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Phase: Research Missions: Track Plastics Around You

Make small format packaging more valuable!

If small packaging was designed for collectors in mind, then it would be collected and valued and not thrown away.

Photo of Lorne Mitchell
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Collectable Bottle Tops Collectable Bottle Tops
Coloured plastic bottle with tops still on them, making recycling far harder. Coloured plastic bottle with tops still on them, making recycling far harder.

The idea is not new.  If plastic bottle tops and other small-format packaging was created to be collectable, then it would not be thrown out as much.  The packaging (which is often difficult to recycle) would be separated from the bottle (often easier to recycle).  With some imagination and artistic flair, the brand image of the producer would be enhanced as collectors seek out rare, limited editions of the tops.  One step further, the tops cold contain a unique code which could be a sort of lottery.  Rewards could be given to schools for collecting more than 10,000 bottle tops or small-format packaging as an incentive to educate children in the importance of not simply throwing everything in the garbage can or recycling bin.  Competitions could also be held for creative re-use - as in creating works of art from the packaging.

How does this research relate to our Use Cases?

This relates to all of the use cases and is internationally scalable.

What is a provocation or insight that might inspire others during this challenge?

Keep asking "What If" until there is no more plastic in the sea!

Tell us about yourself

I am a designer and inquisitive citizen, appalled by the plastic waste and the inefficiencies in the recycling industry.
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6 comments

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Photo of Mark Young

Some lovely ideas in here Lorne. If schools could collect them, maybe they could eventually get back to the manufacturers, to be washed and reused?

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Photo of Lorne Mitchell

Indeed, Mark. Maybe the schools could also be rewarded by the manufacturers. Maybe the manufacturers and distributors could carry artwork done by the schools? Maybe the returned bottle caps and small plastic waste could carry a prize for a school that returned the most material? It is the RETURN PATH that we are trying to be creative about here - and children and schools could play a major role in making the shift - as well as educating younger folk on the TRUE COSTS OF RECYCLING by encouraging them to do projects that re-think how recycling for plastic (and other) waste is currently processed.

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Photo of Mark Young

More great ideas Lorne. I'll be posting a piece about what some kids in the UK have been doing to get rid of their local plastic, I think you'll like that. Of course we wouldn't want to use children as our first line of litter picking! But they can get the concept and understand the problems at an early age, and teach the rest of us.

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Photo of Carla null

It's a great idea to give kids the education on how to be a better consumer!

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