How to Support a Circular Economy

It’s exciting to be able to say that Canadians as a whole (and in particular, our Refresh Packaging team and customers) have the health of our environment at the forefront of our minds. In fact, 84% of consumers say that sustainability is an important factor in their purchasing decisions, which is fantastic! But with green buzzwords all over the place, what are the most important things you can look for? How do you choose between two products that both seem great? One thing you can try keeping in mind is which one best contributes to a circular economy.

Waste is worth something if people can put their mind into it. —Ton van Keken

ROUND & ROUND.

Like the Selena Gomez song…or a sustainable model of utilization.

Circular economy? Perhaps you’ve heard the term thrown around on the news or in ads for sustainable products, but what does it really mean? Essentially, a circular, or closed-loop economy is a model of consumption that puts emphasis on things like reuse, repair, and eventually, responsible disposal of products, thereby avoiding unnecessary new purchases as well as waste. The absolute best way to achieve a circular economy when it comes to organic waste is through composting. The process of composting lets us use the earth’s natural resources, then return them back to where they came from, allowing them to regrow and be used again.

Although recycling can be a wonderful way to contribute to a circular economy, it’s important to know when to use it and when to opt for an even better alternative. Organics recycling (also known as composting) makes up the largest portion of materials recycling in Canada, at 22%, with newspaper and cardboard recycling coming in second place, making up 17% of all recycling.

Unfortunately, only 9% of Canadian plastic waste gets recycled, with the rest ending up incinerated, exported, or sent to landfill. This is in part due to failings in the ability of our recycling systems to handle most plastic waste. There are thousands of different plastic types that are sent to recycling facilities, and none of them can be melted down together to be reused. The process of collection and sorting for plastic recycling is also very expensive, whereas creating new plastic is very cheap. Because of this, much of the plastic that Canadians intend to have recycled ends up being landfilled or incinerated as it is less expensive and less labour intensive than actually recycling it.

This isn’t to say that we should stop recycling when we have the opportunity. It means that when we are presented with the option of using either a plastic recyclable product or a compostable or paper option, the best way to foster a circular economy is to stick with the compostable choice.