The emperor's new "sea plastic" clothes

Julio F. Campos

Since the invention of Bakelite in 1907 plastic residues or products has being cumulatively thrown into rivers, and consequently oceans. 

The consequence is that today there is not a single beach in the world where plastic debris is not present. After the air pollution, this is probably our second global presence footprint.

   

 For over a hundred year we are polluting the oceans, but the problem of the great garbage patches in Pacific hit the press and social media in the last few years the problem gained public attention. That it was discovered back in 1988 and we stood for years without caring about it is of little concern.

The first large scale attempt to deal with the problem and try to remove the plastic was conceived by Boyan Slat back in 2011, who started a crowdfunding initiative and it is s yet on prototype testing phase, still years from being 24/7 effective on real open sea conditions. Due to lack of investment.

As the subject got public attention, however, it automatically became a pop issue for those environmentally concerned corporations which, backed by circular economy proposals, have in the last couple year actively started to try to deal with the problem on they own way and thanks to their marketing team, eco-friendly products are out and ocean-friendly are in. 

There is no way for companies to deal with the problem in a more wrong way.

While some companies a working the biodegradability side of the problem, as Saltwater Brewery which developed six-pack plastic rings from natural biodegradable and digestible material, others are focusing on using the “recycling ocean plastic” approach. The pop one.

From fashion/sportswear companies and initiatives such as from Adidas, Nike, Patagonia, G-Star RAW clothing collection or Norton Point sunglasses to Method or Procter & Gamble packages, many products made from recycled ocean plastic are hitting the market.

Designers also tailgated the market interest and are releasing various products, from furniture to decorative accessories, based on ocean plastic. 

 Not oddly all those products are not mainstream releases, but special  ones in order to get public attention for the problem of ocean pollution. Or would it instead be for the company “environmental” concern?

The plastic pollution is there and can’t be ignored.

However, plastic packages and other large debris are not the greatest concern for they are manageable. The focus should actually be on the medium / long term consequence of that plastic presence, which is degraded in micro plastic particles that are being eaten by planktonic species and going up through the food chain. 

But as “what consumers don't see won't hurt them”, this is of minor concern for the concerned corporations.

What are people not paying attention to?

Although we do need to remove the plastic from the oceans, and from everywhere for what matters, as fast as possible, it is not the punctual corporation's initiatives that will deal with the problem.

What they are not doing, and people are not paying attention to, is prevent the plastic from reaching the oceans at first place.

When logistics aspects are considered it’s not only easier but also cheaper to implement solutions to avoid the used product from being discarded as garbage, redirecting it as input to the productive process. However, it should be obvious that the real root of the problem is, in fact, the excess of consumption of plastic products. But address that problem is not of interest of the corporations. 

Why go through the harder, costly way?

When a company adopt solutions to deal with the garbage that they produced in the first place, well, that is nothing more than their own obligation.

However, if a company helps the planet by giving a use for a serious environmental issue as ocean garbage, then they are a concerned eco-friendly company, and that’s pop. If they originally produced that garbage that they are removing, that a technicality.

Bottom line, with all the discussion about sustainable, consume, especially within the 12 Sustainable Development Goal, another pop topic in corporation sustainability, why are not the public being taught about how to consume in a way to sustainably avoid the problem, instead of sustainably deal with it?

Probably because the corporation's profits lie on the “let’s deal with it” aspect of the Business as Usual.

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