Eco-friendly textile shirts, paper capsules, water capsules… Global companies spur the development of alternative products
As countries around the world are showing interested in the disposal of single-use plastics, global companies are joining the movement. The majority of companies in the plastics sector, including Starbucks, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, American Airlines, Hiot, Walt Disney, and P & G, are the most common. Unfortunately, not many companies are active because not using single-use plastics can affect profits right away.
Starbucks plans to test a recyclable, fertilizer-friendly cup by next year. In five places, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, London, England, and Vancouver, Canada, cups of other materials instead of plastic are being tested. Starbucks said it will remove plastic straws from more than 28,000 stores worldwide.
Fashion brand, Polo Ralph Lauren, has temporarily released eco-friendly shirts made from fibers extracted from recycled plastic bottles. Polo has declared that by 2025, at least 170 million plastic bottles will be removed from landfills and the ocean.
Coca-Cola and Nestle are participating in campaigns to reduce the use of plastic packaging and disposable plastic and to increase the use of renewable packaging. Coca-Cola used 3 million tons of plastic in 2017. It is capable of producing 200,000 bottles of 500mL PET bottles per second and 1080 billion bottles per year. Considering that 500 billion bottles are produced annually in the world, Coca-Cola is the producer of one out of five bottles we use.
In November last year, 10 McDonald's stores in Beijing, China, demonstrated an attempt to invent a lid that allows one to drink liquid in a cup without a plastic straw by putting one's mouth on the cup. McDonald's stores in England have been using paper straws since September last year.
Sports events are no exception. The London Marathon that was held on May used small water capsules, which appeared in place of PET bottles, and it received great media attention. The Ooho capsule, made from seaweed extract therefore can be easily broken down, is made to be package water. In addition, straws made of edible materials and other packaging materials that are easily disassembled are expected to be commercialized.