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Sustainability 101: What are virgin plastics?

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Sustainability 101: What are virgin plastics?

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Do you are feeling a bit misplaced when folks confer with sure environmental sustainability subjects and aren’t certain the place to start out in the case of studying extra? Sustainability 101 is a weblog sequence you can flip to for details about totally different environmental phrases that will come up at work, throughout discussions with mates, and even at your annual vacation gathering.

This weblog was written by Nicole Kenney, Program Supervisor, Sustainable Packaging, and Drew Phan, Packaging Engineer.


A woman and a man's photos, side by side
Nicole Kenney and Drew Phan

As a part of fashionable life, many of the merchandise we purchase are available plastic packaging. Once you purchase one thing with plastic packaging, you’re in all probability not conscious of what kind of plastic it’s. There may be recycled plastic, which is when recycled bits of plastic are reprocessed into plastic merchandise. And there may be additionally virgin plastic, also called virgin plastic polymers, which in response to a 2022 report, means “newly manufactured resin produced from petrochemical or biomass feedstock used because the uncooked materials for the manufacture of plastic merchandise and which has by no means been used or processed earlier than.”

Basically, virgin plastics are manufactured from beforehand unused supplies, which suggests they will take a much bigger toll on the atmosphere.

Because the Nineteen Fifties, plastic has overrun the packaging business by offering cheap and lightweight safety for merchandise. Plastic packaging is broadly obtainable within the type of typical foams, baggage, and clamshell trays. Over the a long time, this has led to a worldwide construct up of plastic air pollution, since these supplies are usually not at all times managed accurately at finish of use. Though plastics are present in all main municipal stable waste classes, in america the containers and packaging class had probably the most plastic tonnage at over 14.5 million tons in 2018 alone.1  That’s equal to the burden of over 300,000 grey whales. The sheer quantity of waste has led to rising consciousness across the influence of packaging and elevated buyer demand for sustainable alternate options.

On the identical time, a product has little to no worth if it arrives broken. Cisco’s Packaging Engineering division thinks holistically in the case of designing Cisco’s packaging with sustainability in thoughts. We’re rethinking product packaging and are sourcing various supplies to plastic. Our technique consists of eliminating plastic baggage in our packaging wherever doable.  For instance, we have now eliminated plastic packaging from our energy cords, leading to a discount of over 10 million baggage yearly. Work is underway to use the identical efforts throughout further part classes.

Design for Recyclability

The place we can not fully take away plastic packaging, we should select alternate options with a smaller environmental footprint.  This implies choosing recyclable supplies which are simply separated and broadly accepted in curbside recycling streams. As soon as these supplies are recovered, they are often damaged down and re-processed into the feedstock for the subsequent spherical of packaging.

For instance, our plastic thermoform cushions are manufactured from the identical high-density polyethylene materials as milk jugs and will be accepted in the identical plastic curbside recycling stream.* In line with the U.S. Environmental Safety Company (EPA), HDPE (Excessive Density Polyethylene) is without doubt one of the most incessantly recycled plastics in america.1

Within the case of plastic baggage in our accent kits, efforts are underway to make the most of fiber-based paper envelopes and corrugated sleeves which are recyclable. Paper is presently one of the best various as a result of it’s the most recycled materials in america.2 

Select Recycled Supplies

Recycled supplies are totally different from recyclable supplies in that recycled packaging has a proportion of fabric inputs which have already been damaged down and reprocessed after use. By incorporating extra recycled content material into our packaging, we preserve precious assets and cut back greenhouse gasoline emissions in comparison with manufacturing virgin supplies. Selecting recycled supplies additionally promotes recycling by rising the demand for recycled supplies.

We’re focusing our vitality on recyclable and recycled plastics as a result of, sadly, biodegradable and compostable plastics aren’t effectively fitted to use within the electronics business.

Biodegradable and bio-based are phrases used loosely to explain plastics produced from plant sources. The most important concern for these supplies is that it’s not at all times clear how lengthy it’s going to take for these plastics to interrupt down. Since they’re usually not licensed compostable, they will probably leech toxins into the soil.3

In relation to compostable packaging, the U.S. Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) Inexperienced Guides clarify that this packaging have to be licensed with “competent and dependable scientific proof that every one supplies within the product or bundle will break down into — or develop into a part of — usable compost safely and in about the identical time because the supplies with which it’s composted.”4 That is good for natural waste like meals scraps, grass clippings and yard waste. However presently, the shorter shelf lifetime of compostable packaging makes it higher fitted to meals packaging than the electronics business.

A round technique

 We’re evolving to a extra round mannequin by which we cut back the assets we eat and the waste we generate. With this strategy, we attempt to prioritize supplies with recycled content material; design merchandise for useful resource effectivity; and facilitate restore, remanufacturing, and recycling to increase product life. That’s why we have now a objective for 100% of latest Cisco merchandise and packaging to include Round Design Rules by fiscal 12 months 2025.** Utilizing recycled supplies is an instance of one in all our rules.

By pursuing our objective to include Round Design Rules, we will use much less virgin materials, and eat much less materials total. Decreasing our packaging carbon footprint will drive progress in direction of Cisco’s packaging objectives.5

As we take the mandatory steps to embed Round Design Rules into our packaging portfolio, it is very important do not forget that each alternative has tradeoffs — there isn’t a one-size suits all resolution. Attaining circularity is an iterative course of — what’s greatest for immediately is probably not what’s greatest for tomorrow. But when we stay agile and attempt for achievement, we will proceed to maneuver in a constructive path in direction of a round economic system.

Observe our Packaging Engineering crew’s journey as we proceed to evolve our round packaging portfolio.6

 


* Examine your native municipality for more information.

** In fiscal 12 months 2022, we had performed a mushy launch of a brand new scoring instrument that evaluates circularity in merchandise and packaging. We used the mushy launch to judge 13% of latest merchandise and packaging, and located that 33% of them efficiently met our round design standards. That is equal to 4% of whole new merchandise and packaging launched in fiscal 12 months 2022 assembly round design standards. In early fiscal 2023, the scoring instrument was formally launched throughout all enterprise items, and we anticipate the universe of latest merchandise and packaging evaluated to extend in fiscal 2023.

References

1 Plastics: Materials-Particular Knowledge | US EPA

2 Paper and Paperboard: Materials-Particular Knowledge | US EPA

3 Public_SPC-Place-Statement_Biodegradable-Packaging.pdf (sustainablepackaging.org)

4 Environmental Claims: Abstract of the Inexperienced Guides | Federal Commerce Fee (ftc.gov)

5 Environmental Targets – Cisco ESG Hub

6 Cisco Sustainable Packaging – Cisco

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