Rab and Lowe Alpine for a plastic free future
The brand owned by Equip Outdoor Technologies present the results of their first experiment dedicated to the recovery of plastics.
As part of the Single Use Plastic project, Rab and Lowe Alpine, the outdoor equipment brand, presented the results of their experiment to remove the use of plastic bags and identify a new packaging process. The process was simple: recycle plastic packaging rather than delegating this responsibility to consumers.
During the first collection operation, almost 350kg of plastic was collected and recycled by the brand with the help of Equip: the high quantity of material to be recycled was analysed, and given its high quality, was considered ideal for the production of new bags. This process, if implemented correctly, could capture up to 86% of all polybags used in the industry and consequently help reduce both the use of new virgin plastic and carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
Scott Nelson, Programme Manager at EOG, explains: “We spent a significant amount of time trying to find a magic material that would solve all our single-use plastic problems. Research shows that recycled plastic does some things very well, but is very problematic at the end of its life. This is where we have chosen to focus our efforts – redesigning the systems that cause this valuable material to be wasted. Problems as big as the industry deserve answers as big as the industry, and we are impressed by organisations like Rab and Lowe Alpine who are willing to work with others in the industry to take a significant, collective step in the right direction.”
