Even the most sustainably conscious businesses and consumers have waste that, despite their best efforts, is difficult to recycle or get rid of. However, there are many solutions and programs available to help.....
From raw materials and packaging to large appliances and machinery, many solutions go beyond simply handling waste responsibly by providing additional benefits that are a win for everyone, including the planet, such as utilizing waste in innovate ways.
The circular economy provides a great opportunity to improve raw material resilience while offering more sustainable and efficient practices for products across multiple industries. And, in recent years, these sustainable processes have expanded beyond just commonly recycled materials to include much more.
To get a handle on existing solutions and what’s in development, we took a look at innovation across four main domains:
1. Company & Household Pick-up
Solutions that pick up hard-to-recycle materials straight from the door of a business or household. By handling both the logistics and recycling, they make it quick and easy to stay sustainable. Pickups can be scheduled on a regularly recurring basis or on-demand from a mobile app for ad hoc needs.
Solution Spotlight:
Seenons’ platform with accompanying app connects all parties in the waste chain. Consumers and companies can arrange pickup, transport, recycling of the unrecyclable, and enable waste processing for new products and materials.
2. Company Collection Boxes
Solutions that focus more on getting the consumer to come to them - usually for some type of reward or repeatable refill/reuse system.
Solution Spotlight:
Terracycle offers three programs for waste management: Zero-waste collection boxes for use in the home, office, or larger facilities; bulk recycling pickups for large enterprises; and mail-in recycling partnerships with brands.
3. Enterprise Recycling Programs
Unique programs and services designed for larger companies or brands looking to stay sustainable by incentivizing their end-users to recycle packaging and products at end of life.
Solution Spotlight:
Oxyn is a blockchain infrastructure driven by environmental incentives for companies that want to shift to the circular value chain. They help manufacturers reward consumers for returning products and packaging through fast, and secure technology that handles tracking and payments between businesses, conscious consumers and environmental organizations.
4. Proprietary Technology
Proprietary technology that is enabling a new generation of waste to be broken down, recycled or reused.
Solution Spotlight:
Saperatec created a recycling technology that separates the individual layers of composite materials and maximizes the quantity of material gained back. The company has started production on its first full-scale plant in Europe to utilize this technology to the fullest extent for CPG compostable packaging.
Get in touch with us today to learn more about which solution may be right for your business.
