Material Connection: Identifying the Right Material

When we think of the triple bottom line -people, planet, profit – too often the later is prioritized at the expense of the social and environmental. The result of this has been the current destruction that we now see on the planet. Although many companies pay lip-service to sustainability, often when trade-offs between profitability and a more sustainable option are presented, if the price point for a sustainable material is higher, companies opt for the cheaper material. Currently, one of the cheapest materials on the planet is plastic, because it is a byproduct of oil and gas production (meaning that as long as we have continued oil and gas extraction, that will be coupled with virtually free plastic).

The many derivatives of plastic on the market are fundamentally disastrous for the planet, and we can say that virtually all sectors are dependent on plastic at this point. Seventy years ago, this was not the case, but now plastic has been opted for as the default, material of choice. It is going to require a massive global, industrial shift to get companies to opt-out of plastic once again, now that most production systems are tied to this material. Polyester in fast-fashion; LDPE, HPDE, and PET in food packaging; plastic #7 in many hard durable plastics in electronics, automotive, etc., these will be the challenges for production cycles to overcome.

With our current materials crisis, a company like Material Connection can help fill the gap between R&D and the companies that have the capital to experiment with materials shifts. Industry leaders are the ones that need to set the stage for the transition; this is the scale at which material change happens. Imagine if, overnight, Nike decided to phase out plastic use in its apparel and shoes. This would have a groundbreaking impact on global materials demands. It would set the stage and set the bar for an entire industry shift. But alternatives to plastic require the support from larger corporations to fund this research and this scaling up. Essentially, the problem of unsustainable consumptive practices lies within reach of the companies that create it in the first place. For businesses in the global south, access to the MCX could be a challenge. Open sourcing some of this material knowledge – if not all- will be key to sustainable global shifts.

A systems perspective on materials sustainability also requires an understanding of the infrastructure for reprocessing of materials by location. Although MCX specialises in all the front-end research on material potentialities, it does not appear that they focus on the post-consumer reality of where materials end up. For instance, many places in the world do not even have basic recycling infrastructure, so even if a material is ‘recyclable’ it is not actually recycled because there are no facilities to do so. Without regulation and production oversight, many companies get away with packaging materials that are ‘recyclable’ but not recycled.

The creation of new material like bioplastics also creates a grey area where the material needs to be understood through further caveats. Almost all bioplastics need industrial compost facilities. Most people assume that compostable means ‘backyard composting,’ but most bioplastics are molecularly composed like plastics, and require intense heat to break down.

Emergent materials like composites also have several caveats. For instance, wood composite may be made using a byproduct of the lumber industry, claiming it is a product of circular economy. However, after use this material cannot be repurposed or recovered – because the bio composite is mixed with plastics, this material cannot be taken back into its original parts, and thus cannot be recycled or biodegrade. So, ultimately after all, this material will still end up in the landfill.