Month: June 2022

Every year, we celebrate Earth Day. This day is an opportunity for us to take a moment to appreciate this beautiful planet we call home. Earth day also gives us the chance to reflect on how our choices have impacted the world around us. Being one human on a planet full of billions of people can make the idea that one person can change the world difficult to believe. It seems so impossible that we are capable of making a difference. However, small changes add up over time to make a big difference. Because this idea has caught on, people are more focused now than ever on making better choices. As people look to more sustainable choices, businesses must also think about how they affect the planet. One of the ways this happens is via transitioning to items such as sustainable supplement bottles. 

What is a sustainable supplement bottle?

 

Simply put, sustainable means something can be done over a long period while being good for the environment. This requires something to be assessed throughout its entire life cycle from creation to complete breakdown. If an item can be created with minimal environmental impact and can naturally break down without harming the environment, it is sustainable. Most supplement bottles end up in landfills and as litter on the ground or in our oceans, so businesses must put time and resources into creating sustainable supplement bottles. 

Why do sustainable supplement bottles matter?

As companies tend to focus on more plastic-free solutions and other eco-friendly tactics for meeting consumer trends, no aspect of plastic use can be ignored. People focus on plastic bags and water bottles. However, supplement bottles get discarded just as often as water bottles with today’s push toward supplements to optimize health and wellness. If for some reason you haven’t given thought to why sustainable supplement bottles matter, let’s look at some.

Keeping the planet healthy

Our planet will not survive if we do not do more to live sustainably. This is not a possibility. This is a fact! Only 9% of all plastic produced is recycled. Every minute, a garbage truck’s worth of plastic is dumped into our oceans. By the year 2050, plastic could outweigh fish in the oceans. These statistics are not great unless the goal is to make the planet uninhabitable. To reduce its impact, switching to sustainable supplement bottles and other sustainable packaging is a must. 

Consumer trends point toward eco-consciousness.

Plastic pollution has become an ever-increasing area of discussion. As this continues to happen, people become more thoughtful about where they put their money. People want a quality product that is eco-friendly and sustainable. Consumers make efforts to be more environmentally conscious by increasing recycling efforts, reusing as much as they can, composting, and engaging in other sustainability practices. For companies to stay in business, they will need to cater to these consumers. How do they do this? They do this by making the switch to sustainable supplement bottles and other sustainable packaging. 

Companies can educate their customers. 

The benefits companies get when embracing sustainable practices is they can educate their audience and customers. Most companies have a blog page on their site to write about how their product solves a problem. When companies embrace sustainable packaging, they can write about the plastic pollution crisis and how customers can be more environmentally friendly. Companies can also do this while talking about why their product is a better choice for reducing said pollution problems. 

Biodegradable vs Compostable vs Recyclable 

Sustainable supplement bottles and other packaging are so important because no matter what, they will eventually end up in the environment. What we want to do is mitigate the damage that will occur when this happens. Sustainable packaging is meant to bio-assimilate in any environment. When it comes to sustainable packaging, there are many options available. The big terms you need to understand are biodegradable, compostable, and recyclable. There are subtle nuances that differentiate these types of sustainable packaging. Let’s explore those differences so you can choose the best packaging for you.

Biodegradable

Biodegradable means a material is capable of breaking down naturally without causing any harm to the environment or anything in the environment. When something is labeled biodegradable, it will degrade into natural elements such as carbon dioxide. This is a result of the breakdown of materials by microorganisms, light exposure, and other biological processes. To be fair, virtually everything is biodegradable, but time and impact are what matter here. Most plastics made today take hundreds to thousands of years to degrade, causing immense damage to the ecosystem it degrades in. Furthermore, the microplastics that remain will continue to cause damage for much longer. 

Biodegradable tends to come with caveats. For example, there is not much oversight for labeling things as “biodegradable.” Furthermore, many so-called biodegradable items such as certain plastic bags require specific conditions to degrade, which can be unpredictable in a naturally occurring environment. Because of this, some biodegradable products can do just as much harm as good if they are unable to bio-assimilate due to unfavorable conditions. Most sustainable supplement bottles you would find on the market are classified as biodegradable or recyclable. This is based on the materials used to make the products. 

Compostable

If something is compostable, it will break down either in a composting facility or a homemade composting system. Paper and wood products do well in compost, as does food waste. However, you should be careful to not mix and match your compost with your recyclables. If you put compostables into a recycling bin, you can contaminate the recycling process. 

Composting is the process of microbial organisms converting organic material into nutrient-rich soil material. This new material bio-assimilates into the earth. The environment uses said materials to fertilize plants or feed microorganisms like bacteria and fungi. Fun fact: all compostable items are biodegradable, but not all biodegradable items are compostable. 

What makes compostable products so cool is the timetable. Most compostable products will degrade within several months compared to the years it can take biodegradable materials to degrade. The trade-off is durability. Compostable materials like paper are usually far less durable than biodegradable materials like bioplastics. Because of this, sustainable supplement bottles would be unlikely to ever be compostable. The durability of the packaging as well as the stability of the shelf-life would both come into question here.

Recyclable

Recycling is the process of taking a material and breaking it down and converting it into new material. Items like water bottles, supplement bottles, plastic bags, glass jars, etc. are all recyclable. Recycling helps to conserve resources and keep waste out of landfills and our oceans. Recycling rules will depend on your city/state. When recycling, making sure you put the correct items in the correct bins matters. Any crossover of items into improper bins can lead to contamination during the recycling process. This is because different types of plastics and different types of items go through different processes to be converted into new materials.

The biggest con of recycling is the time it takes. Some materials often take hundreds of years to degrade when not recycled. For example, plastics can take up to 450 years or more to break down. Therefore, a sustainable supplement bottle is necessary when recycling does not occur. 

What do we do?

Whether you choose biodegradable, compostable, or recyclable material for products, they are all better than single-use plastics. If your supplement packaging is not sustainable, each is worth looking into. Here is what you can do to make sure the products you buy are as eco-friendly as possible.

• Find reusable bottles or glass jars as often as possible. Reusable containers prevent more single-use plastics from being necessary. 
• Buy paper and cardboard products. These products break down naturally, so are a great eco-friendly choice. 
• Research biodegradable plastics. Few plastics are truly biodegradable, but one company is working to revolutionize the plastic industry. BioBottles has a proprietary blend called Plastic IQ Technology. This Plastic IQ Technology allows plastics to be broken down in nature when exposed to UV light, water, and microorganisms. Plastic IQ Technology also ensures little to no microplastics remain after the bio-assimilation is complete. Furthermore, BioBottles plastic breaks down significantly faster than regular plastic and has a stable shelf life. If you as a consumer or a company want to make an eco-friendly plastic choice, BioBottles is the one to choose. 

The Takeaway

Do your research. Explore your options. It is time-consuming, but at the end of the day, our choices determine our futures. Make the choices that will make a positive impact on tomorrow. If the company you are loyal to does not have a sustainable supplement bottle or biodegradable plastic, point them in the direction of companies such as BioBottles and implore them to do better. When consumers demand change, companies will follow. Let’s make sure future generations do not suffer from our choices. We still have time to make positive and meaningful changes. So, let’s get to it and protect this planet we all call home!

 

Single-use plastics are one of the most widely available and widely used forms of plastic on the market. These include water bottles, straws, bread tags, grocery bags, etc. The purpose of single-use plastics is simple: use them once and toss them. It is a staple item in modern society’s desire for cheap and convenient products. Even if you are a recycling individual, it is almost impossible to avoid using single-use plastics in some capacity in your daily life. 

Plastic bags to carry our groceries and takeout home with, the wrapper on your favorite snack while on the go, the straw in that iced caramel macchiato you get every morning: all little things on their own. Once you add those daily occurrences up over a year it quickly adds up, and that’s just for one person. Modern conveniences such as straws and bottles are so easily accessible and rapidly thrown away that most of us (myself included) can easily pay no mind. However, the harsh reality is that single-use plastics come at a heavy toll on us and the environment. This toll will be on us for tens of thousands of years, long after we are gone. This reliance on plastic has created devastating effects on every ecosystem on the planet. This impact seeps into our waters, wildlife, resources, food supplies, and our very bodies. 

What Are Single-Use Plastics?

Single-use plastics, or disposable plastics, are designed to be used just once before being discarded or recycled. These plastics are produced primarily from fossil fuel-derived chemical compounds called petrochemicals. These single-use plastics are typically used and thrown out in minutes. For example, the average time a grocery bag is used is just 12 minutes. The most common uses for single-use plastics are for packaging and service ware, such as straws, cutlery, wrappers, bottles, and takeout containers.

Plastic has only been around since the 1860s, but it started to become mainstream after the 1950s. A particular uptrend in plastic consumption began in the 1970s. Plastic became a replacement for glass and paper products due to it being cheaper and more durable. A common example would be glass milk jars and soda bottles being replaced with plastic jugs and plastic bottles. Up to 9 billion tons or more of plastics have been produced since the 1950s, with 50% of this production from the early 2000s. 

Popularity Contest

Why is plastic so popular? Simply put, it has limitless applications across every sector imaginable. Some of these applications are important, like medical tools, surgical gloves, and dental equipment. The desire to create products that are cheap but durable while providing a useful service for people is an objectively rational reason to lean on plastics. There is a line between using plastic to help mankind and using plastic to make life more convenient, however. Studies show that more than 50% of all plastic consumption is single-use items. 

Why Is Using Single-Use Plastics Bad?

The desire to have cheap and convenient items is a double-edged sword. On one side, accessibility to goods and services is more affordable than ever. On the other side, we invest in convenience over quality since “we can always buy more.” This mentality fails to consider long-term impacts, and that is what we are paying for now. The reliance on plastic is only escalating an already massive issue. Currently, we produce approximately 300 million tons of plastic each year. We throw out roughly 13 million single-use bottles every year. Most bottles get recycled only 30% of the time. Less than 10% of all plastic makes it to recycling facilities, and only about 12% gets incinerated. If those numbers do not strike fear into you for the future of our planet, I’m not sure what will. 

Can We Truly Stop Using Plastic?

It is a lofty goal to completely eradicate plastic production and use, so right now reduction is the goal. Reducing plastic use is quite effective in decreasing the overall waste of plastic to an extent. Some of these methods include using reusable bags when shopping, using reusable bottles, and carrying aluminum straws are all helpful in avoiding single-use plastics while navigating daily life. There are many other things you can do, and we will touch on those soon.

Recycling Helps

Recycling as frequently as you can will help reduce plastic waste. PETs (polyethylene terephthalate), commonly found in water bottles, can be recycled and repurposed for use in the automotive and clothing industries. As I stated earlier, only roughly 9% of all plastic gets recycled. It ends up in landfills or litter somewhere if not recycled. Some single-use items such as straws, can holders, cutlery, and bags are difficult to recycle because of their size and dimensions. 

Degradation Is A Lie

One of the biggest reasons single-use plastics are so detrimental to the environment is that they don’t truly degrade. Plastics break down, but not the same way organic materials like paper or fruit peels would if you threw them outside. Plastic breaks down over time with light and heat, but this takes hundreds of years, and microplastics remain. Despite the fact that the naked eye cannot see microplastics, they are everywhere. Literally, every ecosystem on earth contains microplastics. They end up in plants, animals, and even in people. Once inside wildlife and other animals, microplastics can accumulate over time and cause a range of health problems. 

For humans, exposure to microplastics can cause serious health issues over time as well. Even exposure to chemicals used to make plastic can create health problems in humans. Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical added to plastic for durability, is potentially responsible for several diseases. Hormonal disruption, sperm dysfunction in men, infertility, cancer, diabetes, and more have a link to BPA. Cancers in humans have a link to DEPH, a phthalate added to plastic for flexibility. 

The Plastic Pollution Crisis

Even though you can see the litter on the streets and fields, it’s the trash you cannot see that has a big impact. Water is becoming more and more contaminated with plastic pollution every day. One garbage truck full of plastic gets dumped into the oceans every minute! Not only that, but even water pathways such as streams and rivers only push more plastic into larger bodies of water via rain and storms. It is estimated that up to 93% of plastic enters oceans via rivers. This is the equivalent of 4+ million metric tons annually pumped into oceans via smaller water pathways and coastal city pollution. 

The Oceans Suffer Most

When it comes to ocean plastic pollution, marine animals bear the burden. Whales and other animals eat this plastic and then die of organ punctures and intestinal plugs. Plastic has been found in the stomachs of beached whales, turtles, and marine birds. By 2050, it is estimated that plastic will outweigh all fish in the oceans! Humans are not safe from this marine crisis. Humans eat seafood, and seafood is being contaminated with microplastics from the breakdown in water. 

Climate Change

Climate change is another price we pay for plastic use. Plastic contributes to the carbon footprint and adds to greenhouse gases throughout its entire lifespan. Methane is released while fossil fuels and raw materials are gathered for plastic production. Plastic refineries release greenhouse gases while converting crude oil into plastic. High levels of pollution are emitted at natural gas plants where ethane is broken down for plastic products being made. If our goal is reducing the carbon footprint, over-reliance on plastics is not helping. 

Should We Ban Single-Use Plastics?

The burden of plastic addiction is noticeable across various communities and ecosystems across the globe. Many countries have made plastic reduction efforts with bans. In the US, New York has a ban on plastic bags. The UK has a tax on plastic bag use, charging you more money to use them as motivation to switch to reusable bags. Kenya in particular has a ban on single-use plastics that carries a penalty as severe as a $41,000 fine or up to four years in prison. Cities in the US such as Seattle and Miami outlawed plastic straws. 

These bans help prevent millions of tons of plastics from entering oceans and other ecosystems each year. It’s a small dent in the already astronomical amount of waste out there, but every little bit helps. These bans also slow down the production of more plastic since the market demand for more decreases as consumers use less plastic. When consumers say “no more single-use plastics,” companies and businesses eventually catch on and look for alternatives to appease customers and keep making money. If people demand sustainable materials for their convenient commodities, companies will have to listen. 

Avoiding Single-Use Plastics

See? I told you we would touch base on this. Individual choices add up over the long term. Individual choices can impact community choices, which makes its way further up until cultural shifts take place. A single change can create massive impacts on the future of our planet. Below are some tips for you to help avoid single-use plastics.

What you can do:

• Take reusable bags to the store for shopping and picking up takeout. If you forget your reusable bag, request paper bags at checkout.  
• Stay home and cook more. By cooking at home, you don’t do takeout as often. This decreases how many plastic containers you throw out yearly. 
• Buy a metal/bamboo straw. This one is one I did years ago. I bought a metal straw and took it with me everywhere so I wouldn’t have to grab a plastic straw. I surprised myself by how often I needed it. 
• Ask for non-plastic alternatives when out and about. Anytime you go out to eat, ask if they have non-plastic options for cutlery, cups, straws, etc. Any switch you can make that day helps!
• Buy reusable cutlery. Big fan of eating out? A fan of sushi perhaps? Reusable chopsticks and other cutlery are available and save tons of plastic cutlery from making its way into the oceans and other ecosystems. 
• Let companies know you care about their packaging practices. With today’s social media reach, businesses are more accessible and influenced by everyday people now than ever. Reach out to your favorite supplement company or bottle company and tell them you care about what they use to pack their products. Tweet, PM, DM, and call them all and tell them to look for more biodegradable options that are better for the environment. Don’t know of anything like that. Check out BioBottles, and then reach out to your favorite companies and tell them all to switch their bottles. Tell them all that if their label doesn’t day BioBottles on it, you won’t buy it!

Plastic pollution is a severe problem. It is a global concern and a massive contributor to climate change. With this being said, it’s no secret that plastic is bad for the environment. Plastic is toxic to plants, animals, and humans. Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down and leaves microplastics behind. Those microplastics end up in plants and animals, and in turn, end up in us. We hear about the plastic pollution crisis on the news, scientific studies, articles (like this one 😂), and countless Netflix documentaries. 

Do you know how severe this crisis is though? Here are a couple of quick statistics:

• 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year
• 13 billion plastic bottles are thrown out yearly

Those statistics are quite staggering and are only a small glimpse into this global issue. A silver lining has emerged though; calls from consumers have put pressure on companies to reduce their plastic production. There have been efforts to ban plastic use in some countries. There have been pushes from policymakers to reduce single-use plastics. Lastly, there has been a recent trend over the past 10-20 years pushing for environmentally responsible choices in creating alternatives to traditional plastics. Some companies and brands are attempting to be more earth-friendly by reducing plastic use and phasing out bags and straws, among other efforts. 

However, it is not just retailers and producers that need to take responsibility for plastic pollution. Consumers must realize they have a part to play too. Here are some facts about plastic and plastic pollution so you can be more educated about the problem.

1. Less than 20% of all plastic produced is recycled. 

According to some accounts, up to 9 billion tons of plastic have been made since the 1950s. Also, most of this ends up in the trash rather than recycled. Of all the plastic that has been created, it is estimated we are only utilizing approximately 30% of it. As of 2018, the estimated ratio of plastic used vs plastic recycled is 3 million tons used to 8.7% recycled. It is noted that some types of plastic are recycled more than others. Clearly, we are not recycling nearly enough to combat plastic pollution. According to another report from 2015, up to only 9% of plastic is recycled and up to 12% is incinerated. This means there is around 87% or more of plastic polluting the earth in landfills, dumps, and bodies of water. 

2. Plastic bags are a bigger culprit of plastic pollution than you might realize.

Did you know that up to 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide every year? This breaks down to roughly 2 million bags used every minute globally. To combat this, some states in the US such as New York banned the use of plastic bags for groceries. We also have countries such as the UK that introduced a surcharge in 2015 for plastic bag use. This extra charge created an 83% drop in plastic bag use. We still have a long way to go to combat plastic pollution on the large scale. However, these steps are positive steps in the right direction.  

3. Single-use plastics can get you jail time in some countries. 

Back in 2017, Kenya introduced a law stating that anyone caught using plastic bags in any capacity risked a fee of up to $40,000 or up to four years imprisonment. Other countries such as China and France also have strict bans on single-use plastic, but Kenya still has one of the harsher punishments for selling, producing, or using plastics. Other notable countries with bans and laws in effect for plastic use are Italy, Russia, certain states within the US, and Rwanda. I don’t know about you, but I think I could live without a plastic bag or water bottle to save myself four years in prison or most of my yearly salary!

4. The very benefits of plastic are the biggest obstacles for us to overcome. 

What do I mean by this? Plastics have many benefits on the surface. Plastic is cost-effective for producers, plastic is durable, and plastic is very resistant to degradation. These are all great benefits if you want a cheap product that holds up well for a long period of time. However, these benefits work against you once the product it contains is used up. Once it is time to discard this plastic, the problem reveals itself. The materials that make plastic so durable also make it difficult for plastic to bioassimilate. It can take between 350-450 years for plastic to break down naturally. Even then, microplastics remain to contaminate whatever environment they get into. 

5. Plastic Pollution makes up 73% of worldwide beach litter.

National Geographic calculated that 73% of beach litter globally is plastic. This plastic pollution includes bottles, bags, lids and caps, wrappers, food containers, grocery bags, and more. I’m not sure about you, but I don’t like the idea of going to the beach and dealing with trash. 

6. Ocean plastic pollution is astronomical.

According to some studies, up to 32% of all plastic production ends up in our oceans annually. This equates to roughly 5 to 13 million metric tons every year. Plastics are believed to be found in every ocean basin on earth. We are basically putting a dump truck’s worth of garbage in our oceans every minute of the day with these numbers. How we haven’t killed off all life on this planet yet is astounding.

7. Packaging is the largest culprit of plastic pollution. 

Many sectors use plastics to some capacity. This includes healthcare, technology, communications, manufacturing, etc. The biggest culprit however is the packaging industry. Packaging is the largest market for plastics today. Packaging materials account for almost 50% of all plastic waste globally. What makes this worse is most of those materials will not get recycled or incinerated. 

8. Much of the plastic used today was produced recently.

Remember that plastic use really took off in the 1950s post world war 2? Well, what is truly shocking is nearly 50% of all plastic in the world today was created in the last 15-20 years. At this rate, by 2050 we would have tripled the amount of plastic produced in 2015. 

9. Over one million plastic bottles are bought every minute.

You read that right; every minute over 1 million plastic bottles are bought. These can be water bottles, juice bottles, soda bottles, etc. From 2006 to 2016, the number of estimated plastic bottles sold went from 300 billion to 480 billion annually. This number has been set to keep rising. To make matters worse, less than 50% of these bottles were recycled. Billions of plastic bottles have made their way into landfills each year. 

10. By 2050, plastic pollution in our oceans will outweigh the fish.

This is much closer than is comfortable to imagine since it is 2022. There is a report that predicts based on current plastic production and waste that plastic will outweigh fish by almost 45 million tons by 2050. Think of how big the oceans are and how many fish there are in those oceans. Plastic could outweigh them all in less than 30 years at our current rate of plastic use and pollution.  

11. By 2050, most seabirds will be eating plastic.

Here is another 2050 apocalyptic statistic for you. It is estimated by 2050, 99% of seabirds will have plastic in their stomachs. This number is built on some findings by the United Nations concerning seabird eating habits. They found that plastic ingestion kills around 1 million seabirds and up to 100,000 other marine animals annually. There is already an estimate that as many as 90% of current marine birds and fish have plastic particles inside them. This is because plastic decomposes into tiny pieces in the water and animals consume those pieces. Plastics do not digest the same as organic materials, so plastic particles will remain. 

12. Plastic bags get used for 12 minutes.

That sounds so wrong, but there are reports out there stating the average time a plastic bag is used is up to 12 minutes. If you really think about grocery bags, it makes sense. However, it cannot be justified to use a 12-minute product that takes hundreds of years to decompose.  

13. Scientists have found BPA in over 90% of Americans tested. 

This one makes me afraid to go get tested. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical compound used in plastic production. BPA can be found in your technology, your food containers, your water bottles, and more. Over time, the plastics made with BPA will begin to leech chemicals as time begins to break down chemical bonds. When this happens, BPA gets released into food and water. So when looking for a plastic bottle, see if there is a better option. (Here’s a hint: BioBottles is the best option.) You’ll thank me later. 

14. Plastic was invented around 1862.

Plastic is said to have been invented around 1862 by Alexander Parkes. He called it “Parkesine” when he introduced it at the London International Exchange. It’s crazy how something so pervasive hasn’t even been around that long. Since it takes upwards of 450 years to break down, that means the very first pieces of plastic created won’t break down for another 200 or more years. 

15. Most of us consume 70,000 microplastics each year. 

When this is broken down, we eat roughly 100 pieces of microplastic with every meal. Let’s throw some ketchup on that plastic to make it go down tastier! This number is likely to get worse before it gets better as more plastic makes its way into oceans and soil. The more plants and animals get contaminated with plastic, the more humans will be too. 

The Bottom Line

There are plenty of alternatives to plastic being produced every day, but it is not enough. We as a species are not doing enough. Consumers are quick to point the finger at retailers and producers to do more. Plastic pollution is a global crisis, so everyone is responsible for doing their part. Let’s start making more sustainable choices and putting more effort into recycling so we don’t all turn into walking plastic by 2050.