88% Of Apparel Brands & Retailers Want To Eliminate Plastic
A recent survey of fashion brands and retail executives informs that a mind boggling 88 percent of those surveyed said their companies want to eliminate all plastics in packaging.
The study, released by Aquapak Polymers Ltd. and conducted by PureProfile, was based on surveys done with 100 executives in the UK, US and Australia.
Researchers at the company said 8 percent of respondents plan to remove plastic from packaging within the next 12 months, while 14 percent said they would do the same within one to two years.
19 percent said they would abolish plastic within two to three years, while 30 percent said they would do so within three to four years, while 28 percent will remove plastic within four to five years.
“Almost half (48 percent) said that they are extremely concerned about use of polybags such as carrier and garment bags and the damage they cause to the environment,” Aquapak said in a press release.
The press release quoted the Fashion for Good organisation which had said that the fashion industry uses around 180 billion polybags every year.
Aquapark said the research showed that of the steps taken to reduce the amount of plastic packaging used, 77 percent have folded items differently while 59 percent have removed unnecessary types of packaging, and 46 percent of respondents have changed the packaging type.
“Our study shows that there is a commitment at the highest level in the fashion industry to stop using plastic,” said Mark Lapping, chief executive officer of Aquapak.
“Brands and retailers are already taking steps to reduce their dependency on plastic packaging, but the pace of change could be much faster,” Lapping added.
“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,” he stated.
Aquapak informed that it offers Hydropol, which the company describes as ‘a unique new polymer which is soluble and nontoxic to marine life.’
Hydropol is designed as an alternative to conventional plastic in a wide variety of applications as it provides the same functionality and performance but without the associated environmental problems.
Hydropol is used in garment bags, and offers all the necessary features of traditional polybags like strength and puncture resistance; clarity of film; and protection from leakages and dirt.
