Business

Until relatively recently, the battle against plastic pollution has been a battle against ignorance. Despite plastic's ubiquitous nature, the problems which have arisen from plastic pollution have been often overlooked or underestimated. Awareness targeted campaigns have had great success in changing the way people understand plastic's presence in the environment, and terms such as "gyre" and "bag ban" have become everyday occurrences.

The European Union is still debating the implementation of a plastic bag ban, but that hasn't stopped Finland from starting the process of changing attitudes single use bags, Finnish broadcasting company YLE reports. According to an article published on Monday, Finland has seen a 30% increase in the sales of reusable bags in the past year, alongside a growing general disapproval of single use bags. The article shares the opinions of a few Finnish shoppers, whose strong opinions regarding the use of disposable plastic bags support the spike in reusable bag sales:

Waitrose, an upscale English supermarket chain, has recently announced that it plans to reduce the amount of packaging it uses by 50% by the year 2016 -- a huge step which would significantly impact the amount of waste consumers are left with from the items they purchase. In an article published on the Sustainable Brands news page, contributor Mike Hower writes that Waitrose's new consumer pledge will significantly overhaul the store's current range of products in order to meet its goal.

Back in 2011, Dell announced that it was making a switch to environmentally friendly packaging for its computer products which could vastly reduce the amount of energy used to produce the shipping materials. The secret ingredient used in their new packaging? Mushrooms. According to Uber Gizmo's George Wong, mushroom packaging could reduce the amount of energy previously expended on materials such as polystyrene by about 98% -- a huge figure with environmental implications that are impossible to ignore.

San Francisco, writes Forbes contributor Amy Westervelt, is a city of wide-ranging choice when it comes to take away food. Food trucks, online delivery websites, and independent food markets are all present in the city, giving its inhabitants a broad range of choice when it comes to quick, inspired eating. From this mix emerges Lucky Bolt, an entrepreneurial fast food venture aimed both at providing delicious food, and revolutionizing the way the city thinks of to-go food. 

The Center for Health, Environment, and Justice reports that a recent shareholders meeting of the Walt Disney Company in Phoenix, Arizona was met with protesters who demanded that the company cease the use of phthalates in their children's products. The article states that Disney's lunchboxes have been found to contain high levels of phthalates -- chemicals associated with a number of health risks in children, including asthma -- and concerned parents lined up outside the meeting to call for the elimination of the chemical from these products. 

An article on Grist.com has shared the story of a new development that may prove promising for the efforts currently being made to reduce packaging in consumer products. The article, written by contributor Sarah Miller, shares the news of an art and design school graduate who has created dissolving packaging out of non-toxic paper materials to reduce excess waste. According to the article:

In a new success story from the struggle against plastic bags, Whole Foods and IKEA have now announced that they are disowning the single-use bags alongside a number of other companies which have introduced schemes to eliminate waste from their stores. An article from GreenBiz authored by Alison Moodie comments on the move made by these two organizations, stating that:

In an enlightening article written by the co-founder of a green material science company, Eben Bayer discusses the future of packaging and plastic, and insists that the two are not necessarily linked. Bayer is a part of an organization called Ecovative -- a company which is dedicated to finding sustainable alternatives to plastic packaging. While recycling is an option resorted to by many as the "solution" to the plastic problem, Bayer points out that the process of recycling plastic requires a high energy input, and yields lower grade plastic as a result.

A fast food restaurant in Brazil has introduced a new, edible packaging for their food according to a new article from Fox News. The chain, called Bob's, has introduced the wrapping as part of an advertising campaign which aims to play up consumers' enthusiasm for the burgers, suggesting that they cannot wait to unwrap the burger to enjoy it. According to the article: