Green Retailer Eco Chic Recycles 1 Million Single-Use Plastic Bottles in 12 Months
The recycled foldable bags and accessories retailer, Eco Chic, has reached a green milestone earlier than expected after recycling one million single-use plastic bottles in the last 12 months.
All Eco Chic foldable bags, handbags and backpacks are made from recycled plastic bottles, with each bag created saving between one and six plastic bottles from landfill. According to data[1] in Science Advances journal, just 9% of all plastic made is recycled. Around 79% of plastic is thought to end up in landfill or the natural environment, where a single plastic bottle can take 450 years to break down[2] – making Eco Chic’s initiative more vital than ever.
At the start of 2020, the environmentally-friendly accessories brand overhauled its entire supply chain to become even greener. It changed the way each Eco Chic bag is made and committed to using rPET from recycled plastics instead of polyester from oil substances. The brand also changed the way stock is packaged, swapping from plastic bags to cardboard; a move which saw it save 912kg of plastic bags.
Despite the enforced closure of many retail outlets during the COVID-19 pandemic, the London-based designer saw demand flourish, with more and more shoppers proactively choosing greener and more sustainable products for use in their daily lives.
Austin Lee, Managing Director of Eco Chic said, “I am very pleased that we were able to recycle so many bottles from the landfill in 2020, given most of the local shops we supplied to had been forced to close due to the pandemic. We expect to see a lot of pent-up demand as stores prepare to re-open on the 12th April. Our customers have really supported our vision and, having achieved such an ambitious target over the last 12 months, we’re setting ourselves an even higher goal to shoot for, with a new target to recycle 10 million bottles by the end of 2023.”
To find out more, visit: https://eco-chic.shop/
[1] Source: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/7/e1700782
[2] Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-42264788