As a business that sells, rents or leases recycling equipment, we understand that the need for our products is born from a human struggle with the sheer amount of waste that the inhabitants of this planet produce.
It would be wrong to think that we’d want a world with more waste, when the truth couldn’t be any different; we want a world with less waste and more recyclables. The biggest waste product is plastic, so this blog is going to look at what a world without plastic might look like, to gain some insight into how a less wasteful world might be.
Eliminating Plastic in our Daily Lives? How can we make this a Possibility?
In almost anything that we see or do, every day, there is plastic. In fact, we could say that plastic is another component of “Modern Earth”, much like soil or water. When you wake up, you will go and brush your teeth using a plastic toothbrush and sit on a plastic toilet seat. Then you’ll grab a plastic bag of cereal and pour the milk from a plastic bottle. After breakfast, you’ll go back to the bathroom to take shower. Of course the shampoo is in a plastic container or bottle and the shower curtain will be made of plastic, or your shower ‘glass’ will be made of acrylic. After your shower , you get your phone (which has plastic in it too) to check the time. Then you go to your work, in your car with plastic components, to a desk with a plastic chair and a packed lunch in a plastic box. It goes on, and on, and on.
See how indispensable plastic is? It is a part of everyone’s daily life. The example above is the usual morning routine of a typical office worker, and while you may not use plastic in exactly the same manner, you still use it. Can you imagine waking up one morning without your toothbrush, your mobile phone, your laptop, TV, washing machine, blender and all of the things made up of plastic? A world without plastic would be so hard, inconvenient and costly; imagine trying to replace plastic materials with wood, porcelain or stainless steel! Eliminating plastic in our daily lives is almost impossible, which is why making sure more businesses and communities embrace recycling equipment is so vital!
Business Plastic Recycling and Elimination
Imagine the plight of a business, let’s say a microwave company. Each week, the delivery comes, bringing hundreds of brand new microwaves with them. Each microwave is made from a mixture of metal, plastic and glass. It is protected by polystyrene and covered from dust by a sheet of thin plastic. Each pallet of microwaves is wrapped in LDPE or HDPE plastic, which is ripped open and made non-reusable. It seems almost unavoidable to use plastic and create a trail of waste, doesn’t it?
Why Do we Need to Do So?
Plastics are both advantageous and disadvantageous for mankind. Ever since 1855 when the first plastic was documented, this thing became helpful because of its flexibility, endurance and convenience. At the same time, since 1855 plastics have started to damage human hormones, and pollute land, air and bodies of water. Plastic has brought great advancement in both good and bad fields, and have catapulted human progress and self-destruction in equal measure.
First of all, plastics come from a limited source: oil, and plastics are non-biodegradable materials. It takes of billion years for a small piece of plastic to decay, we assume, since none of the stuff has ever decomposed! The chemicals present in plastics make the land infertile and they turn the fresh underground water toxic. The smoke from burning plastic pollutes the air and destroys the ozone layer. Discarded plastic often ends up in the ocean where it is eaten by marine life. Therefore, plastics are waste types that are difficult to dispose of. Again, we must recycle, or suffer the consequences.
Plastic Recycling Equipment
If we do not reduce the production of plastic, the Earth, our home, will be a great big landfill site full of plastic trash, and then it won’t just be the poor people of China and Ghana who have to live by them and suffer, no, it will be all of us. All of us admit that it is almost impossible to eliminate plastic from our modern lifestyles. So for now, the least we can do is plastic recycling, or buying products that don’t involve using plastics.
Here’s How it Could Look
One morning, Jim wakes up early. He goes and gets his natural-fibre toothbrush and brushes his teeth. Jim goes to a futuristic supermarket where all convenience can be topped up. His toothpaste is stored in a reusable container that he gets refilled when he needs it. Then, he goes to grab a glass of milk, which was delivered in glass (which is 100% recyclable). After breakfast, Jim goes back to the bathroom to take a shower (his shampoo is refillable, and his shower curtain is made from natural fibres). After fixing himself up, he prepares a sandwich for his snack and puts it in a small reusable paper bag, instead of a plastic bag. He also fills an aluminium bottle of water (this is to avoid buying water in plastic bottles) and also grabs his aluminium reusable straw (to avoid using plastic straws in restaurants for lunch). Then he goes to work. Whenever he does encounter, handle and have to dispose of plastic, he knows exactly where the nearest recycling equipment is, so he can make a contribution.
Here’s How It Could Look For Businesses
Let’s continue with the idea of microwaves. Each week, a delivery of microwaves arrives in the warehouse. Instead of using plastic in the composition, the microwaves are made entirely from metal and glass. Alternatively, the plastic components used in the design are fitted in such a way that if the microwave were to break, they could be unscrewed and recycled very simply. Instead of polystyrene to protect the microwave in the box, an organic substance, such as popcorn, or a mushroom-like filler was used. Even better, the microwave is designed to absorb shock itself, making it sturdier and likely to last longer. The pallet wrap is always recycled and recyclable, or, it is made from an organic, likely sugar-based substance that encloses the contents with great strength, but can be opened quite simply. All packaging waste created during the delivery of the microwaves is separated for recycling.
The demonstrations above were not a “world without plastic” but instead, a “world with less plastic waste.” As stated earlier, eliminating plastic is difficult, but not impossible (it may be almost impossible); the technology is still growing. Why not use our wits to dare the impossibility of living a “Plastic-free-Earth”?