Page 41 - Plastics News July 2018

FeAtures

Trash as Value: Turning Ocean Waste into Viable Products

So-called “ocean plastics” is a global problem, but a wide range of companies across the entire supply chain
have put in the time, money and R&D efforts necessary to make capturing and converting the material into a
sustainable business. A study done by HEATHER CALIENDO in US

lastic pollution in the ocean is an international crisis. bound plastic” or “recycled beach plastic,” which are
PEstimates are that more than 8 million tons (16 billion general terms to describe the processes to make a new
lb) of plastics enter the ocean each year, according to the product out of plastic that was captured before it reached
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF). On the current track, the ocean.
there could be more plastics than fish (by weight) in the It’s not just a feel-good initiative—though there is that
ocean by 2050.
component—or a question of impressive technological
If there’s one thing we all can agree on it is that no one breakthroughs, which have indeed been achieved; these
wants plastics in the ocean. The world’s attention is on
this issue and everyone has a role to play. According to
Steve Russell, v.p. of the plastics division for the American
Chemistry Council (ACC) in Washington, D.C., to fix plastic
pollution, we need to solve the right problem. Most of the
plastics currently in the ocean are from poorly managed
municipal solid waste on land, with about 50% coming from
growing economies that do not have systems in place to
collect and manage the waste.

There are many companies partnering with governments
and nonprofits to prevent waste from reaching the
ocean. One big initiative looking to tackle plastic debris
specifically from Southeast Asia is Closed Loop Ocean, of
which ACC is a partner.
Closed Loop Ocean, an initiative of Closed Loop Partners,
N.Y.C., in partnership with Ocean Conservancy of companies are also seizing a business opportunity on the
Washington, D.C., is designed to fund waste infrastructure sustainability front. The concept is proven but the demand
solutions in Southeast Asia, with a focus on investments needs to follow for this to become a sustainable business.
to improve collection, sorting and recycling markets,
particularly across the plastics value chain. At the Capturing Ocean-Bound Plastic
Our Ocean 2017 conference, Ocean Conservancy and In 2011, Method, a San Francisco cleaning-products maker,
its partners—including the Trash Free Seas Alliance, joined forces with HDPE recycler Envision Plastics, Atlanta,
Closed Loop Partners, ACC, PepsiCo (Purchase, N.Y.), 3M to produce prototype bottles out of a novel and new plastic
(Maplewood, Minn.), Procter & Gamble (Cincinnati), and material, ocean PCR (post-consumer recycle). A year later,
the World Plastics Council—announced an initiative to raise Method launched its liquid-soap bottles made from 100%
more than $150 million for a new funding mechanism to post-consumer HDPE, 10% of which was collected from
prevent plastic waste from leaking in to the ocean. the beaches of Hawaii.
“It’s an exciting time in this space, as there is a lot of The package captured the imagination of the world.
interest and motivation to do something,” Russell says. Sandra Lewis, director of business development with
“Folks are looking to address this urgent need.” Envision Plastics, says the company received all kinds
And there is plenty of movement happening in this area— of outreach from people wanting to produce their own
most particularly, efforts that seek to extract value from ocean-plastic product. “How sad is it that everyone is
the waste plastic. You might have seen the terms “ocean- so excited and wanting to participate, and I had to keep
telling them no, over and over again,” she says.

41 July 2018 Plastics News