Many companies pride themselves on their sustainability efforts and eco-friendly business practices. However, consumers’ passion for sustainability and green solutions often gets overlooked in the market. 

Recycling conserves energy, reduces air and water pollution, limits greenhouse gasses, and decreases the number of products taken to landfills. And the great thing about recycling: You can throw your plastics in blue bins and continue with your day. Even though recycling seems easy and efficient, how come so many plastic products end up in a landfill instead?

Ordering takeout or picking up dinner curbside has been a staple of the pandemic thus far but comes with a flood of harmful plastic and styrofoam packaging. But a new startup is trying to reduce damage to the environment by highlighting takeout options that use Earth-friendly packaging.

You may have noticed that quarantine-cuisine and to-go coffee orders come with a lot of plastic utensils, single-use straws, and styrofoam containers. What were once sustainability sins are now quarantine commonplace as we navigate the realities of COVID-19. 

Efforts to reduce plastic consumption do not need to go out the window. There are still plenty of things you can do to reduce your own plastic intake and spread the socially-distant word to your friends and family. Here are a few ideas to get you started. 

As the year 2019 came to a close, brands in the food and beverage industry were setting some truly ambitious goals relating to sustainability. Warnings from experts such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the World Economic Forum forecasted that the world’s oceans would contain by weight more plastic than fish by 2050. This projection shocked the industry into action, creating a common aim to reduce the negative impacts of packaging on the environment.

Learning to dispose of bioplastics appropriately is crucial to optimizing all of the benefits of using bioplastics opposed to using regular plastic items. Bioplastics are meant to be better for the environment while still retaining the reliability and durability of plastic because they are able to decompose faster and better than regular plastic. However, bioplastics still only dispose well under the right conditions.  

Biodegradable plastic seems earth-safe, and yet it’s been the center of controversy for environmentalists for years. After all, the average consumer hears “biodegradable” and “compostable” and immediately assume that the items are good for the environment. However, biodegradable plastics aren’t all that marketers portray them to be…least of all, actually biodegradable.