Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Principle No. 1 for Building a Circular Economy - Seite 2

Reuse

Single use is no longer a luxury that our planet can afford. Reuse is all about functionality, usability and longevity of usefulness. And although there may be products that will only be used once in their current form - for instance, in healthcare or packaging - they don't have to head to the landfill. Molecular recycling can help us move from single use to circular use for these items as well. With the right infrastructure and commitments from companies and governments as well as supportive education and messaging, we can reuse the material from single-use products infinitely.

Companies can commit to reuse by designing products to have replaceable parts or reusable pieces or by packaging in refillable containers. They'll need to design convenient and economical systems so that consumers can easily return products and packaging to the value chain at the end of their usefulness, access repair parts or refill containers. Education is also needed to move the public from seeing materials as waste to seeing them as part of a more sustainable material manufacturing system.

Legislation plays an important role as well. A robust and easy-to-navigate credit system for circular design could incentivize creative solutions and provide resources for future production. Regulations around single-use packaging could make a huge impact on the amount of plastic waste that ends up in the environment and landfills.

For instance, in France, McDonalds is piloting a program that eliminates single-use serving ware for in-restaurant dining and serves their customers with reusable fry holders, drinkware and cutlery. The change was initiated by the French law banning single-use plastics, and customers are responding well, demonstrating that there are some spaces where the move from single-use plastics can be an easy transition and should be immediately adopted.

Recycle

To recycle means to put materials that are at the end of their useful life back into the system to create new products. Companies can commit to recycling in two ways: using recycled content in products and packaging and designing products to be recyclable. But we need system reform and consumers on board too.

Although we have recycling systems in place now, they will need to be adapted to support both mechanical and advanced recycling because a wider range of plastics and fibers can be accepted. Investment in better infrastructure and collection systems would empower both the mechanical and the advanced recycling system to collect more materials, keeping them out of landfills and returning them to the value chain. On top of that, consumers need the education and faith to support the expanding system.