Plastic Neutral vs. Plastic Free
Despite the serious consequences to the environment and our health, plastic has been the default material most industries use when designing daily products and packaging. It’s budget-friendly, durable yet lightweight, and flexible. Everyday home essentials have been built on the backbone of single-use plastics, and until recently, there haven’t been many sustainable alternatives.
76 million pounds of plastic is produced each year in the U.S. alone, but less than 5% of that actually gets recycled.¹
That’s why some companies are shifting their relationship with plastic through plastic neutrality and plastic-free products.
Not sure what it really means when a company claims something is plastic neutral or plastic-free? Here’s a quick breakdown.
What’s the difference between plastic neutral and plastic-free?
Grove, for example, is a plastic neutral company. That means every time you receive plastic in a Grove order, we recover the same amount of ocean-bound plastic waste from nature. We understand going 100% plastic-free is not always realistic. Shopping plastic neutral companies is a way to offset the impact of your plastic consumption when plastic-free products aren’t available (or doable!) for you and your family.
Plastic-free is just as it sounds: a product that’s 100% free of plastics — none in the product, none in the packaging.
To us, a more sustainable world begins with guiding industries towards systemic change, and that means both investing in collecting plastic pollution through plastic neutral programs and developing reduced plastic and plastic-free products.
How does plastic neutrality really work?
When a company or organization claims to be “plastic neutral,” for every pound of plastic they produce or sell, they recover this equal amount of plastic from nature. Companies that are plastic neutral see plastic as an unsustainable material, but aren’t able to immediately eliminate their plastic footprints. They rely on purchased plastic offsets (equal to their plastic footprint) because they don’t have the infrastructure and design solutions needed to avoid plastic entirely.
Plastic collection involves local workers collecting single-use plastic waste that otherwise would end up in landfill or polluting natural ecosystems. This recovered plastic can often be repurposed for other applications, such as building materials, playground equipment, or other industrial uses. Recovered plastic cannot be considered part of a company’s plastic neutrality if it is landfilled, burned, or incinerated.
For example, Grove partners with rePurpose Global, an organization dedicated to combating plastic pollution by partnering with over 500 brands to recover nature-bound plastic waste. Their plastic recovery initiatives support global projects that fight plastic pollution and empower waste workers through dignified employment opportunities. By collaborating with businesses, rePurpose Global helps measure, reduce, and offset plastic footprints, aiming to create a more sustainable and circular economy. 24 billion pounds of plastic find their way into the oceans each year², but since rePurpose began, they’ve collected over 70 million pounds of plastic to help restabilize the environment.³
By funding waste collection, a company ensures that their own plastic production doesn’t contribute to the growing waste in the environment — the amount of waste remains neutral. Plastic neutrality is a realistic way to mitigate our plastic footprint as companies continue to reduce their own plastic footprints. While plastic neutrality is not perfect or a license to pollute, it can be key in addressing the world’s plastic pollution crisis.
What does Beyond Plastic™️ mean?
Seen the phrase Beyond Plastic™️ floating around?
Unlike plastic neutral and plastic-free, Beyond Plastic™️ is a term used exclusively by Team Grove — the creators of Home Planet — and stands for our collective dedication to reducing single-use plastic in the products we use every day.
When we refer to something as a Beyond Plastic™️ product, you can consider it one of the best plastic-reducing solutions on the market today, falling into one of three categories:
100% plastic-free
These products are 100% plastic-free. There are no plastic lacquers, liners, or coatings.
95%+ plastic-free
These products contain no more than 5% plastic by total weight of the product. This includes products that may look 100% plastic-free, but have a plastic liner, lacquer, or coating that generally does not affect recyclability.
No single-use plastic
These products contain durable, reusable plastic, defined by the EPA as lasting 3 years or more. There is no single-use plastic.
Easy ways to save plastic
No matter what your day-to-day life looks like, there are ways you can reduce plastic at home without compromising on your routines.
Shopping companies that are plastic neutral is a great start, since the company is already doing the heavy lifting! You can purchase the daily items you need, knowing that the plastic is offset on your behalf.
That said, it’s always more sustainable to buy less plastic overall. Here’s how:
1. Find reusable/refillable alternatives
Switching from single-use plastic products to reusable alternatives can be a great way to reduce waste. Think: Reusable straws, refillable soap bottles, and reusable bags for the grocery store.
2. Make the switch to plastic-free packaging
Or products marked as Beyond Plastic™️. There are tons of plastic-free alternatives out there, like solid shampoos, chewable toothpaste tablets, and cleaning products that come in recyclable cardboard. And while some daily essentials are hard to find as 100% plastic-free, you can always look for products packaged in glass and aluminum — both are infinitely recyclable, and are still a great option even when topped with plastic caps or pumps. In fact, 75% of all aluminum that has ever been produced is still in use today.⁴
3. Conscious consumption
Actively consider whether you really need to make a purchase or whether you can make do with what you have. Curbing one's consumption generally reduces your plastic and carbon footprint.
Sources:
1 Greenpeace. (2022, October 24). New Greenpeace report: Plastic recycling is a dead-end street – year after year, plastic recycling declines even as plastic waste increases. Greenpeace USA. Retrieved October 29, 2024, from https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/new-greenpeace-report-plastic-recycling-is-a-dead-end-street-year-after-year-plastic-recycling-declines-even-as-plastic-waste-increases/
2 WWF. (n.d.). Plastic in our Oceans is Killing Marine Life. Retrieved November 5, 2024, from https://wwf.org.au/blogs/plastic-in-our-oceans-is-killing-marine-mammals/
3 rePurpose Global. (n.d.). rePurpose Global: Plastic Action Platform. Retrieved October 30, 2024, from https://repurpose.global/
4 Grove Collaborative. (n.d.). Beyond Plastic. Retrieved October 30, 2024, fromhttps://www.grove.co/beyondplastic
