Sure, sustainable packaging is all the rage these days. But what is sustainable packaging really, and what does the concept entail? At Arata, we recently made the switch to post-consumer recycled plastic, and we’re here to explain a few of its benefits for our environment.
What is Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) Plastic?
Let’s start with the basics. What is PCR plastic?
Plastic that’s been used, recycled, and re-purposed into reusable material. This includes plastic waste material, both from our oceans and from land, that is collected and recycled. Think about the plastic bottles you buy off store shelves and dispose in your office dustbin, or the plastic milk carton you threw away last weekend, or your monthly plastic detergent bottles, or even all your plastic cosmetic tubes!
Every single recyclable plastic bottle, tube, carton, and more, is repurposed into material that can be reused. Rather than emptying tons of this waste material into our oceans and our landfills, we reduce the environmental toxicity by recycling such materials.
This explains the name: post-consumer recycled plastic.
Why Switch to Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) Plastic?
The most important reason is that our consumption patterns positively (or negatively) impact our environment every single day. The choices we make with regards to the products we choose affect the overall supply-and-demand chain, and in turn, influence the levels of toxicity in our environments.
Today, it is essential we act quickly. The amount of waste we create is increasing steadily. With a high supply-and-demand chain and an increasing population in all parts of the world, products are constantly being bought and disposed. This encourages companies to produce in bulk, often using harmful packaging materials. Once used and finished, these products are disposed of in waste landfills.
Since plastic packaging is not biodegradable, the amount of waste increases, the toxicity to the environment builds up, and the consequences on our ecosystems are disruptive.
When we make thoughtful personal care choices, we help our environment and ecosystems. By choosing products packaged sustainably, we mitigate the harmful effects toxic packaging can cause our environment. So let’s make mindful personal care choices.
Benefits of Post-Consumer Recycled Packaging
Here are three impactful benefits of choosing products with PCR packaging.
Instead of producing new plastic, which eventually ends up in the ocean or in a waste facility somewhere, PCR diverts, recycles, and repurposes existing toxic plastic. In this way, it reduces the toxic burden we’re forcing onto our environment and our ecosystems, and well, reduces the suffering caused to our wildlife, which is always at the receiving end of our harmful decisions.
Plastic is created from non-renewable sources, such as harmful fossil fuels, which are extremely detrimental to our environment and to our health. PCR is less wasteful than new plastic! It reduces the amount of waste produced and collected, and aids the zero waste revolution. It’s a small step, but we believe every step counts. Moreover, it’s better for the environment and way, way better for you.
How does zero waste packaging reduce toxicity, you ask? Firstly, we aren’t producing any new plastic that has harmful effects on everything around us. Secondly, we’re reducing the amount of waste material scattered onto our planet. No new plastic equates to no new waste. Thirdly, and most importantly, we’re keeping tons of toxic plastic waste out of the landfills and the oceans, and repurposing it for our everyday needs.
Conclusion
At Arata, our goal is to go plastic negative. We manufacture our bottles and tubes using upto 100% post-consumer recycled plastic, found in ocean and land waste, and our labels are printed using biodegradable food-grade ink. Every element of our packaging is thought-through with an intention to reduce toxicity.
The environmental burden stops with us.
We want to encourage all brands to make the switch to PCR packaging. It’s important that we become cognizant of our purchase choices and production decisions, and enable a world free of harmful toxic waste. The goal is to eventually create a healthy future for all who live, breathe, and exist on the Earth.
We’re all in this together. Let’s make mindful personal care choices moving forward, and adopt practises that reduce the plastic waste we contribute. Make the switch today and join the zero-waste revolution.
