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Tag: plastic waste

  • The personal care company start using refillable containers

    The personal care company start using refillable containers

    On a trip to Thailand in 2017, serial entrepreneur Brian Bushell went diving for the first time and expected that the water would be pristine. Instead, it was filled with trash. “We were about to dive off the back of the boat, and all of the sudden we’re surrounded by junk plastic containers,” he says. That night, he went back to his hotel room and looked at the products he had sitting on the bathroom counter. “I realized that I was part of the problem.”

    Bushell, who had recently left Baked by Melissa, the chain of successful New York City-area cupcake bakeries he co-founded, started researching the challenge of plastic waste.

    “We learned that a third of all the single-use plastic products in landfills are personal care products,” he says. “So we decided that personal care was really an important nut to crack.”

    With co-founder Joshua Goodman, he started working on By Humankind, a new line of personal care products that launched today. Each product eliminates single-use packaging.

    A new type of deodorant, made from natural ingredients that the company says are formulated to kill bacteria more quickly than other natural products, comes in a reusable container the first time you order. (The reusable container is plastic; the founders say they believe that plastic is not inherently bad, but it needs to be designed in a way that it doesn’t immediately land in the trash.)

    In the next order, the product shows up in a paper pod that pops into the original package and then twists out like a typical deodorant. The company’s mouthwash comes in tablets that customers drop in water, eliminating the need for a plastic bottle. Its shampoo comes in a bar form wrapped in paper instead of liquid in a bottle.

    Unlike Loop, a new experiment from major brands that will sell products like deodorant in packaging that is sent back to manufacturers for reuse, the startup thought that it made more sense to make packaging that consumers would keep and reuse themselves.

    “We didn’t think that customers were going to want to do the work to send it back,” Bushell says. “And there’s also an additional cost in that reverse or return logistics.”

    With the first three products, available online, the startup has calculated that in a year, an average American consumer can keep five pounds of plastic out of the environment. The company will also donate $1 for ocean plastic cleanup for each first purchase of a product. It plans to continue adding new personal care products.

    “Our whole thesis is, what if you could help save the world from single-use plastic just by getting ready in the morning?” he says. “And so anything that’s within that morning routine is within our target.”

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  • Positive result from anti-plastic campaigns by Starbucks, 7-Eleven

    Positive result from anti-plastic campaigns by Starbucks, 7-Eleven

    Starbucks Korea and 7-Eleven Thailand have announced positive results for their respective anti-plastic campaigns. A report revealed that the local Starbucks subsidiary has seen consumption of single-use straws cut by half in the months since introducing strawless lids on drinks without whipped cream or that do not need stirring. The initiative, introduced last November, has resulted in the monthly average of 15 million straws used across its coffee chain stores drop to 7.5 million per month. The company now only provides straws to customers who request them.

    Aiming to further reduce straw usage by up to 70 per cent, Starbucks Korea is planning an online event to offer rewards to customers who upload pictures of drinks taken without using straws. It has also introduced paper straws for usage in some beverages.

    7-Eleven saves 169 million bags

    Meanwhile, in Thailand, more than 169 million plastic bags have remained unused over the past two months at 7-Eleven stores, according to a report in local news site The Thaiger, the result of a management initiative to phase out their use. The move, which has been supported by local celebrities, encourages shoppers to refuse plastic bags or bring reusable bags to the store.

    The reductions are reported to have saved the chain more than 33 million baht, which operator CP All Public Company will donate to a local hospital.

    All about perception?

    Despite these reports, there have been growing concerns among critics in the media regarding the perceived environmental benefits of similar plastics initiatives worldwide.

    The sippy cup lid adopted in Korea is identical to the design used in North American stores, which was shown in a Reason magazine report last year to use more plastic than the previous lid design and straw put together.

    Plastic shopping bag initiatives similar to the one adopted by 7-Eleven have provoked skepticism among observers who point out that of all single-use plastic packaging used throughout supermarkets and convenience stores, the shopping bag is the only item that tends to be reused in the home.

    A 2017 report in Australia’s journalism hub The Conversation called getting rid of plastic bags a windfall for supermarkets without much perceptible benefit to the environment. It reasoned that most alternatives that were recyclable ended up in landfills anyway.

  • Korea firm to use greener packaging for this holiday’s gift set

    Korea firm to use greener packaging for this holiday’s gift set

    For many in Korea, Lunar New Year is a time to meet relatives and exchange elaborately-packaged gift sets that could contain anything from fruits and raw meat to cans of Spam. But one side effect to this approach to gift giving is the excessive waste – especially those originating from gift set packaging – which has been brought up as a major concern by Korea’s environment authorities in recent years.

    With growing government pressure and awareness about the environmental issues caused by excessive packaging, department stores and grocery franchises are trying to take the lead in adopting greener alternatives this year.

    Colored Styrofoam and gel-based ice packs, which are notoriously difficult to recycle, are the first things to get scrapped.

    Hyundai Department Store and Lotte Mart have both announced that they are replacing colored Styrofoam in gift sets with a plain white alternative starting from this holiday season. Previously, the companies added color to the material to add visual appeal. Colored Styrofoam materials are difficult to recycle because more money and manpower is required to create new Styrofoam products from them, making them unattractive to recycling companies.

    Lotte Mart Thermal Bag

    Lotte Department Store is chilling gift sets of meat and fish with ice packs filled with water instead of gel-based ones for the first time this year.

    Competitor Shinsegae Department Store is also ditching the hard-to-recycle wooden boxes and cloth wrapping it had previously used to package gift sets. It will use paper boxes instead.

    Other retailers are collecting ice packs – both gel- and water-based – and recycling them themselves.

    Department store chain AK Plaza said it will collect ice packs from AK Plaza-bought gift sets across all its stores until Feb. 10 for recycling and disposal.

    Hyundai Home Shopping is taking it one step further and accepting ice packs regardless of their place of purchase. This year, it teamed up with Gangdong District office in eastern Seoul to install collection bins in 18 locations to allow customers to drop off used ice packs after the holidays.

    “We’ve collected ice packs from our online shopping members in the past and decided to install public ice pack collection bins this holiday season,” said a Hyundai spokesperson. “We will send out the ice packs that we collect to our partners in the food industry so they can be reused.”

    Lotte Mart is focusing on making gift bags more attractive and practical to encourage customers to use them even after the holidays end.

    The thermal bags that come with its beef gift sets now have shoulder straps and a sleek black design, making them practical and user-friendly. While the thermal bags have always been reusable, they were previously covered with large Lotte brand logos and difficult to carry around.

    The grocery chain is also going to package more fruit gifts this year in what it calls “recycle boxes.” The boxes, first introduced during last year’s Chuseok (harvest festival) holidays, are made of sturdy paper that can easily be reassembled into mini storage boxes.

    “We didn’t register any copyright for our fruit ‘recycle box’ design so that other retailers can also participate in recycling and reducing disposable waste,” a Lotte spokesperson explained.

    The businesses’ green initiatives follow the government’s consistent calls to reduce packaging and other waste during the Lunar New Year holidays.

    As has become customary every holiday season, the Environment Ministry announced last month that it will work together with local governments to inspect gift sets being sold across retailers in the country and fine violators up to 3 million won ($2,700) if they do not comply with packaging rules.

    Current regulations stipulate that gift sets can only be wrapped two times and that the volume of packaging must not exceed 25 percent of the product’s total volume.

    Last Lunar New Year, the Environment Ministry fined the manufacturers of 49 products that were in violation of these rules. The total fine combined came to 52 million won ($46,000).

    “We have seen a small decline in the number of products that violate excessive packaging regulations over the years,” said an Environment Ministry official in the recycling division. “The participation of companies to reduce packaging and comply with inspection is always a big help.”

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  • Korea to ban single-use plastic bags

    Korea to ban single-use plastic bags

    South Korea is to ban big-time supermarkets and retailers nationwide from selling single-use plastic bags in an attempt to conserve natural resources and reduce recyclable waste. The ban will come into effect on Tuesday as part of a revised law on conserving resources and encouraging the reuse of recyclable waste. Subject to the ban are 2000 outlets of major discount chains and 11,000 supermarkets with sales floor spaces of 165sqm or more where handing out free plastic bags are currently prohibited.

    Stores that violate the ban could face fines of up to 3 million won (around US$2683). Instead, those shops are required to offer customers recyclable containers, cloth shopping bags or paper bags.

    Plastic containers for wet goods, such as meat and fish, will still be used.

    Under the revised law, 18,000 bakeries nationwide will be barred from handing out free disposable plastic bags.

    In cooperation with local governments, the Environment Ministry plans to encourage the affected stores to observe the ban from January through March.

    The ministry is also pushing ahead with a plan to reduce the use of plastic garment bags at laundry shops.

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  • Starbucks South Korea offers incentives using own cups

    Starbucks South Korea offers incentives using own cups

    Starbucks South Korea says the number of customers bringing their own cups to the store leapt 24 per cent in just one month. The boost is the result of its ‘Eco Bonus Star Program’ aimed at reducing waste and improving consumer awareness of sustainability issues. Through the Eco Bonus Star Program, customers of Starbucks South Korea can collect additional ‘stars’ – or bonus points – by bringing their own cups to cafes. The stars can be used for discounts and other benefits.

    Customers can choose to receive an immediate discount of 300 won (US27 cents) if they don’t want to collect stars.

    Starbucks said that, compared to 970,000 customers who brought their own cups in October, more than 1.21 million customers brought their own cups in December, the first full month of the program.

    Two-thirds of customers chose to save up stars, rather than receive the discount.

    “More than 1.81 million additional stars were given to customers just 50 days after the Eco Bonus Star program was implemented,” said Starbucks.

    “Gold members for My Starbucks can get a free drink for 12 stars, which also likely encouraged more customers to bring their own cups.”

    More than 8 million customers have brought their own cups this year, twice as many as last year.

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  • Western Australia to stop using plastic bags

    Western Australia to stop using plastic bags

    The ban on the use of plastic bags in Western Australia has started as of January 1, 2019, with retailers no longer be able to provide customers with lightweight plastic bags when shopping in their stores. Retailers who fail to comply with the new laws will face substantial fines and disruptions to their business operations. The National Retail Association (NRA), which has partnered with the state government to assist the sector to make a smooth transition ahead of the ban, has issued a statement to consumers earlier reminding them to be prepared for the change when they shop starting the new year.

    David Stout, NRA manager of Industry Policy, said the bag ban applies to all retailers operating in Western Australia regardless of size or type – ranging from newsagents to food outlets, to pharmacies and petrol stations.

    Stout said shoppers need to make sure that they have alternative options in place, like reusable bags, to safeguard against any inconvenience.

    “The NRA has visited thousands of retailers in all parts of the state over the past few months to ensure that retailers are as ready as possible,” Stout said.

    He added that the NRA will continue to assist retailers with any teething issues after the ban comes into effect.

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  • Back to the future going trendy in 2019

    Back to the future going trendy in 2019

    In 2019, retro will remain hot, and gender-neutral fashion will become ever more neutral, according to Lee Hyang-eun, a design engineering professor at Sungshin Women’s University, and professional speaker and consultant Kim Yong-sub. Other themes they see are the environment, data and consumers becoming even more demanding than they have been in the past. The JoongAng Ilbo sat down with the two trend analysts to discuss their forecasts for the new year.

    Lee is a co-author of “Trend Korea 2019,” an annual trend report published by Seoul National University’s Consumer Trends Analysis Center. Kim is the author of “Life Trend 2019,” another comprehensive trend report. He has also spoken at over a thousand seminars hosted by large companies, including Samsung Electronics.

    Newtro

    A retro wave has swept over Korea in the past few years, as cafes and restaurants began adopting designs from the 1970s to the ’90s. Many have enjoyed success.

    Lee Hyang-eun expects “newtro,” the term used to describe the return of the retro, to continue winning over fans from all age groups this year.

    “The return of the 1970s-to-’90s style brings back memories for older generations, but offers a whole new culture for young people in their teens and twenties,” said Lee.

    “A new form of retro with a youthful touch will be all the rage in 2019.”

    The key to newtro is not bringing back the past as it was, but polishing it to suit contemporary tastes. Good examples are Dosan Bunsik, a casual restaurant that rose to social media fame last year, as well as Fila’s Disruptor 2, a fresh take on a shoe originally released in the 1990s.

    “The trend is positive for brands, which can target new customers, and for young consumers as well, who can develop a sense of respect for cultures and objects that are older than them,” said Lee.

    Chamelezones 

    Chamelezones, or spaces that transform beyond their intended purpose, is another trend to keep an eye out for in 2019.

    Dongchoon 175 is a warehouse-turned-shopping mall in Yongin, Gyeonggi, that is becoming a huge hit with women in their 30s and 40s. Previously a logistics warehouse, the building now hosts everything from clothing stores to a trampoline park and a Finland-forest inspired lounge.

    “As chameleons change color based on their surroundings, these spaces transform according to different situations” said Lee.

    Businesses can also use chamelezones to win customers back to brick-and-mortar stores by encouraging interactive experiences and hosting regular exhibitions and concerts.

    “It’s important to breathe new life into spaces and attract people by adopting new concepts and technologies,” said Lee. “The key here is to create experiences and satisfy the five senses.”

    Data intelligence 

    Data intelligence is expected to be a dominant theme this year.

    This technology combines data analysis capabilities with voice and facial recognition tools to personalize a user experience and give businesses a better idea of consumer preferences.

    “When you process data once, it becomes information, and when you process it once more, it becomes intelligence,” said Lee. “Do it once more, and you get wisdom.”

    Data intelligence-powered services are already offered by the world’s biggest companies.

    Amazon’s Echo Look, for example, processes and analyzes a user’s outfits to make style recommendations, while new makeup apps can now apply eye shadows and lipstick on users virtually and recommend foundation shades based on skin tones.

    Gender neutral 

    Gender neutrality, a long-running theme, seems to be evolving and going beyond the simple idea of swapping dominant colors and dressing up.

    “Even with what we call unisex fashion, women just end up wearing men’s clothing,” said consultant Kim Yong-sub. “Gender neutral seeks to erase the distinction between the genders itself, and this trend is quickly expanding across not only fashion and beauty businesses but corporate structures in other sectors.”

    Kim predicts that the movement to look beyond people’s genders will gain traction in 2019, especially after the Me Too campaign and claims of harassment have shaken Korea.

    “There are times where trends stop being limited to a social issue and become economic, and that is happening with gender issues today,” he said.

    Single origin

    People will become more selective about what they eat too, Kim says.

    Starting around 2016, Koreans started pursuing their preferences in consumption instead of simply following the masses. Kim believes 2019 will be the year when people have fully developed preferences and adjust their lifestyles accordingly.

    He calls this preference-based consumption.

    “The tendency to prioritize personal preferences will become especially evident in food consumption, leading people to try to identify the origin, types and the processing methods of whatever they eat,” he said.

    The rise of the single-origin coffee attests to the growing power of personal preferences.

    Single-origin coffee is made with beans grown from a single farm, geographic area or country. Many consumers seek them out as they want to taste the flavors of a certain region instead of blends, which are made of coffee beans from several places.

    Plastic alternatives

    Environment-wise, 2018 was the year of awakening for Korea, especially on matters regarding plastic waste.

    Cafes stopped offering plastic cups in stores last year, while franchises replaced plastic straws with paper straws. Many companies are expected to continue going green this year.

    “In the past, only a small minority demonstrated an interest in environmental issues, but now celebrities and the wealthy also talk about them,” said Kim.

    As popular figures show interest, it will become fashionable to talk about the environment, Kim predicts.

    “Now, corporate interest in the environment is not a matter of choice but also of survival,” he continued. “Only businesses that actively react to environmental issues will attract consumers.”

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  • Korea to ban plastic bags in supermarkets

    Korea to ban plastic bags in supermarkets

    Large supermarkets are banned from giving or selling plastic shopping bags to customers. The Ministry of Environment announced Monday that it will completely prohibit grocery franchises and supermarkets over 165 square meters (1,776 square feet) from selling or giving away single-use plastic bags from New Year’s Day. While it discouraged stores from providing plastic bags before, the ministry enforced a total ban through a revision to the Act on the Promotion of Saving and Recycling of Resources in an effort to cut plastic waste.

    Some 13,000 supermarkets are affected. If they offer disposable plastic bags, they risk fines of up to 3 million won ($2,690). The only kind of one-use bags stores can sell are the disposal bags accepted by district waste collectors. Stores will be encouraged to sell or offer paper and other non-plastic grocery bags instead.

    Supermarkets can continue to offer customers small plastic bags for wrapping items like fish and meat.

    The revision to the law also prohibits some 18,000 bakeries from handing out plastic bags free of charge.

    The ministry said it will give a grace period of around three months to help stores adjust to the change and work with local government bodies to ensure that the regulations are followed.

    Earlier this year, seven of Korea’s largest grocery and bakery franchises, including E-mart and Lotte Mart, signed voluntary agreements with the ministry to reduce disposable waste.

    That initiative has produced notable results. Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours, for example, used 74 percent fewer plastic bags in November last year compared to the same period 2017, according to the ministry.

    “It’s necessary to reduce use of disposable waste for the environment and future generations,” said a spokesman from the ministry. “We request the people’s active participation to promote a green consumer culture.”

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  • Samsonite to support global fight against plastic bottles

    Samsonite to support global fight against plastic bottles

    Samsonite has launched an eco luggage collection for Asia made of Recyclex, a material comprising 100 per cent post-consumer recycled plastic (PET) bottles. As part of its public-facing environmental program, Samsonite has been working with one of its suppliers to create sustainable materials suitable for travel and lifestyle products. The company claims its new innovation Recyclex is as durable and reliable as Samsonite’s polyester fabric made from virgin materials, with the added benefit of reducing plastic waste.

    Subrata Dutta, president of Samsonite Asia Pacific said sustainability is a priority that runs through Samsonite’s products.

    “We recognise that travellers are increasingly aware of environmental protection and looking for ways to reduce their environmental footprint … We expect to generate stronger awareness of environmental protection in the market, and will continue to seek opportunities to maximise the use of recycled and recyclable materials in our products and packaging.”

    The products consumed more than 400,000 recycled plastic bottles in Asia. On some items, cork serves as an alternative for the polyurethane trim on the carry handles, logo, ID tag and back protection.

    Over the next two years, Samsonite will launch at least 30 product lines worldwide made from recycled materials such as rPET and recycled polypropylene.

  • All Starbucks in Korea to get paper straws from yesterday

    All Starbucks in Korea to get paper straws from yesterday

    Starbucks Korea is stocking all 1,225 of its stores nationwide with paper straws in a bid to cut down on its plastic usage. Starting last Monday, Starbucks began stocking all of its stores with white paper straws, which it found during trials to be more popular than green ones. The paper straws will also be coated with soy oil both inside and outside in response to customer complaints that its original trial straws were too flimsy.

    Starbucks trialed paper straws at 100 stores in Seoul, Busan and Jeju Island over the last two months.

    Though all stores now have paper straws, some branches will continue to offer customers plastic ones until they deplete existing stocks.

    Additionally, on Monday Starbucks began stocking all of its stores with plastic cup lids that don’t require straws. These special lids, which resemble those used with hot drinks that come in paper cups, will be provided for take-out orders of regular cold drinks. Paper straws and regular lids will be provided for specialty cold drinks like Frappuccinos and drinks topped with whipped cream that are difficult to drink without straws.

    “We developed the plastic cup lids to minimize disposable waste consumption and also offer an alternative to customers who prefer drinking without straws,” said a Starbucks spokesman.

    Starbucks will also remove the straws and stirring sticks it previously left out for customers and instead place them behind counters and only provide them on request. It will replace all plastic stirring sticks with wooden ones as well.

    Last year, Starbucks Korea used 180 million plastic straws, nearly enough to circumnavigate the earth if laid end-to-end.

    “With the adoption of paper straws we will be able to prevent consumption of at least 180 million plastic straws from next year,” said a Starbucks spokesperson.

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  • Malaysia to focus more on pollution charge on single-use plastics by 2021

    Malaysia to focus more on pollution charge on single-use plastics by 2021

    The government is working towards implementing a pollution charge for single-use plastics which will be imposed on fixed premises at a rate of 20 sen or higher, to be determined by state governments through local councils. They include premises such as hypermarkets, supermarkets, department stores, convenience stores, fast food restaurants, petrol station convenience store, chain stores and pharmacies.

    Minister of Energy, Science, Technology and Climate Change Yeo Bee Yin said the federal government is giving state governments the liberty to determine the rate, and to decide the implementation time frame between 2019 until 2021, marking the first phase of the Roadmap Towards Zero Single-Use Plastics 2018-2030, which was launched in conjunction with the Greentech & Eco Products Exhibition & Conference Malaysia (IGEM 2018) today.

    “We have already engaged with the ruling government states as well as the opposition states. Everyone has already agreed to the plan and said they want to do this as well together,” she said at the event.

    Yeo said the goal is to address the lack of uniformity in the use of single-use plastics with such initiatives already being in effect in some states and result in the improvement and increase in the production and use of bio-degradable bags.
    She believes the charges will not be passed on consumers but instead encourage a change in behaviour and lead to people eventually using shopping bags.

    Yeo said the money collected from the levy will be ploughed back for green initiatives, creating awareness and reusable shopping bags.

    Phase two of the roadmap which will go on between 2022 and 2025 may see the levy being extended to manufacturers and non-fixed premises.

    Meanwhile, the government has cancelled 155.7256 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy feed-in tariff (FiT) projects due to unfavourable response in September 2018 and instead opened up 114.5682 MW FiT projects for qualified applicants.

    Additionally, the Sustainable Energy Development Authority of Malaysia rolled out the country’s first solar photovoltaic (PV) monitoring system, which is a database connected to grid’s nationwide meant to monitor the performance of solar PVs on a real-time basis.

    Keeping up with that, the country’s first insurance plan for solar PVs was launched this week.

    The initiative is under Seda in collaboration with Allianz Malaysia Bhd and the Malaysian Photovoltaic Industry Association. This scheme is aimed at protecting residential solar PV users.

    On another note, the government will introduce Building Energy Intensity labelling as part of its efforts to promote voluntary adoption of energy efficiency in the building sector. This is along with a renewed push for the adoption of energy performance contracting for government buildings next year.

    Yeo said capital for the retrofitting projects will be derived from the private sector, with any cost savings derived to be shared between both parties.
    She said there can be savings if the government is able to save some 20% of its annual electricity costs. This in turn will translate into a return of investment and profit for investors.

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  • Tesco transform recycled plastic into a car park

    Tesco transform recycled plastic into a car park

    Tesco Extra has resurfaced a store car park using the equivalent weight of 225,000 plastic carry bags, saving 900kg of plastics going to landfill.

    The partnership with plastic road company MacRebur, is part of a broader Tesco initiative to improve its sustainability record, including looking for ways to reuse waste plastic, reduce carbon and promote a sustainable closed-loop system. More than 84 per cent of the packaging on the grocer’s own-brand products is recyclable, depending on local authorities collecting it.

    MacRebur carefully selected plastics, taken from old rubbish, which it adds to road paving to improve strength and durability, whilst reducing the quantity of the oil-based bitumen used in traditional road mix.

    The Tesco Extra Cuckoo Bridge car park was resurfaced using waste plastics that would have been destined for landfill or incineration. These are added into an asphalt mix without the need to alter the existing equipment used to make and install the asphalt.

    Tesco will be testing this new road surface out at the Cuckoo Bridge store through the winter and hopes to work with MacRebur on future projects to help reuse waste plastic.

    MacRebur is based in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland. For every 10 tonnes of asphalt made with their additives included, they use the equivalent of 71,432 plastic bottles or 435,592 single-use plastic bags, or 32,399 used nappies. Ten tonnes of asphalt would surface about 90sqm.

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  • Vietnam in danger of becoming a dump as China says no to trash

    Vietnam in danger of becoming a dump as China says no to trash

    It’s another waste-full day in Minh Khai, Hung Yen Province.

    Blocks of plastic bags sprawl on the ground, fill up alleys, besiege houses; machines groan and toss shredded plastic pieces into the air; sewage carrying debris leaks onto the streets; and kids splash themselves in a dark, murky pond.

    It is a scene similar to the recycling dead zones in China –exhaustively detailed in documentaries such as Plastic China and books like Adam Minter’s Junkyard Planet.

    There’s a big difference, though.

    China’s recycling villages are cleaning up their act in haste.

    Since January 1, the world’s biggest waste importer and recycler has said no to old mobile phones, paper, textiles and plastics it had always imported from the world for decades. It wants to take back its blue sky.

    While a blue sky has not been a frequent sight in industrial Hung Yen or polluted Hanoi, it has been definitively gray in Minh Khai, one of Vietnam’s largest plastic recycling villages.

    It’s noon, traditional Vietnamese nap time, but in Nguyen’s 100-square-meter workshop, the machines are still roaring.

    The 31-year-old recycler is overseeing five employees as they cut, melt and mold plastic, even as she darts between heaps of translucent bags and her kitchen to cook her family of six a quick lunch.

    These days, Nguyen, who declined to give her full name, can’t afford to take a long break. Her pellet-making machine handles about 1.5-2.5 tons of plastic per day, about 50-75 tons a month. Trash is pouring in from all over the world, Nguyen said, but mostly from Germany, Japan and the U.S.

    Nguyen has been a recycler for about two decades but only in the past year has she seen such a surge in the volume of foreign waste.

    She cannot cite figures; all Nguyen knows is that Chinese brokers hand her cash and tell her they need no contract. “I don’t even know who they are but every month, I buy about three containers from them,” Nguyen said.

    Like many recycling households in Minh Khai, Nguyen will sell her pellets back to China, where they are made into cheap plastic tables, stools, containers that find their way back to compete in Vietnamese market.

    Minh Khai has 1,000 households, of which more than 90 percent recycle plastic at home. Hanoi lacks an effective official recycling scheme, so for more than three decades, Minh Khai has been one of the major informal recycling hubs that handle plastic for the capital and the Red River Delta.

    Until 2017, only 143 households were registered businesses.

    “It’s only in the past two years that our village started buying more from Chinese brokers,” a 64-year-old recycler named Hoang remarked. “Truck after truck brings up to a thousand tons of plastic a day.”

    “My neighbors are not only working by day but they have started to run the machines at night as well to handle the new waste. I can’t get enough sleep,” Hoang complained.

    In May, a national TV channel estimated that around 1,000 tons of plastic waste was arriving in Minh Khai every day, a ten-fold surge since mid-2017.

    Hung Yen authorities acknowledge the surge in waste, but are not able to locate its origins. And until they find a way to sort this problem, informal recycling hubs like Minh Khai are not the only destinations that will see foreign waste pile up.

    From January to November 2017, Vietnam increased its imports of PE and PET plastic by more than 166 percent and 137 percent year-on-year, respectively. In November 2017, it was also the biggest importer of scrap plastics marked “mixed/other.”

    In the first quarter of 2018, Vietnam imported nearly 79 million pounds of recovered plastics, up from 40 million pounds over the same period in 2017. It became one of the U.S.’s largest scrap plastic buyers, Resource Recycling Inc. quoted the U.S. Census Bureau as saying.

    International dumping ground

    In 2011, China introduced its Green Fence program, an attempt to slowly close its doors to contaminated materials.

    China had been importing 45 percent of world’s plastic waste since 1992, and according to a research article published on Science Advances this June, the Chinese ban will displace an estimated 111 million metric tons of plastic waste by 2030.

    While major exporters like Europe and the United States are diverting their trash to Southeast Asia, industry insiders say that China’s recycling industry itself could shift to other destinations in the region, such as Vietnam.

    According to a report, Chinese recyclers are already moving much of their capacity abroad, as the curbs on imported trash have deprived them about half the materials they normally need to produce plastic pellets.

    The report says over 1,000 Chinese recyclers already investing in Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia and Thailand, hoping to indirectly move processed foreign scrap in higher-grade form to meet their country’s new standard.

    However, the new routes have not been smooth since shipments have faced delays, while Thailand and Malaysia were also tightening regulations. One China-invested importer was already forced to close in Thailand, while Malaysia has not been accepting import permit applications since mid-May.

    In Vietnam, fears of the country turning into “an international dumping ground” are growing.

    Despite a halt in issuing scrap import permits since 2017, Vietnamese seaports have been clogged with thousands of containers of foreign scrap.

    As of May 2018, nearly 28,000 containers were stuck in seaports across Vietnam, according to the Vietnam Maritime Administration. The goods range from electric cords, outdated household appliances, secondhand fabric and used cars to plastic and paper scrap, which makes up the majority.

    Tan Cang Cat Lai, one of Vietnam’s largest shipping terminals, had more than 8,000 TEUs (1 TEU equals a 39-cubic-meter container) of plastic waste and paper as of May 21.

    The Tan Cang Cai Mep International Terminal also said that the large volume of plastic waste containers the port has received has caused troublesome backups and delays. Both terminals, which are operated by the Saigon Newport Corporation, say they are not accepting plastic scrap until October 15.

    Customs officials are ramping up inspections after a recent report of the  Vietnam Customs described numerous violations in scrap paper and plastic waste imports – including materials not meeting quality standards, mislabeling, forged import permits and even lack of permits.

    In a recent National Assembly session in Hanoi, Tran Hong Ha, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, responding to concerns that the country can become a landfill of industrial and radioactive waste, said Vietnam has to start saying no to scrap import because the country is not able to deal properly with solid waste.

    “Waste in Vietnam is different from the world and even the advanced technologies that other developed countries use to treat their waste have turned out to be inappropriate in Vietnam,” he said.

    Many domestic waste treatment plants do not operate effectively and if those plants cannot meet technical and environment criteria, they should be shut down, the minister added.

    Until developed nations find a concrete solution for the new-found crisis, it appears that the burden will be borne by Vietnam’s seaports and its limited recycling infrastructure.

    For informal recyclers like Hoang and Nguyen of Minh Khai, business will remain hectic, but they are not complaining.

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  • Adidas pledges to use only recycled plastic by 2024

    Adidas pledges to use only recycled plastic by 2024

    Global sportswear maker adidas announced that it has committed to using only recycled plastic by 2024. The pledge to eliminate the use of virgin plastic includes using polyester, a popular material in sportswear for its sweat resistant properties and because it weighs less.

    adidas said on Monday that it would stop using virgin plastic in its offices, retail outlets, warehouses and distribution centres, a move that would save an estimated 40 tonnes of plastic per year, starting from 2018.

    It also said its apparel line for the spring and summer of 2019 will contain around 4 percent recycled polyester.

    adidas is the latest in a series of global companies that have pledged to reduce plastic use.

    In 2016, the brand had completely done away with the use of plastic bags in all its stores.

    In the same year adidas collaborated with environmental group Parley and decided to lead the way with an ‘eco-innovative’ design. They mass produced shoes made from recycled water bottles found in the world’s oceans. The shoe was named UltraBOOST Uncaged Parley, but is more popularly known as Ocean Plastic Shoe.

    This year, with awareness growing, the German company is expecting a sharp increase in sales of its Parley shoes, which are made with plastic waste that has been intercepted before it reaches the ocean.

    While still a small share of its global sales, adidas expects purchases to jump to 5 million pairs this year compared to 1 million in 2017.

    Coffee retail giant Starbucks also plans to eliminate plastic straws from its stores, and McDonald’s is trialing a similar programme in the UK and Ireland.

    Swedish furniture major IKEA is also phasing out single use plastic from its stores and restaurants.

    Global use of plastic has increased 20-fold over the past 50 years and is expected to double again in the next 20 years.

    The material is cheap and versatile, but governments and consumers are increasingly aware of its huge environmental costs.

    Research shows there will be more plastic than fish by weight in the world’s oceans by 2050. On a global basis, only 14 percent of plastic is collected for recycling.

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  • Danone-Aqua Pledges to Recover, Recycle More Plastic Than It Uses

    Danone-Aqua Pledges to Recover, Recycle More Plastic Than It Uses

    Tirta Investama, the company behind Danone-Aqua, Indonesia’s oldest and largest bottled water brand, has pledged to recover and recycle more plastics from the environment by 2025.

    Within the next seven years, the local unit of French food giant Danone said in statement on Wednesday (06/06) that it will recover more plastic than it uses and increase the proportion of recycled plastic in its bottles to 50 percent from 11 percent currently.

    “Today Danone-Aqua delivers more than two-thirds of our water in returnable, reusable jugs. More than half of our PET [polyethylene terephthalate] bottles are already being collected and recycled into new bottles or other materials, such as textiles. But we have decided the time is right to invest further and to do more,” Tirta Investama president director Corine Tap said in the statement.

    The company signed up Sumber Alfaria Trijaya, the operator of Alfamart, one of Indonesia’s largest convenience store chains; digital app developer Smash; and the country’s largest mobile operator Telkomsel last month to install drop boxes for shoppers to recycle their bottles.

    The drop boxes allow shoppers to exchange used plastic bottles for points in Telkomsel’s T-Cash digital wallet. Tirta Investama aims to have drop boxes installed at all Alfamart convenience stores to serve 100 million consumers by 2025.

    “We want to encourage and educate consumers to be more creative in collecting and recycling their plastic waste into something of better value,” said Ivan Hermawan, general manager of corporate communication at Sumber Alfaria.

    Tirta Investama is also collaborating with other companies, including H&M, the world’s second-largest fashion retailer, and it has joined alliances such as the Packaging and Recycling Alliance for Indonesia Sustainable Environment (Praise) and the Indonesian Plastic Recycling Association (Adupi), to curb plastic waste.

    According to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Indonesians throw away around 9 million tons of plastic every year, with most of it ending up in landfills, clogging waterways or being washed away to into the ocean, damaging marine life.

    The government aims to reduce plastic waste by 70 percent by 2025 and it has also committed up to $1 billion annually to removing plastic debris from its seas.

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