Waste Not Want Not

Single use plastic is one of the great threats of our time.

You can’t pick up a newspaper, log in to Instagram or scroll through Twitter without a daily reminder of how we’re failing to look after our precious planet.

But conflicting information, recycling policies that often vary from street to street, and the sheer scale of the problem makes it both tricky and intimidating to tackle. We all want to do our part but there needs to be more education about how to help. It’s also important to vote with our wallets when it comes to choosing brands who are working to combat waste on a bigger scale than you or I could ever dream of as individuals.

Years ago I switched my diet soda addiction for the crisp satisfaction of an iced water, fresh from the fridge. While I feel this is infinitely better for me, it’s pretty problematic when it comes to single-use-plastic. I’d need an industrial type filter to remove the chemicals I’d rather avoid in tap water, but the waste certainly weighed on my conscience. So imagine my relief to be invited to a sustainability panel from my water of choice, to hear about the changes they’re making to safe guard our blue planet.

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After all, the legacy we leave for the next generation couldn’t possibly feel more poignant than it does right now.

evian transported a little slice of Paris to Mayfair for the day.

And took the opportunity to unveil their new bottles…

…but more on those later.

We took our seats and listened to a fascinating panel of experts from all sides of the sustainability debate.

Nik Engineer, global lead of The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which works with business, government and academia to develop and demonstrate a framework for an economy that is restorative and regenerative by design. Their aim is accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

Over the following hours we listened intently as we learned how their team work is making the dream work! The key points being…

So what does it mean to “become circular”?

The majority of brands we come into contact with, and our economy are based on the typical linear system… make product, use product, dispose of product.

A circular economy is quite simply the opposite… keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life. No waste, you buy, you use, you recycle, and it can be used again! The new technology evian are harnessing for their bottles allows them to do this time and time again.

The immediate benefit I see is that it will reduce the environmental impacts of both production and our consumption, but more than that, it will only strengthen the economy and put us in a stronger position to better address emerging resource scarcity issues in the future.

The importance of big companies making choices like this is that it makes it easier for all of us to make a difference, without compromise. I can still enjoy my favourite drink, pop a bottle in my handbag and rush off, knowing I won’t be creating unnecessary waste. I can drop the empty bottle into a recycling bin and who knows, maybe get it back some day!

After an extensive Q&A where we got to drill the panellists, we sat down for a sustainably sourced lunch of dreams.

I was placed next to Daniel from Loop, who I’m afraid I grilled with so many questions the poor chap barely got a bite in! Trust me when I say that he’s one to watch. I thoroughly recommend a visit to their website to see more of their work.

It’s incredibly exciting to see evian championing world-changing work like his, this is exactly the sort of thing we should expect from household company names we all know and love.

If you want to learn more about circularity and evian’s commitments, dive right in with a great little doc from VICE.

After all, the more we know the more we can do.

What goes around comes around.