Two news items touch on the problem of plastic waste clogging the oceans and how to remove plastics from the supply chain or find other more innovative solutions. The first are attempts at “reverse logistics” using plastics waste found in the oceans and recycling it into raw materials for other goods.
“Coca-Cola Co. recently unveiled a bottle made in part of recycled marine litter. Interface Inc., the world’s biggest maker of carpet tiles, is weaving rugs with yarns produced from discarded fishing nets. Startups are raising funds to fish for plastics and make new products.”[1]
“Beyond legal compliance, it is in a company’s financial interest to determine the degree to which the subcomponents of an end-of-life product could be harvested, or re-marketed,” writes Lisa Cairns, a technology strategist and contributor to Environmental Protection. “Reverse logistics that include quality-based and market appropriate opportunities for secured component remarketing can provide new margin improvements.”[2]
In related news, Tesco announced it would remove one billion pieces of plastics from its retail outlets by the end of 2020. Dave Lewis, CEO of Tesco said: “By focusing on solutions that we can apply across all our UK stores and supply chain, we can make a significant difference and achieve real scale in our efforts to tackle plastic.”[3]