Element Brooklyn is excited to announce our partnership with rePurpose Global, the world’s leading plastic action platform, to fund the recovery of twice as much nature-bound plastic waste as we use in our product packaging. This partnership is part of our wider aim to minimize plastic use and move to a more sustainable and circular economy.
Project Neela Sagar
rePurpose Global's Project Neela Sagar aims for a future where waste is managed responsibly, resources are conserved, and marginalized communities are uplifted. Photo: rePurpose Global
Our partnership will support rePurpose Global’s impact project, Project Neela Sagar (नीला सागर), in Hyderabad, India. The project recovers and processes low-value, single-use plastic waste, especially multi-layered plastic (MLP) like candy wrappers and potato chip bags. This type of plastic cannot be recycled and is normally dumped into nature or openly flared, contaminating the environment and creating significant carbon emissions.
Waste workers collect MLP from around the Hyderabad area and then bring it to cement kilns for co-processing, which recovers energy from the plastic and disposes of the material without significant harmful emissions. Some minerals are also recovered from the plastic and used in the creation of cement. The process keeps plastics out of landfills and waterways and reduces the usage of coal in the cement manufacturing process. Our partnership is projected to recover 2,292 pounds of plastic waste annually.
How does this align with Element's mission?
Element Brooklyn aims to play its small part in shifting our world to a more sustainable and amicable future by reducing plastic use. Historically, the soap and cosmetics industries have used an excessive amount of plastic, especially single-use plastic. Plastic is an effective material for packaging liquids, but it is often used in unnecessarily large amounts. Our packaging uses 85% less plastic than comparable brands, and we’ve chosen to create our partnership with rePurpose Global to shrink our footprint even more.
