The world is really embracing recycling today. But there is still so much to be done. Luckily, brands like Adidas are implementing effective new recycling programs into their products.
Everyone who lives near a beach has seen it: Human trash covering the coastline.
And just think, the stuff that washes up to the shore is just a tiny, inconsequential amount of what’s in the ocean right now.
Someone saw this ocean trash and decided to do something about it.
The man’s name is Cyrill Gutsch. He has created Parley for the Oceans, which has a simple but ambitious aim. He hopes that the organization becomes “the space where creators, thinkers and leaders come together to raise awareness for the beauty and fragility of our oceans and collaborate on projects that can end their destruction.”
And this mission is seeing success. It has managed to collaborate with a range of renowned artists and companies. These projects have seen major results.
But Parley for the Ocean’s latest collaboration is its most impressive to date.
It has teamed up with the shoe and clothing manufacturer Adidas to recycle vast quantities of the ocean’s plastic waste.
After talking with Parley for the Oceans, Adidas agreed to make 11 million shoes out of ocean waste.
But this commitment has been a long tie in the making. It isn’t Adidas’s first foray into sustainability with Parley for the Oceans.
In 2017, they collaborated and produced 1 million pairs of ocean plastic shoes. This initial test batch was hugely successful. People loved them!
Then in 2018, Adidas increased its recycled ocean waste shoe production up to 5 million pairs.
But they just kept on selling. And so in 2019, the number of recycled shoes that Adidas will produce will more than double to 11 million!
Who knows, perhaps there will be a time when Adidas commits to making all of its shoes out of ocean plastic?
It would be great to say that Adidas will use up virtually all of the ocean’s plastics in these shoes, but sadly this isn’t nearly true. There is a huge amount of plastic covering the ocean, and the problem is likely to only get worse.
Over 8 million tons of plastics go into the ocean every year. And over 150 million metric tons of plastic of currently line the ocean.
This seems like an insane and unmanageable amount of plastic to reuse. But if more brands get on board with what Adidas and Parley for the Oceans are doing, there is hope.
Adidas is doing its bit, but, as its video says, “What if everyone did that?”
Any manufacturer that uses plastic in its product can use ocean plastic. And if most brands adopt recycled ocean plastic into their production and took measures to ensure that their waste products stayed out of the ocean, then the world would be back on track.
Luckily, the United States has started to respond to the calls to save the planet.
EPA reports that from 1980 to 2014, the amount of plastics being recycled in America increased from less than 1% to 10%. However, in 2015, this number decreased to 9%.
America and the rest of the world need to do more!
Parley for the Oceans has been able to successfully strike up partnerships with a number of other brands.
For example, American Express has committed to making the first credit cards from ocean plastic.
Let’s hope that more brands and people pay attention to Parley for the Oceans, Adidas and American Express and start doing something about ocean plastic!
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