Since 1960, the recycling rate has increased from less than 7% to 32%. However, only 9% of plastic is actually recycled, causing over 300 million tonnes of plastic to pollute our ecosystems and threaten our health. National Recycling Day recognizes the importance and impact of recycling, but we want to take it a few steps further.
We want to inform our community about the harms of plastic pollution and the actions we need to take to reduce pollution and improve our current recycling system. Let’s work together to create a society that values not only just recycling, but reducing, reusing, reimagining, and recreating.
The Problem
Globally, 380 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year. With 50% of plastic produced designed to be single use, most plastic will be sent to a landfill — or end up in our oceans. Not only does this endanger coastal communities, but plastic pollution kills 1 million marine animals every year. Additionally, scientists estimate that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by weight. By reducing our consumption of new plastic and reusing and recycling the old, we as individuals have the power to keep hundreds of pounds of plastic out of our streets, rivers, oceans, and landfills. Producing new plastic also requires extracting and transporting fossil fuels which is responsible for more than 12 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year. This is why recycling, and recycling right, is so important for our health, environment, and climate.
How We Support Recycling
Did you know that every pair of Wolven leggings is created with 27 recycled plastic bottles? By recycling plastic bottles into all of our clothing, we keep plastic out of landfills and out of our environment. To further reduce plastic pollution, we also remove 1 pound of ocean-bound plastic with every purchase in partnership with One Earth One Ocean (OEOO). So when you are purchasing clothing from Wolven, you’re not only receiving trash turned into treasure but your purchase is also giving back to greater efforts to combat the plastic crisis.
How You Can Take Action
We encourage our Wolfpack to take action by supporting policies that address the plastic pollution crisis, such as The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2021 (or, BFFPPA). This policy would ban non-recyclable single-use plastics to support a healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable future.
If you are a U.S based wolf, you can support this policy and learn more by visiting breakfreefromplastic.org (here.) Internationally, you can learn more about the global movement to combat plastic pollution by visiting EIA-international.org (here.)
Wolven is committed to reducing plastic pollution, and we encourage the Wolfpack to take action with us — not only on National Recycling Day, but all year. How will you take part?
Written By:
Katherine Langell, Wolven Research & Design Intern
