Purging Plastic: Innovative Ideas that Help
Last Updated: Mar 29, 2025In the beginning, there were three R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. When the first plastics recycling plants came online in the 1970s, it seemed that the last "R" was the one that would save the planet. But 50 years later, America recycles less than 9 percent of the plastic it produces. And while research into replacing synthetic plastics with bio-based ones is promising, many of the alternatives currently available have their own environmental costs.
It may be time to stop focusing on how we dispose of the plastic we use and instead turn our attention to the other two legs of the triangle. How can we reduce the amount of plastic we use? How can we reuse those plastic items that are already in our homes?
On a global scale, those questions are driving efforts by environmentalists to transform our linear economy – one that grows through the harvesting of resources used to make products that are then discarded – into a circular economy that preserves resources and minimizes waste through reuse, repair, sharing and recycling. Apply those concepts to the home front, and you're talking about creating a "zero waste" lifestyle that focuses on limiting the amount of waste we produce and reusing whatever we can.
Table of Contents
- Why Is It So Hard to Not Use Plastic?
- How Can You Reduce Plastic at Home?
But that may be changing as manufacturers and retailers apply innovative thinking to how they package and distribute consumer goods to reduce the amount of new plastic created. This shift is supported by environmental groups like the Plastic Pollution Coalition, a project of Earth Island Institute that is rallying the public to cut back on plastics. At the same time, it pressures governments and businesses to shift to a circular economy. Among government measures it supports is the Break free from Plastic Pollution Act (S.984), introduced in the US Senate in March 2021. Building on earlier efforts, it would ban some single-use plastics and set recycled content requirements for others. It would also discourage the opening of new plastic production plants and hold manufacturers accountable for the disposal of their products.
Groups like The New Plastics Economy Initiative represent coordinated efforts by companies and others to promote a circular economy for plastics. Its goal is the adoption of 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable plastic packaging by 2025. To get there, it recommends product packaging that can be refilled or returned either at retail outlets or directly from your doorstep. These models, the group suggests, can benefit businesses by building brand loyalty, cutting packaging costs, and creating opportunities for innovation worth $10 billion.
In some areas, local groceries have adopted no-waste delivery. Zero, for example, buys in bulk from manufacturers and distributes the goods to their Bay area customers in compostable paper bags or reusable containers they reclaim with the following order. Others, like Vancouver's Soap Dispensary & Kitchen Staples, offer refillable home products for customers who visit the store. Websites like Zero Waste Home and Litterless offer directories of retailers offering bulk shopping. Be aware that many retailers have temporarily suspended bulk shopping due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so check before heading out with your jars and bags.
Bottled Beverages
It's simple enough to carry and refill a plastic or metal water bottle from a tap. But if you crave bubbles, you can avoid swiping a seltzer from the deli cooler by making your own at home. SodaStream is a home carbonation system that makes sparkling water (including flavored water) at home in a reusable bottle. Owned by PepsiCo, the company's stated goal is to save up to 67 billion single-use plastic bottles by 2025.
Purchasing flavored drinks in a powdered form that can be added to tap water in reusable bottles cuts down on both single-use plastic bottles and the environmental costs of shipping tons of liquid beverages that are mostly water.
Products Without Packaging
Perhaps most promising is the re-engineering of household products into forms that don't require plastic packaging. As with the example of powdered drink mixes, this often involves removing the water, making up 90% of the product.
Laundry detergent strips, which suspend cleaning ingredients on paper-thin sheets that dissolve in the wash, were introduced more than a decade ago. But they're finding new fans among consumers eager for ways to cut back on the 700 million plastic laundry jugs that are dumped in North American landfills each year. Detergent sheets from Tru Earth, Kind Laundry, and Earth Breeze contain less toxic ingredients than traditional liquid competitors and are packaged in slender, recyclable cardboard sleeves. These products are available through retailers such as Amazon and Walmart, directly from the companies individually or through a subscription.
Humankind is a US startup that offers personal care products re-engineered with minimal packaging. It offers mouthwash and toothpaste in tablet form, shampoo and conditioner in solid bars, and deodorant in a reusable applicator. Big manufacturers are reimagining their products as well: Signal toothpaste tablets from Unilever do away with the typical non-recyclable tube.
Many startups use a subscription model to provide customers with an ongoing supply of their products. With a motto of "Refill is the New Recycle," Blueland uses subscriptions to market its cleaning sprays, hand soap, powdered dish soap, and "naked" dishwasher and laundry tablets. It starts customers off with reusable spray bottles into which tablets of cleaning ingredients are mixed with water, significantly reducing shipping weight and plastic.
