If you’re someone who has been in the trends in the past, you’ve seen things come and go. You’ve seen cassettes that were put in the VHS format in the past. but did you know that Betamax actually had better results when compared to VHS? 

You actually see this with a lot of things.  From nuclear reactors using light water rather than heavy water, to even how the steam engine was made, we’re all prone to the lock in of technology, where something that’s inferior is used in the markets, and then, you remove the technology that’s better from your marketplace for a little bit. When we look at internal combustion engines, we ended up using inferior technology, and for the most part, this was in place because steam was actually way more expensive. This was something that a lot of people used, until of course Elon musk came along. 

What about the Betamax though? Well, Betamax was better because the tapes were smaller, the resolution was higher, and it did have a market advantage. However, because of the VHS feature in order to record up to a couple hours of TV and sometimes up to six, rather than just an hour for Betamax, people didn’t need to pay as much to record their favorite shows. This is how VHS won.

What this means for sustainability 

There are a lot of companies riding the sustainability train, and many are working to find the right type of technology that removes the issues with the recycling of plastics. While it does allow you to conduct due diligence, there is actually some people who are looking at the technology of plastics, and what this means for everyone.

There was a promise that offered recycling technology for plastics, and many people are aware of this.  after a bit of discussion, and the current state of these perceptions, a couple of conclusions were made.

Because of the pressure to get rid of plastics, for right now, there is a window of two years for these technologies to be recognized, and there is a planned implementation that’s widespread.  We’re actually past this point where technologies that are better will need up to a decade of testing, and the funding of this is implemented. 

The US Pact 

Another big thing is the actual elimination of 11 materials and other applications that they’re trying to get rid of, due to the problematic nature of this. 

The eleven items and actions are not reusable, compostable, or recyclable, and right now, they’re not projected to be scaled or in a practice that’s closed loop by the time 2025 hits.

This conclusion means that the only packaging technology which is sustainable is the one that people understand are able to support.  For the most part, recycling is the name of the game. If you’re building and basing packaging on other technologies besides recycling, you need to build and promote these or else you won’t be able to be a part of this.

Right now, there are other strategies, but the thing is, you want something that actually works. Anything that’s reusable or refills does work in a few instances, but not in every instance.

The problem with plastics is that there isn’t a ton of sustainability right now, and it’s not used all that much outside of the realm of food contract packages, especially if there is composition there.

What that means is, if you want to stay ahead of the sustainability game, you want to use recycling, even fi the other methods might be more “effective”