Garbage Warrior<\/em><\/a> in which architect Michael Reynolds sends kids out looking for plastic bottles in the\u00a0Andaman Islands after a tsunami. The kids find plenty of them (for which Reynolds pays). Reynolds and team then uses that trash to build Earthship homes for island residents who’d lost their own houses. My point: there’s lots of plastic bottle litter in the developing world (where Coke will give away\/sell these products initially), so putting that trash to good use – even if it’s just for water guns for kids – strikes me as a positive. There’s no reason these caps wouldn’t fit on any standard size plastic bottle. Of course, the company would want to make sure to share information about proper cleaning of bottles, especially if they’re used for things like condiment dispensers… but that’s all possible.<\/p>\nOn the other hand, though, this is more plastic to deal with a problem created by plastic. I don’t know what kind of recycling infrastructure exists in places like Vietnam (where Coke is rolling out 2nd Lives), but I’d guess it’s minimal. So, introducing these bottles in such places – I’m sure they’ve been available for years – probably wasn’t very responsible. From that perspective, 2nd Lives looks like a Band-aid on a gunshot wound – something on a much broader scale would be necessary to address the problem. And guess where these squirt guns and water sprayers will end up once they reach the end of their useful lives? Lying beside the bottles they were designed to “upcycle,” no doubt.<\/p>\n
I’m not ready to dismiss this idea, but I’m also rethinking my initial assessment. Is Coke onto a useful, responsible means of dealing with the litter often created by its products? Or is this just greenwash? Would supporting recycling services, or even just sticking to packaging that’s more easily recycled (like glass or aluminum) be better answers? Very interested in your thoughts…<\/p>\n
Please note:<\/strong> We’ve switched to Disqus comments, so you’ll need to log in to your Disqus account, or use a social media account to comment.<\/p>\nFeatured image credit:<\/strong> screen capture from “Coca-Cola 2nd Lives” video<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coca-Cola’s 2nd Lives offers bottle caps for used drink bottles that turn them into other products. Are these great upcycling ideas, or just more marketing?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":16547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,79],"tags":[6952,2460,2461,84,478,1382,1848],"yoast_head":"\n
Upcycling Ideas from Coke: Brilliant Reuse, or Just More Marketing?<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n