to see them adopted on a wider scale.

Mushroom Packaging is just one example of the many companies bringing this technology to market, using CAD models and 3D printing to create packaging moulds that are filled with a mixture of hemp hurd and mycelium which grows to fill the mould in just a few days.

With plastic demand growing year after year, solutions like this will play a major role in making the industry more sustainable

The biggest hurdle we currently face is that biodegradable plastic is simply more expensive than its fossil-fuel equivalent, but as more and more is invested into this technology, the price will only continue to come down!

Innovative Plastic Recycling Tech

Despite what many of us have always been led to believe, plastic recycling is tough, like, really tough. Most plastics can’t be recycled, and the types that can face major issues like contamination or losing quality through cycles.

However, companies like Loop Industries are building systems that can break down plastics to a molecular level; this means they can effectively enter an endless loop of being recycled again and again without ever losing quality!

If we can scale up this technology, it’ll dramatically reduce the demand for virgin plastic, helping to decrease the amount of plastic we have to deal with (and the pollution that comes with creating new plastic).

Plastic-Free Solutions

Looking further into the future, it’s exciting to see some innovations working to remove the need for plastic (or packaging for that matter) entirely. Notpla uses seaweed-based materials to develop a whole range of packaging products ranging from gels to dried food.

I actually had the chance to try Ooho, their “edible water bubble” a few months ago and it’s easy to see how something like this could really take off!

Small items like food condiment packets add up to a mountain of plastic each year, so ways to replace them with packaging that degrades in 6 weeks or can even be eaten is a potential game changer.

The Rise of Plastic Credits

We’re all aware of carbon credits and their potential pitfalls, but some companies are now starting to look to “plastic credits” as a way to offset their plastic use by funding recycling and clean-up projects.

I was really hesitant about this at first as on face value it seems like a “get out of jail free” card for big corporates. But after doing some more research, I’m confident that it could actually be what the plastic-free movement needs right now.

The biggest problem facing the companies I’ve mentioned today? Funding. And the biggest benefit of a plastic credits scheme like CleanHub? Funding for exactly these sorts of companies!

We’ll see where this one leads, but if done correctly it could really help some smaller players advance the incredible work they’re doing.

Plastic isn’t going away any time soon (well, except the plastic already in landfill…), but the technology we need to solve this problem is certainly within reach. Like many topics I write about, the biggest problem now isn’t proving the technology can work, it’s finding ways to scale it up and increase adoption by bringing down costs.

Hit reply and let me know what you think! Will plastics always be used but with better recycling? Or will we simply phase them out over the coming decades?

Thanks for reading, and I’ll catch you next week!
James

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