The Cleanest Line: What We’re Doing About Our Plastic Problem

Plastic has been causing a lot of damage to our planet and a lot of companies can be the ones to blame because of their use of plastic for their products. Researchers have found that about 450 million metric tons of plastic are produced every year and 9.5 million tons of plastic are thrown into the ocean annually. Patagonia has recognized the on-going problem with plastic on our planet and have attempted to help the situation. They have reduced the damage by recycling their material for their products and in 1993, they became the first outdoor clothing manufacturer to create fleece from trash. This stood out to me as something very impressive and also confusing because of the fact that their products are very high quality. Patagonia relies heavily on polyester and they use recycled polyester made from used soda bottles to create new polyester fibers for their clothing. About 69% of all their materials are recycled and that has led to a huge reduction of 13,000 tons in their carbon footprint and they hope to only use renewable or recycled materials in their products by 2025. Patagonia is also helping against plastic problem in another way. They have invested in a company named Bureo, which is a company based in Ventura, California. Bureo collects discarded fishing nets from the ocean and transforms them into products, such as skateboards, sunglasses, and surf fins. The main point of this article was to show how a profit-based company can help the environment and also be extremely successful at the same time.