Promoting alternatives to- or the recycling of- plastic sachets will reduce the impact these small yet destructive plastics have on the environment.
TARGET USERS: Individuals, Businesses, Industry, Government
KEY CONSIDERATIONS: Companies like Unilever are creating recycling solutions for sachets but even better are their plastic-free seaweed-based alternatives.
MORE INFORMATION: https://rethink-plastic.com/brand/evoware/ and https://www.creacycle.de/images/2019.11.13_Unilever_CreaSolv_Sachet_Recycling.pdf
THE PROBLEM
Billions of single-use plastic sachets are sold everyday, particularly in developing and emerging markets in the form of condiments and soaps. Sachets allow low-income consumers to buy small amounts of products that would otherwise be unaffordable to them. These small plastics are easily discarded into urban waterways and natural environments and often end-up in our seas and oceans.
THE SOLUTION
Cities have the power to promote alternatives to plastic products like sachets and/or to help advance their responsable disposal.
Alternative products
Evoware is a social enterprise that promotes sustainability by providing plastic-free alternatives. Evoware’s mission is to innovate more biodegradable alternatives to singleware-use plastic products using seaweed while increasing the livelihood of seaweed farmers in Indonesia.
Evoware makes a disposable and edible sachet made from seaweed to replace plastic sachet products. This seaweed sheet has the same function as plastic packaging but can be dissolved in warm water. The sheet is heat sealable and therefore can be customized based on different shapes and sizes.
See: https://rethink-plastic.com/brand/evoware/
Responsible disposal
As part of their overall goal to develop and implement a sustainable business model for handling sachet waste streams by 2025, Unilever has partnered with CreaCycle to co-develop the CreaSolv® Sachet Recycling Technology. The technology produces quality polymers that can be used to make plastic that can be used again and again – offering the potential for a circular economy model.
ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS
Social impact group A Plastic Planet published an open letter urging the government to include sachets – used for everything from ketchup and vinegar to shampoo – in European and UK legislation which bans other “throwaway” items such as plastic straws and cotton buds.
See: https://aplasticplanet.com/inspiring-change/campaigns/
