It's no secret that plastic recycling is a major challenge for our society. The issue concerns us all, from producer to consumer. And we can all have an influence on waste and recycling. Here are a few tips for making better use of plastic in the garden and at home.
Why recycle plastics?
Today, plastic management is a major challenge for the planet. Why? Because, as Consoglobe points out, it's made from petroleum, a non-renewable (= not infinite) resource. But also, and above all, because it poses enormous pollution problems at the end of its life. Plastic waste takes between 100 and 1000 years to degrade in nature.
However, plastic can be recycled several times before being considered as waste. It is therefore important to sort it so that it can be reused several times. Fortunately, today, plastic recycling techniques are improving and industry is using more and more recycled plastic to create new products: automotive parts, clothing, watering cans, flower pots...
How does plastic recycling work?
It all starts with a simple gesture: sorting your household waste. Because even if, for the moment, only a fraction of plastic waste is recycled, it's well worth the effort. And with technology evolving so rapidly, the situation is improving year on year, and soon all plastics will be recycled. Once sorted, plastic waste is compacted and sent to specialized centers. The raw plastic is crushed and reduced to flakes, then washed. The clean granules can then be reused. They are used in the composition of all kinds of products: carpets, fleeces and, increasingly, finished products.
How to make a Green Care jar
Aware of these environmental issues, Garden ID has developed Green Care, a range of 100% recycled pots made from recycled plastic and natural materials such as agricultural residues and stone powder.
Giving plastic a second life - or even several lives - with each new product jar, that's the challenge of the new Green Care range, which you'll discover in the animated video presenting the range.
And tomorrow, plastic?
Plastics are gradually evolving. It is increasingly recyclable and even biodegradable. A new generation of plastics is emerging, with undeniable environmental, technical and economic advantages.
Recycled or biocomposite, made from natural materials, plastics have entered the green age. And designers are exploiting these new sustainable materials. (...)
Plastic, enemy of modern life and vector of the consumer society, accused of producing obsolete, low-quality objects, is taking its revenge. With waste recycled to produce new materials, eco-design creations and bio-sourced materials, its universe is now animated by a mix of artisanal know-how and creations, hijacked by the technology that will preside over the plastics of tomorrow. (sosoir)
Finally, various solutions are being studied to further reduce the negative impact of plastic on our planet. These include :
- Biodegradable plastics - a process that is still not widely used, as it is uneconomical, energy-intensive and poses problems for the use of agricultural land. But the bioplastics and biocomposites sector is booming.
- Another lead is emerging: a plastic-eating bacterium. To be continued ...
- Engineers are working on new polymers of the same quality as those obtained from oil, which would make it possible to no longer depend on finite resources.
Browse the collection