“I’ve heard that plastic recycling releases microplastics. Is this true?”

Older recycling plants, which were using outdated technology, could have caused pollution such as microplastics to be released - this is an example of legacy recycling infrastructure that was in operation until recently. Thankfully, rapid advancements have been made in the field of recycling technology as a result of large-scale investment - particularly in new facilities which won't have this loss rate of microplastics. New recycling facilities now have an excellent clean-up process for microplastics which filters and captures them. So, whilst the recycling of plastics can in some instances release microplastics, the alternative to not recycling such material is landfill or incineration, where the problem of releasing microplastics greatly increases in magnitude.

We support even greater tightening of regulation on recycling. We would also welcome and encourage increased investment in more new recycling plants and it’s why we only source our rPET bottles from a supplier who uses the very latest technology.

We are acutely aware that the plastics the world has available today (except for a few novel bio-materials not yet suitable for commercial use in our application) are made from petrochemicals. In the future, all plastics will be made from plants - truly renewable resources - but we aren’t there yet. Right now, using rPET is the best option. It's about transitioning away from using virgin raw materials, and establishing circular economy waste systems for products so that in the future the materials can be switched and still make use of existing reuse and recycling infrastructure and systems. 

We have created a product which is made from a waste material which can be recycled at end of life so our processes will be ready-to-go when recyclable bioplastics do come along in the future - it is also the lowest impact option in the meantime.