ZAK NOYLE/A FRAME PHOTO

Our World is in trouble and We ALL need to Help!

An Ocean in Crisis!

Every year about 18 Billion pounds of plastic waste enters our oceans.

The US only recycles about 9% of plastic materials, which is significantly behind China (25%) and Europe (30%). This means that 91% of that material eventually ends up in our Landfills or the Ocean.

Once in the ocean, much of this plastic ends up in a floating garbage patch, caused when trash is pulled into a circulating ocean current called a Gyre. The largest garbage patch is located in the North Pacific Gyre, which is the size of Mexico!

As the ocean currents circulate the trash in the gyres, the plastic, over time, breaks into smaller plastic pieces called Microplastics. These microplastics stay in the ocean indefinitely.

Image 1: Map of the 5 Ocean Gyres

These plastics and microplastics in the ocean harm ocean life who can confuse plastic particles for food, which often can lead to death. One scientific study, back in 2014, determined that 1-4 fish, at fish markets in the USA and Indonesia, contained plastic pieces in their guts. Seabirds are also in danger, and scientists believe that 90% of birds eat plastic regularly.

Plastic in Landfills

It takes up to 1000 years for plastic to biodegrade. And with about 3000 active landfills in the United States, theres a lot of potential for plastic to sit and take up very valuable Landfill space. Space that would have been used for waste that can biodegrade.

Figure 1: The image shows the quantity (in tons) of materials found in Landfills between 1960 and 2015. As you can see, Plastic in landfills has greatly increased after the 1990s. This trend needs to be reversed.

At the landfill, plastic can cause a number of problems. As plastic sits in a landfill for years and years chemicals can leach through the landfill liners and contaminate local groundwater sources.

THIS HAS TO END!

While different solutions to this problem get debated, PinnPACK and CarbonLITE urge you to Recycle. If we put more effort into recycling we could be not only be limiting the amount of plastic that enters our oceans and landfills, but can also significantly decrease the need to produce new plastics, which require a lot of natural resources.

It starts with Us!

It starts with and not throwing it away.

recycling the bottle you just drank

It starts with to produce

using recycled plastic (rPET)

new products.

It starts with us developing better, more efficient, cost-effective methods to recycle plastic.

It starts with our Government creating incentives and local agencies creating more accessible recycling areas.

Recycling is in our DNA

PinnPACK has approached the idea of sustainability head on. Through the use of rPET Resin (also called PCR - Post Consumer Resin) provided by our sister company, CarbonLITE Recycling, PinnPACK builds sustainability directly into our packaging. ALL Pinnpack products can be made with varying levels of rPET. As a matter of fact, many of our products are made with 100% rPET. (Levels of rPET are largely dependent on customer specifications)

Image 2: Photo of CarbonLITE Recycling in Riverside, California

Image 3: Photo of PinnPACK Packaging in Oxnard, California

RECYCLING 1 TON OF PLASTIC SAVES 1.5 TONS OF CO2

Facts About Recycling Plastic

A single recycled bottle creates 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than would be created when making a new bottle.

The energy saved from recycling a single plastic bottle can power a 100 watt bulb for 1 hour.

Recycling 1 pound of PET saves 12,000 BTU’s, the same amount of energy needed to increase the temperature of 120 gallons of water by 100 degrees.

Recycling 1 ton of plastic saves 5,774 kWH of electricity or 685 gallons of oil.

By recycling at CarbonLITE, we are able to save 150,000 Tons of Carbon Dioxide Emissions per year! That is the equivalent to the CO2 emissions of 100,000 Flights from NY to LA.

PLASTIC IS A VALUABLE RESOURCE

What can we make with recycled plastic?

Today, plastic can be used to make a number of different every day items. The increased creation of recycled plastic material also means that a lot of companies are implementing more recycled plastic into their products. Specifically, plastic water bottles have become a source for many products. Here are some items that are created with recycled plastic from water bottles!