So long, plastic!
We’ve had a good run, we’ve shared some great memories, but our time together has come to an end. It’s not you, it’s us. Oh wait, it is you! … or is it both of us?
We are BEYONDPLASTIC and we are on a mission to rid the world of single-use plastics.
For centuries we have packaged our goods with beautiful materials such as paper, cardboard or organic fibers being quite in sync with nature. Then around 70 years ago a new magic substance conquered our consumer life - you guessed it, plastic! This ‘magic material’ quickly gave engineers an abundant playground to create the fanciest products at low manufacturing cost.
The dark side: We became a throw-away society and started to pollute the world with our plastoholic behavior!
Our obsession with this ‘magic material’ is a short-sighted amour fou: We made it and made it and made it some more without a single thought about what happened when we no longer needed it. Like those plastic lids for the coffee-to-go cups: They are used for a couple of minutes and then remain in the world for hundreds of years. Plastics pollute the land, flow from the rivers to the sea where they degrade slowly into teeny-tiny particles, which are toxically absorbed by plants and animals and may return in the food on our tables. As the old saying goes: ‘You always meet twice in life’.
Over the last decades we have transformed Planet Earth into a waste dump of plastic trash. And it gets bigger and bigger every minute, every hour, every day.
Also: Plastic is made from limited fossile resources stressing the climate; but this is a different story.
And another point: Many plastic products lack the aesthetic and haptic qualities other natural materials offer.
We do not condemn plastic in total. Thanks to its functional characteristics it can make sense using it for long-lasting products. But for short-use products such as packages, we do not think it is a good choice.
What we do
We believe, there should be less plastics in the world. In particular less single-use plastic packages. It’s time to say bye-bye, my dear plastics!
On this platform we bring together people who share our belief and join us on our journey:
Let us design and create eco-responsible products & packages. Let us transform plastic products into solutions made of environmentally sound materials.
Our approach: We start little by little in baby steps. First, we are showcasing successful projects and initiatives that are creating a world with less plastic.
Second, and here is the exiting bit, we launch the BEYONDPLASTIC Award to foster new product & packaging solutions. And we want YOU to participate.
What’s in for you? Well, aside from making the world a better place, we offer cash prizes up to € 1,000 in four categories: ‘Most Practical Impact’, ‘Most Innovative Approach’, ‘Most Beautiful Solution’ and ‘Best Initiative’.
The good news about our journey: Everything is already there. Generations of bright minds have laid the foundations of a century-old rich culture in manufacturing and using natural and eco-responsible materials. Let’s rediscover it, mingle it with our new know-how & technology and start a plastic-less product & packaging renaissance!
So, dear Packaging Designers, Engineers, Industry Experts, Dilettantes, Evangelists, Activists, Creatives, Artists, Makers, Consumers, Lovers of Nature, be part of the movement!
Questions, suggestions, a solution to be showcased? Please contact us via our social media channels. We’d love to hear from you.
BEYONDPLASTIC is an initiative and affair of the heart created by Ulrich Krzyminski, an entrepreneur, engineer & inventor with an industry insight in the printing & packaging industry.
Katie Holloway is doing the PR work with her communication agency Cocoon Communications which supports eco-friendly and sustainable businesses with their marketing activities.
