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Written by Hallie Brennan, UPCYCLE SANTA FE | FEBRUARY 2019

You’ve probably heard the term ‘green washed’ by now, and have likely witnessed it firsthand.  There isn’t enough bad-mouthing to be said about this marketing pandemic, as it gaslights sustainability efforts when Earth needs our care most.  For those of you who haven’t heard of green washing, let’s start with a simple definition.  Aka ‘green sheen’, green washing is a marketing strategy to deceive you, the consumer, in thinking a company, venue, or restaurant is green, but when examined just a little closer the company is in fact harming the environment.  As a result, the consumer gets duped into spending their hard earned cash on an undeserving fake green company.

Have you ordered a to-go coffee drink lately and noticed your cup has a little green leaf stamped on it?  Maybe the words biodegradeable or compostable are also written on the cup, and you say to yourself, ‘What a wonderful world!’ then finish the drink and toss the cup in the trash, because that’s where it’ll just biodegrade or something.  If this sounds familiar you’ve been green washed.

As inundated as we are with single-use plastics, many people are hoping for more Greenified single-use items.  (Hint: Doesn’t that sound like an oxymoron?)  Most of these newly developed “green” single-use plastics are only green if you dispose of them properly.  I hope you find this as interesting as I do because I am about to launch right in…

Biodegradable and compostable plastics are turning up everywhere.  There are huge differences between the two.  Biodegradable plastics are usually just basic plastic products which have microorganisms added to help break down the plastic way faster.  The idea is the plastic will deteriorate in a few years rather than a few hundred years.  This seems like a legitimate fix to plastics building up on the planet, right?  Here’s the catch… when biodegradable plastics break down toxic residue is often left behind because the material is still just plastic.  Additionally, when those plastics do break down they don’t just disappear.  They become micro-plastics, and those are extremely harmful to ecosystems.  Micro-plastics are practically invisible which makes them nearly impossible to clean up, and they eventually end up in the bellies of wildlife and humans.  Lets also not forget the grandfather of the plastic problem is Big Oil.  Plastic is a petroleum based product; biodegradable plastic is, too.  They’re still drilling oil so that single-use fork can feed you.  Plastics degrade alright, but there’s nothing bio, or biological, about it.  It’s an unnatural object with an unnatural degradation process, and mass producing these biodegradable plastics isn’t getting to the root of the plastic pollution issue.

Compostable products are made of natural plant starch, like corn or tapioca.  Compostable products break down in a composting system when done so correctly.  If you throw your compostable items in the trash and are thinking, ‘Yay!  It’ll just break down in the landfill…” you’re missing a big part of the picture.  To organically compost an item you need oxygen, or an aerobic environment.  Landfills are anaerobic environments, which means there is no oxygen to break down the compostable material.  This is why proper compost piles have to be turned and hydrated.  When compostables (food waste included) end up in landfills they break down alright, but release methane gas in the years-long process.  The gas is sourced from the landfill and burned, which is a direct green house gas.  Methane gas is 23 times as potent as carbon dioxide in trapping heat within our atmosphere.

Compostable plastics means you’ve got to actually compost the plastic.  Have you ever thrown a compostable fork in your compost pile, then when you turn the pile months later you find the fork is intact and hasn’t started to break down whatsoever?  I have learned my lesson this way, as well.  Part two of compostable plastics is the need for commercial composting.  It’s a bit different than backyard composting.  Because the compostable plastic is still just plastic, it is not going to break down as quickly and easily as a banana peel.  Compostable plastics need to be managed in a controlled environment where microbes are being fed at just the right amount, and at just the right temperature, with just the right amount of water and nitrogen, in order to break down.  Who can possibly pull all that off?  Commercial composting facilities.

Compostable plastics in your backyard compost will take over a year to break down, and leave plastic bits behind, contaminating your soil.  If the item is tossed in the recycle bin it’s considered a contaminate and goes to the landfill, because it’s not 100% polyethylene like recyclable plastics.  In the landfill, compostable plastics take years to break down and eventually turn into methane gas.  Here’s the green wash; people perceive compostable plastic as a sustainable option without being informed to the importance of properly composting the item once finished with it.  When faced with limited composting facilities to responsibly handle the item it can turn out just as bad as regular old plastic.

Bring your own to-go container to restaurants!

Solutions do exist for compostable plastics, but you’ve likely got to do a little work.  If compost collection isn’t offered by your city’s waste management program, or by the venue that’s served you a compostable plastic item, consumers must take the lead.  Upcycle Santa Fe is located in northern New Mexico and can recommend Soilutions in Albuquerque and Reunity Resources in Santa Fe to responsibly handle your compostable waste.  (If you’re not composting your food waste at home, we cannot emphasize enough how important it is to not throw your food waste into the landfill.  Commercial composters can really help you out, here!)  A quick online search can help you find a certified commercial composting facility in your hometown.  If you’re an Ecobricker, or are able to make Ubuntu-Blox, biodegradable and compostable plastics can be used in both methods.  This is because neither Ecobricks or Ubuntu-Blox offer the right environment for such plastics to break down.

When it comes down to it, sustainable, green, and single-use aren’t usually found in the same family tree.  Green leaves or happy trees on packaging gives consumers’ quick-to-judge eye the impression a product is a sustainable choice.  The importance of bringing your own to-go coffee mug to the cafe, or reusing utensils for parties or car camping, are far more sustainable options.  Though innovative single-use items keep popping up on store shelves, the method of ‘bring your own’ and reuse still reigns.  Using anything once and throwing it away is the opposite of what sustainability teaches us.

As consumers we are a leading cause of climate change.  Yes, we may accurately place quite a bit of blame on corporations polluting ecosystems and destroying simple ways of life around the world, but we must remember corporations serve a very large, very powerful group.  A group which has an incredible impact on global economics, politics, government policy, and the overall planet: consumers.  If we want to change the dirty ways of corporations we must change our dirty ways of consuming, as well.  If we cannot see we are part of the problem we cannot fix the problem.  The responsibility of cleaning up the planet is in all of our hands.  We may sit and wait for corporations to do their part, or we may go ahead and get a head start.  Being informed to green washing tactics makes us better consumers because it challenges irresponsible corporations and keeps the sustainability movement in line.

Refuse, reduce, reuse, refill, recycle.

WRITTEN BY HALLIE BRENNAN, UPCYCLE SANTA FE | DECEMBER, 2018

Taking on global plastic pollution is tough.  Challenging folks to awaken to their single-use plastic habits is no easy task, either.  Developing an innovative product which could save thousands of pounds of non-recyclable plastic waste from landfills and oceans, to be utilized by communities large and small, rich or poor, across the nation… now that is the toughest task, yet.

We are a company of many facets, and our mission is grand.  We’ve got a big idea and have been plotting its success for years.  Working with post-consumer plastic waste as building insulation has been tedious.  Many trial and errors with consultations and plannings have led us to take the next crucial steps forward.  Industry standards require some basic tests in order for newly-developed insulation materials to pass building codes.  This is what we seek to document in our work with Ubuntu-Blox an Ecobricks.  Two research-based tests must be fulfilled.  The first, an R-Value test, or insulation quality.  How does the plastic waste insulation keep houses warm in the cold, and cool in the hot?  The second is a Flame Spread test.  In the unfortunate case of a fire, how quickly do plastic waste insulation products burn?

Emissions testing with LANL.

Testing emissions standards with Ecobricks.

Another difficult task of taking on global plastic pollution and challenging single-use plastic habits is asking for help, specifically financial help.  We’ve located a facility to perform the required tests, and we’ve received a quote for the needed research.  The R-Value and Flame Spread tests together are $7,000, and our grassroots startup simply doesn’t have the needed funds.  We’re asking for your help because we really believe we have a solution to non-recyclable plastic waste!  Did you know Ecobricks and Ubuntu-Blox have already passed some very impressive tests?  Last year, both passed an emissions test conducted by Los Alamos National Laboratory, showing plastics as insulation do not off-gas. (Scroll down to blog post “The Lab Results Are In… Get Excited” from January 2017)  Also, Ubuntu-Blox were originally designed to withstand serious seismic activity, and an Ubuntu-Blox structure passed an 8.0 earthquake test!

Like most grand, innovative ideas turned into reality we must start with community support and investment.  At this time, Upcycle Santa Fe is seeking support from you!  Yes, YOU, our environmentally conscious, Green-living friend.  You’ve already supported our work by stuffing Ecobricks and cutting back on the single-use plastics.  Now, will you donate to our Go Fund Me campaign and help us reach our goal of researching innovative plastic waste solutions?  Perhaps you may be interested in long-term, large scale investments in our company, as well.  We are pleased to announce now is the time to make that happen.  Should you be interested in investment opportunities we invite you to email our team at info@upcyclesantafe.org.

Our work was recently recognized and featured by Albuquerque-based KRQE News.  We think their journalists did a great job accurately capturing the work Upcycle Santa Fe has been focusing on.  You can watch the newscast in the video below.

Here at Upcycle Santa Fe, our mission goes beyond awareness to single-use plastics and pollution.  It goes beyond teaching the youth sustainable practices to carry with them throughout life.  Beyond refusing a straw and bringing reusable bags to the grocery store.  With all of these conscious practices and community supporting us, Upcycle Santa Fe moves along a timeline to seriously impact global plastic pollution.  You’ve helped us make it this far, and together we can have a big impact on this plastic problem.

Written by Hallie Brennan, Upcycle Santa Fe | September, 2018

The majority of United States based recycling firms still think it’s a good idea to ship our plastic waste overseas.  China banned foreign plastic waste imports in January of this year.  A short six months later Thailand did the exact same thing.  Vietnam is no longer issuing permits for foreign plastic waste imports. Taiwan is drafting regulations to restrict imports, as well.  What is going on, here?  Why don’t foreign countries want to accept our plastic waste?  Maybe it has something to do with toxic pollution, contaminated water streams, and environmental disaster.  Maybe this is why we don’t even accept our own plastic waste…

The U.S. sent 70 million pounds of plastic waste to Thailand, alone, in just three months!  Here’s a quote from The Nation, a Thai news outlet, “I have no doubt that the recycling of plastic waste and used electronic parts are profitable businesses at the moment.  Some business operators may make a lot of profit from the recycling industry, but what will the country gain from their prosperity when our environment becomes polluted and the people suffer?”  This very rational quote comes from the Natural Resources and Environment Minister, General Surasak Kanchanara.  Finally!  Someone is talking sense!

Solutions for recycling post-consumer plastic waste generated in the United States need to happen in the United States.  There is a business model which ships these plastics overseas, as foreign markets purchase scrap plastic from U.S. suppliers, and then use the recycled plastic to affordably manufacture goods.  Those goods are often shipped right back over to the U.S.  How many election cycles have you been through witnessing the working class people of the U.S. demand jobs be brought back to the U.S., and stop being sent overseas?  How often have you heard workers in the U.S. demand more manufacturing jobs, and celebrate the factory goods, manufacturing culture that was once part of the American Dream?  If we recycle our own post-consumer plastic waste in our country, this affordable recycled plastic could then be supplied to domestic manufacturers, possibly rekindling the manufacturing industry once again.

Additionally, the U.S. has some of the strictest regulations on EPA approved manufacturing, especially when compared to other countries.  Rather than sending plastic waste to foreign countries where regulations can be less strict, creating potential environmental disasters, we keep the plastic waste in our own country where we’ll work to process plastics as environmentally friendly as possible.  Many of our nation’s industries get a little Greener as the years go by.  We have what it takes to do the right thing.

We live in a world where the manufacturing of goods isn’t going to cease to exist.  That same world generates a lot of single-use plastics which need responsible handling.  With open minds, lets keep the revenue generated from the recycling industry 100% domestic.  Lets take responsibility for our own generated waste, and promote domestic jobs through the manufacturing industry.  Lets recycle an outdated recycling industry.