PRINCE CHARLES ON REGENERATION

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PRINCE CHARLES & ELLEN MACARTHUR: "We must find new ways to keep plastic out of our oceans." The Prince and Dame Ellen join forces to offer a $2 million dollar prize to help stop single use packaging.

EVENING STANDARD 2 FEBRUARY 2017

Prince Charles urges businesses to discourage 'buy, use, throw away' mentality and promote 'regeneration'

Prince Charles has urged business bosses to rethink the way products are designed in a bid to reduce the amount of plastic items that are wasted.

Speaking at a meeting of designers, business leaders and material experts discussing the issue, the Prince of Wales said the "re-use, recovery and regeneration" model should be adopted.

He was joined on stage at the British Academy in central London by Dame Ellen MacArthur, whose foundation launched a report last month with the World Economic Forum which claimed that by 2050 the oceans are expected to contain more plastics than fish, by weight.

Charles said: "One critical part, as I see it, of the transition towards a circular economy, particularly in relation to plastics, is that of innovation and the need to rethink the way we design products.

"This would entail moving from a model that encourages a buy, use, throw away mentality to one that facilitates re-use, recovery and regeneration.

"We do need to consider, from the very beginning, the second, third and, indeed, fourth life of the products we use in everyday life."

Only half a million tonnes of the 1.5 million tonnes of recyclable plastic waste created each year is being recycled, according to data released last year from plastics recycling organisation Recoup.

The rest goes to landfill or for incineration, because of a lack of knowledge about what can be recycled and because local authorities lack the facilities to deal with it, according to the Co-op, which published the figures.

Charles added: "My overriding hope is that you will draw inspiration from the example of key companies within the pulp and paper industry, which have combined forces to develop innovative methods of achieving rapid de-carbonisation, and will be able to find ways to continue to work together beyond this meeting and to find clear and practical ways forward.

"For surely it cannot be beyond the wit of man to integrate circular economy principles into the heart of business models?"

The Prince's International Sustainability Unit is working to highlight the important role that innovation and design can play in shaping the plastic value chain and reducing the associated environmental impacts.

His Business in the Community organisation has formed a Circular Economy Taskforce, which is building a programme of collaborative action and innovation within different sectors.

Read more in the Daily Mail article 18 May 2017