Method, the San Francisco based manufacturer of eco-conscious household cleaning supplies, is introducing a prototype bottle made from the garbage collected from the Pacific Ocean. Partnering with Environ Plastics, Method will has created ““novel and potentially profound new plastic material—Ocean PCR.”

The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is a clockwise spiral of currents created by a high pressure system of air currents. It is slow moving and lacks big fish and mammals, making it an oceanic desert. But what it lacks in living organisms, it makes up with trash. It is estimated to be the largest landfill in the world, made up mostly of plastic. Cleaning up this trash pile by reusing and repurposing the plastic is inventive and resourceful and highlights the mission of Method.

Much of the trash from Gyre ends up on beaches in Hawaii and beach cleanup organizations were enlisted to send the plastics they collected to Environ instead of to a landfill. Once the plastic has been ‘harvested’, it is processed through a new recycling system that cleans, sanitizes, and blends the plastic to produce Ocean PCR, a plastic that is the same quality as virgin HDP. It is 100% post-consumer HDPE, 25% of which is plastic collected from the Gyre.

“We’ve created a usable bottle from ocean plastic and upcycled it into something useful that can be recycled again and again,” says Adam Lowry, Method co-founder and chief greenskeeper. “Our ultimate goal is to raise awareness that the real solution to plastic pollution lies in reusing and recycling the plastic that’s already on the planet.”

Although the prototype has been successfully created, the product won’t be on store shelves until enough plastic can be collected to have a significant supply. Working with volunteer organizations will increase the amount of trash collected from the oceans and also raise awareness about the issue of plastic pollution.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•