Upcycling is a form of recycling that aims to create something of a higher quality or value using already existing products. Tote Glass now offers a new way to upcycle screw-top growlers.
Half of all plastic manufactured becomes trash in less than a year – 8 million metric tons of plastic ends up in the oceans every year, and it will take more than 400 years for it to degrade.
Gaining control of plastic waste is now such a large task that it calls for a comprehensive, global approach that involves rethinking plastic chemistry, product design, recycling strategies, and consumer use.
Reusing existing products significantly reduces the waste and pollution generated from the manufacturing of new products because it reduces the need for raw materials – which (BONUS!) saves both forests and water supplies.
Further, despite more efficient systems and advancing technology – and whether you are talking about a glass bottle or an aluminum can – recycling is still second best to reusing because recycling requires both energy and additional resources to dismantle and re-manufacture products.
Tote Glass cares about sustainability.
If it can’t be reused, Tote Glass chooses the recycling bin over the trash can whenever possible – but if it can be reused, and isn’t, we choose to upcycle.
Excerpts taken from a National Geographic article published in its July 2017 issue, and found here: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/plastic-produced-recycling-waste-ocean-trash-debris-environment/