Jul 31, 2019
“Plastic is not the problem. It’s plastic waste that
is problematic.”
Dave Beck (12:27 - 12:31)
Dave Beck is the National Sales Director at rPlanet Earth, a company dedicated to the mission of zero plastic waste on planet earth. rPlanet Earth is a well-capitalized, innovative manufacturer reusing post-consumer plastics as a feedstock to produce the highest quality packaging with the lowest carbon footprint.
The problem with eliminating plastic.
Today, the consensus seems to be that plastic is the enemy. Plastic isn’t biodegradable, like paper, and it can hang around in the environment for a long time. A lot of plastic waste ends up in the oceans, and it harms the ecosystem.
Contrary to what we may think, eliminating plastic isn’t the best answer. In the United States, we can easily access clean water, and we take it for granted. However, in many parts of the world, people rely on plastic bottles to keep their drinking water clean.
In America, plastic plays a vital role in keeping our produce fresh as it is transported from the growers to the consumer, and it prevents a significant amount of food waste. Eliminating plastic would cause produce prices to skyrocket, which might contribute to lower vegetable consumption and more diseases like obesity.
“Globally, human beings buy a million plastic bottles per minute. There are many parts of the world where people depend on plastic bottles for the basic life necessity of clean drinking water.” - Lori Taylor (10:38 - 10:57)
Plastic isn’t necessarily the problem. What’s problematic is how we reuse plastic, and how much of it is wasted. When you recycle plastic, it typically gets downcycled into things like carpet fiber. While that’s definitely better than the plastic ending up in the ocean, in an ideal world there would be a way to recycle a plastic bottle back into a bottle or container.
That’s precisely what the company rPlanet Earth aims to do. Their founding vision is to eliminate all plastic waste from the planet. They’ve integrated recycling and manufacturing under one roof.
Their founders recognized that too much of the plastic packaging that could be reused to make new plastic was ending up in landfills. Driven by their concern and care for the planet, the rPlanet Earth founders created a manufacturing process the reuses post-consumer plastics as the raw material to produce the highest quality packaging with the lowest carbon footprint.
How rPlanet Earth is combating plastic waste for sustainability.
rPlanet Earth collects the plastic bottles and food containers the consumers throw away. They extract the PET, the type of plastic most widely used in consumer packaging products, from the waste and run it through an intensive wash cycle. Through this process, rPlanet Earth can re-produce plastic that is FDA-approved for use in creating food packaging.
Through their unique plastic processing techniques, rPlanet Earth can recycle plastic back into consumer products over and over again. So, they’re reducing waste, and the need to produce new plastic bottles and containers. rPlanet Earth has partnered with Plastic Recycling Corporation of California (PRCC), a non-profit organization, to source plastic waste from all over the state.
“The biggest technological breakthrough in PET plastic recycling, in recent years, has been the ability to boost all the physical properties of post-consumer plastic to a virgin state for an infinite number of times.” - Dave Beck (6:38 - 6:50)
For the sake of our planet, we need more organizations like rPlanet Earth to make elimination of plastic waste a priority. The responsibility doesn’t lie with business and government agencies alone. As citizens of planet Earth, we all have the duty to join together and help care for our planet.
How to get involved
- Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!
- Reach out to us - we’d love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.
- We only have one planet. To learn more about how rPlanet Earth is helping to make the world a better place, visit their website.
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