Almost half of senior executives working for fashion brands and retailers in the UK have voiced ‘extreme concern’ over their business’ use of polybags – the likes used mostly for merchandise bought online – and the damage they cause the environment.
A new study focused on 100 senior executives working with brands in the UK, the US, and Australia has revealed that 88% plan to stop plastic packaging altogether but while 48% have stated they are ‘extremely concerned’ about plastic use within their business, only a fraction have the systems in place to make the swap to less impactful packaging this year.
Just 8% are planning to abolish plastic within the next 12 months and 14% within one to two years. Some 19% of respondents said they will remove plastic packaging within two to three years, 30% within three to four years, and 28% within four to five years.
According to the global innovation platform Fashion for Good, the fashion industry currently uses around 180 billion polybags every year.
The new report, commissioned by Aquapak Polymers – a business specialising in polymer-based material technologies that aim to ‘deliver environmental responsibility at scale’ – and conducted by PureProfile interviewed 100 board and senior executives, including CEOs, retail directors, chief operating officers, sustainability directors, and finance directors.
It found that ‘plastic use’ ranked third in the top factors impacting the environmental performance of their businesses, with only the energy efficiency of operations and the sourcing of merchandise which uses sustainable materials rated more important.
The report also revealed that steps taken by businesses already to reduce plastic packaging included ‘folding items differently for packing’ (77%); ‘removing unnecessary types of packaging’ (59%); and ‘changing the packaging type’ (46%).
Mark Lapping, ceo of Aquapak, said: “Our study shows there is a commitment at the highest level in the fashion industry to stop using plastic. Brands and retailers are already taking steps to reduce their dependency no plastic packaging, but the pace of change could be much faster.”
To help reduce plastic packaging pollution, Aquapac has developed Hydropol, a polymer it describes as being soluble and non-toxic to marine life. The company has developed Hydropol to be used as an alternative to conventional plastic, such as garment bags, while purporting to have “zero end-of-life issues for consumers and brands” and can be ‘disposed of in existing domestic waste streams without contaminating other recyclable products.’ Alternatively, says the team, they can be dissolved immediately in hot water at home without producing microplastics.’
“New materials exist which perform in exactly the same way as plastic, providing garment and merchandise protection but do not have any of the environmental problems associated with it,” added Mark.
