Think Beyond Plastic Innovation Contest
Think Beyond Plastic contest, the annual innovation contest for products or solutions that will measurably reduce plastic pollution is gaining momentum.
The event will connect entrepreneurship with thought leadership and environmental sustainability.
The contest will be juried by leaders in industry and science including Eben Bayer (Ecovative), Mike Biddle (MBA Polymers), Julie Corbett (Ecologic), Adam Lowry (Method), Dr. Ramani Narayan, Bina Venkataraman (MIT/Harvard Brode Institute), Mike Velings (A-Spark Good Ventures) and Adam Werbach (Yerdle). The presentation of awards and the final public event will take place at the Think Beyond Plastic annual conference on June 13-14, 2013 in Berkeley, CA, in front of an audience of entrepreneurs, investors, journalists and thought leaders. Think Beyond Plastic, a project of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, is dedicated to fostering a spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation in addressing the plastic pollution crisis. Plastic pollution is a problem that the world has just begun to understand. It is massive and urgent. Recycling is not an adequate solution to the increasing consumption of disposable plastic. We will feature solutions that will support the call to reduce the planetary plastic footprint.
I am 63 years old. When I was a child we used glass and many of them was returned to the companies to be washed and reused. Why can´t we do the same again? All plastic containers could be changed into glass containers.
The introduction of plastics in my country has had a devastating effect not only on the environment but also on the income of women and girls. I grew up seeing women weave baskets and making money from the sales of the baskets. At the same time such knowledge was passed over to their young girls. No more basket weaving now, plastic bags have replaced that culture, with nothing to do in the rural areas, girls are forced to migrate to the cities. Awareness raising on the impact of plastics needed quickly and revival of the basket weaving culture to replace the plastic bags now while at the same time reviving the women’s lost economy.
Rustica, this is so interesting to me (I am women’s studies professor in the US). Can you tell me more? Where are you from? Your story could help us tell an important story about the effects of plastic pollution–one that I don’t think has been quite heard, and that could mobilize a critical segment of the world population.
Reuse, recycle, this is the only way we can avoid so many plastic bottles and packs in our environment.
As an artist I teach kids about recycling through the artist in schools program. I have been sharing the refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle message since the early 1990′s. The kids are definitely enrolled, the parents not so much. I show kids how to use there creativity to transform the plastics that are being thrown away into toys, games, jewelry, science experiments and much more .The future is our kids and we need to empower them to make the right choices.
In South Australia, we brought in ”container deposit” legislation thirty five years ago, specifically to reduce litter. This means anyone can return their can or bottle to a recycle depot and get a few cents back for it; many people have supplemented their income collecting used containers. Result? WE HAVE THE CLEANEST OCEAN IN THE WORLD off our coastline, where plastic pollution is extremely low – birds and animals do not choke to death from plastic ingestion, and people can fish here knowing their catch is not full of tiny particles of plastic (that’s where where plastic ends up – IN YOU!). The health implications of this are not good. We want the whole of Australia to support legislation currently before federal parliament which would make our local scheme a national one! Marine biologists around the world agree that SA’s oceans are the cleanest, purest and best ones for wildlife AND people. All from a simple idea, that worked!!
Coral ceramic with electric eels in a formula made with squid ink.
I have read last year that a Japanese scientist uses recycled plastic to produce fuel…