02.19.20 Dyper, the eco-friendly diaper service is fulfilling its promise to create the best diaper for babies, parents, the planet and wallets by introducing the first compostable diaper offered in the over $48 billion industry. Today the company announces its partnership with TerraCycle to implement the Redyper composting program in the U.S., making it turnkey for existing and new subscribers to return their soiled-diapers for composting. Though composting Dyper diapers at home has always been possible, the TerraCycle partnership allows everyday families to skip the DIY and help ensure that their used diapers don't add to the more than 20 billion diapers filling landfills in the U.S. yearly. Dyper provides an environmentally-sound, cost-effective and convenient way to receive diapers through a monthly subscription. All products are made from responsibly sourced materials that are free of harmful chemicals, prints, and scents.   "We're committed to making diapering effortless for parents, gentle for babies and kind to the planet," says Dyper CEO Sergio Radovcic, "It wasn't easy to develop the most fully compostable diaper ever created. But, we are thrilled that our partnership with TerraCycle will make it easy for families to keep their used diapers out of landfills." Dyper subscribers that opt-in to the Redyper program are provided with bags and a specially designed box engineered to the strictest United Nations Haz Mat shipping standards. When the box is full, subscribers can download a prepaid shipping label from the Dyper Composting Program page found on the TerraCycle website for easy return of their soiled diapers for composting. The waste composted through this program will be used in specialized applications, such as for vegetation in highway medians. "As the first of its kind initiative, the Redyper Program offers consumers a unique opportunity to responsibly dispose of their soiled diapers, as well as minimize their environmental impact by composting them through TerraCycle," says Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle. "We are pleased to partner with Dyper to drive awareness of this ground-breaking program. "The TerraCycle supported Dyper Composting Program is part of Dyper's ongoing initiative to make eco-friendliness in the baby segment more effective and convenient. Along with being compostable under the right conditions, Dyper's product is made from responsibly-sourced bamboo and free of chlorine, latex, alcohol, perfumes, lotions, PVC, TBT, or Phthalates. Through the brand's smartphone app, DYPER subscribers can also schedule routine deliveries, request expedited shipments in as little as two hours, or ship-back unused diapers.  The entire diaper journey is counterbalanced through carbon offsets purchased by Dyper on behalf of subscribers. Interested consumers can learn more about the program by visiting dyper.com/redyper.  For a limited time, Redyper opt in will be free with a monthly subscription of Dyper.  Following the limited time offer, Redyper will require a monthly maintenance fee of $39.

02.19.20 Dyper, the eco-friendly diaper service is fulfilling its promise to create the best diaper for babies, parents, the planet and wallets by introducing the first compostable diaper offered in the over $48 billion industry. Today the company announces its partnership with TerraCycle to implement the Redyper composting program in the U.S., making it turnkey for existing and new subscribers to return their soiled-diapers for composting. Though composting Dyper diapers at home has always been possible, the TerraCycle partnership allows everyday families to skip the DIY and help ensure that their used diapers don't add to the more than 20 billion diapers filling landfills in the U.S. yearly. Dyper provides an environmentally-sound, cost-effective and convenient way to receive diapers through a monthly subscription. All products are made from responsibly sourced materials that are free of harmful chemicals, prints, and scents.   "We're committed to making diapering effortless for parents, gentle for babies and kind to the planet," says Dyper CEO Sergio Radovcic, "It wasn't easy to develop the most fully compostable diaper ever created. But, we are thrilled that our partnership with TerraCycle will make it easy for families to keep their used diapers out of landfills." Dyper subscribers that opt-in to the Redyper program are provided with bags and a specially designed box engineered to the strictest United Nations Haz Mat shipping standards. When the box is full, subscribers can download a prepaid shipping label from the Dyper Composting Program page found on the TerraCycle website for easy return of their soiled diapers for composting. The waste composted through this program will be used in specialized applications, such as for vegetation in highway medians. "As the first of its kind initiative, the Redyper Program offers consumers a unique opportunity to responsibly dispose of their soiled diapers, as well as minimize their environmental impact by composting them through TerraCycle," says Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle. "We are pleased to partner with Dyper to drive awareness of this ground-breaking program. "The TerraCycle supported Dyper Composting Program is part of Dyper's ongoing initiative to make eco-friendliness in the baby segment more effective and convenient. Along with being compostable under the right conditions, Dyper's product is made from responsibly-sourced bamboo and free of chlorine, latex, alcohol, perfumes, lotions, PVC, TBT, or Phthalates. Through the brand's smartphone app, DYPER subscribers can also schedule routine deliveries, request expedited shipments in as little as two hours, or ship-back unused diapers.  The entire diaper journey is counterbalanced through carbon offsets purchased by Dyper on behalf of subscribers. Interested consumers can learn more about the program by visiting dyper.com/redyper.  For a limited time, Redyper opt in will be free with a monthly subscription of Dyper.  Following the limited time offer, Redyper will require a monthly maintenance fee of $39.

There are all sorts of cautions and restrictions that go along with home-composted diapers, and eco-friendly diaper service DYPER teamed up with TerraCycle to create a compostable diaper program. With REDYPER, new and existing DYPER subscribers can return soiled-diapers for composting, which saves them the burden of having to come up with the appropriate composting solutions on their own or contribute to landfill waste. DYPER's diapers are made with responsibly sourced materials that are free of harmful chemicals, prints and scents. Members who opt into the REDYPER program are supplied bags and specially designed boxes that are in accordance with United Nations Haz Mat shipping standards. As part of the program, collected waste will be used for applications like vegetation in highway medians. Image Credit: DYPER    

SCOTTSDALE, AZ, February 19, 2020- DYPER, the eco-friendly diaper service is fulfilling its promise to create the best diaper for babies, parents, the planet and wallets by introducing the first compostable diaper offered in the over $48 billion industry. Today the company announces its partnership with TerraCycle to implement the REDYPER composting program in the U.S., making it turnkey for existing and new subscribers to return their soiled-diapers for composting.   DYPER is an eco-friendly $68 per month diaper subscription service, now launching REDYPER which allows customers to ship back their soiled DYPER diapers for composting.

1. It’s a breakthrough accomplishment.   Kellogg’s Bear Naked Inc. granola division’s develops the first fully recyclable stand-up barrier pouch made for food packaging that’s available nationwide.   2. The pouch rollout involves all Bear Naked core product lines of granola cereal and bites.   Done across some 13 product lines, “all of the granola has already converted over and we are currently in the process of rolling it out on our bites,” Moore discloses.       3. The pouch structure was turned from inconvenient and unconventionally recyclable to conveniently recyclable.   The previous pouch structure was recyclable due to a special an arrangement with Trenton, NJ-based upcycler TerraCycle. While commendable in diverting packaging from landfill, the process wasn’t efficient or convenient: recycling required customers to sign up for a special program to collect, clean and ship the packaging to NJ for recycling otherwise the packaging was trashed by consumers and sent to landfill.   The new packaging can be recycled using convenient at-store drop-off locations in meeting the standards of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s How2Recycle program. That information appears along the bottom of the back panel next to a “Recycle Ready” callout.   4. Kellogg’s needed 18 months’ R&D to reinvent the pouch.   According to Moore, validation and shelf-life testing took the bulk of that time.   The new Bear Naked granola packaging is manufactured by Berry Global, which has nine-layer blown extrusion equipment that provides the stiffness and superior sealing for hermetic packaging with gas flushing. Bear Naked also chose Dow Chemical’s RecycleReady technology that enables recyclable film structures (see Bear Naked ends partnership with TerraCycle; develops new recyclable packaging for granola snacks, published May 2019).   The new pouch film is mono-material PE with ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) barrier; the previous structure was a multilayer PET/polyethylene film.   5. The project required an unusual arrangement and strategic partnerships across the entire value chain.   It was managed end-to-end from the resin manufacturing all the way through to the transportation and customer involvement, Moore reports, involving “a lot of collaboration and partnership between the different players depending on their place in the supply chain.”   In addition to resin supplier Dow and film provider Berry Global, other vendors included Presto Products Co. that provided the recycling-compatible Fresh-Lock zipper and printer/converter ColorMasters, based in Albertville, AL.   According to Moore, the direct involvement of a resin supplier was highly atypical of a Kellogg’s packaging development.   Contract manufacturing partner Hearthside Food Solutions, Downers Grove, IL, was also involved, Moore adds.       6. Retaining the look, feel and product quality of the brand was essential.   Surface-printed by ColorMasters, the pouch has a matte finish and a window on the front in line with the previous packaging. A ColorMasters sales manager tells PlasticsToday that it converted rollstock film supplied by Berry Global into printed rollstock for vertical-form-fill-seal packaging and premade pouches for the brand. The process included applying a heat-resistant coating, he added.   “We had to also maintain our existing shelf life in the new film, which appears on the pouch bottom,” Moore adds.   As importantly, she points out that the film’s compatibility with the company’s existing packaging equipment had to be seamless.   7. There’s no “one size fits all” in sustainable packaging.   “Involvement and engagement from all parts of the material spectrum is very important when designing for sustainability,” explains Moore. “It’s really important to understand your consumers’ needs, the level of understanding they have around sustainable packaging and what your vendor partners capabilities are. Also, having a good understanding of the recycling infrastructure in your area or country is important from a design aspect.”   8. Deep learnings were gained.   “This was a very intense project to lead, but if you were to ask anyone on the team, the one theme you would hear is that everyone gained a deep knowledge about another area of the packaging value chain that they didn’t have previously,” Moore reports. “We will all use the experience to help further sustainable packaging design in future project work.”   And from a personal perspective, what was most gratifying for her was “being able to be a part of an important goal for the brand and being able to see it from initial ideation to launch.”   9. The reception has been positive.   In addition to knowing the pouch’s recyclability is a positive step for the environment, the pouch’s innovation has been recognized by the industry: it received the 2019 Technology Excellence Award in Snack and Bakery during Pack Expo in September and in January, the pouch was chosen for a Silver Award in Sustainability in the Flexible Packaging Assn.’s 2020 FPA Achievement Awards.

Can beauty be sustainable? Rose Inc. investigates.

Sustainability can mean a lot of things. It’s a commitment to maintain our natural resources and preserve ecological balance, but even more so, it’s a personal journey to understand that the everyday choices we make—from how we eat and travel, to the products we buy and how we dispose of them—will ultimately determine our collective future. Sustainability is measured by our impact on people, animals, and the planet. In 2020, it often means striving for what’s referred to as a ‘zero impact’ or ‘do no harm’ model where ethical practices replace the destruction, pollution, and exploitation common across many industries. In beauty, sustainability is best assessed by looking at the sourcing of the raw ingredients, the supply chain that brings a product together, and, finally, its packaging. Only when a brand shares its progress with consumers can it call itself transparent, which is a hallmark of endeavoring towards sustainability. Ingredient Sourcing: Where Did This Come From?   Opting for natural ingredients is an admirable first impulse, but the full picture of sustainability is more nuanced. “We need to ask where an ingredient was grown or harvested and what impact it had on the environment and people,” says Christina Archer, a UK-based sustainable sourcing consultant for the cosmetic industry with over 15 years working in communities across Asia, Latin America, and Europe. Take, for example, common oils like palm, argan, and almond. “Mass commercial cultivation of these products often comes with destruction of habitats, degradation of soils, and loss of biodiversity,” Archer says. While using a natural oil is better for the planet than petrochemical alternatives—like petroleum jelly or mineral oil—unless it’s cultivated using fair trade practices, it’s impossible to know if it’s actually sustainable.   Sourcing from animals and marine habitats gets even tricker, which has opened the door for biotech companies like Aprinnova, a Silicon Valley-based leader in technology to synthesize natural ingredients that might otherwise be impossible to environmentally or ethically source. One buzzy ingredient it’s brought to market is an alternative to squalene, a luxurious-feeling, hydrating oil that’s been historically sourced from shark liver.   “We use fermentation to make a precursor of squalene using sugarcane, then we're able to transform that into squalene itself,” says Ashlee Nunes, Aprinnova’s technical sales and product manager. “When you look at our squalene on a molecular level, it’s the same as the one from a shark. As far as efficacy, we’ve done many studies to prove they're very similar.” (Sound familiar? This might remind you of the advancements happening right now in meat alternatives.) Today, Aprinnova’s squalene can be found in its in-house brand, Biossance, as well as many cruelty-free beauty brands around the globe. But synthetic ingredients is just one possible step for the rapidly-growing beauty industry to become more sustainable.   The Supply Chain: How Did It Get To Me?   The initial sourcing of ingredients kicks off the match, but the supply chain is where the game plays out. A 360-degree look is especially important when considering environmental issues and workers’ rights.   Take mica, for example, a naturally-occurring mineral that commonly gives highlighter, eyeshadow, and primer its delicate shimmer. Like many raw ingredients, it’s often sourced and processed in the developing world. Cosmetic-grade mica—although natural and safe for skin—is often mined in India by entire families in unsafe conditions without the consumer ever being aware. Then there is the issue of the environment. Deforestation is often necessary to extract or transport minerals, and fossil fuels are burned to create the energy to process them. It’s a similar issue to diamonds and gold or cocoa and coffee, which makes transparency around the supply chain crucial to achieving sustainability. Tech companies like SourceMap are developing software to bring transparency to hard-to-track ingredients, like mica and cocoa, but until it’s widespread, shopping for products with fair trade ingredients or certifications is one good way to vote for sustainability with your pocketbook.          

Packaging: What Happens After The Consumer’s Done?

  A beauty product’s story doesn’t end with our link; the consumer is much closer to the middle of the chain. From the suds washed down the drain and (eventually) into natural waterways, to the packaging’s second life (which can last for 400+ years for most plastics), true sustainability is more holistic. “[A product’s] end of life is as important as the beginning,” Archer says.   The most obvious solution to sustainably discard something is your curbside recycling bin, which is great for commodity materials, like beverage bottles, paper, and aluminum. “The value of these products covers the cost that's associated with collecting, sorting, and processing them into something new,” says Sarah Teeter, global project manager for TerraCycle, a private U.S. recycling business that specializes in hard-to-recyclable waste. Here’s the catch: “Anything that hasn't been designed with recyclability or recovery in mind is basically deemed non-recyclable in a municipal setting.”   The biggest issue preventing the curbside recycling of beauty products is the very thing that makes them so convenient: mixed materials, like a compact or lipstick bullet made with metal and plastic parts or a plastic pump with a little metal spring. “All those things are really costly to separate, so they're not going to be recovered in the normal recycling ecosystem,” says Teeter.   Luckily, due to consumer interest, refillable makeup is coming back into vogue and packaging companies are starting to respond by using plastic recovered from the ocean. Today, the most sustainable choice is to look for is glass or post-consumer, clear or white packaging, which (due to demand for clear and white plastic over black or brightly-colored plastics by recyclers), is more likely to be taken by your local recycling center.   As for the rest, Terracycle offers a program where consumers can ship non-recyclable products to them for a fee, then, “Our materials department identifies our processing partners to convert that material into a useful new format and find a downstream application for it,” Teeter says. Many brands pay Terracycle to take its products for no cost to consumers (check TerraCycle’s website for details) and many other brands collect empties in stores for commercial recycling. Bottom line: If a product becomes trash, it’s not sustainable, but recycling an empty is often the onus of the consumer.    

We are a wasteful society. Looking at plastic bag consumption alone, Americans use around 14,000,000,000 plastic bags per year, which in turn require 12 million barrels of oil to manufacture. According to Waste Management, only 1% of those plastic bags are returned for recycling — the rest end up in landfills or as litter. (Side note: Please use reusable shopping bags.)   It's a hard pill to swallow, sure, but the truth is that we have a lot of work to do when it comes to living more eco-conscious lifestyles. While some of the changes needed aren't completely in our control and need to happen at government levels, there are plenty of small edits that we can apply to our personal habits that have the potential to do some good for our Earth.   It goes beyond recycling your water bottles and soda cans the ethical way — what you eat, how you travel, how much electricity you use, and other actions you take on a daily basis all contribute to the state of our planet today, as well as its future.   One action we urge you to take immediately, though, is changing how you shop. While buying more stuff isn't all that eco-friendly to begin with (non-necessities, at least), it's an inescapable fact that we all need certain things to simply live our lives.   For many of us, one of those things is luggage. If you travel at all, you need something to carry your stuff in — the thing is, a lot of luggage isn't made sustainably. So how can we shop for our necessary luggage in the best way possible? What is the most eco-friendly way to buy our bags?  

What to look for in eco-friendly luggage

  The term "eco-friendly" is kind of an umbrella term — there are a lot of things to consider when shopping with the environment in mind. So it's vital to scrutinize the facts before you click "add to cart."   Not only should construction materials be taken into account when shopping for your luggage (which is what most buyers will probably look to first), you'll also want to inform yourself on where the product was made, who made it (and the treatment of those people).   Here's a breakdown of the boxes your eco-friendly luggage choice should tick:   Materials: Your best option here is going to be buying something that is manufactured with recyclable materials. Keep an eye out for luggage that is constructed from PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the thermoplastic polymer which is also used for plastic bottles. It's known to be really flexible, which helps to protect it from surface damage and cracking while also being highly recyclable.   Transparency: Give your business to a brand that is open with their consumers about how their products are made, where they are made, and the people who make them. Are these workers being paid fair wages? Are there warehouses, factories, and various other work environments safe for their employees? These are questions you'll definitely want to ask yourself throughout this process. (Companies like Everlane even have dedicated pages to their warehouses in an effort to be more transparent about their manufacturing processes.)   Packing materials: What is you're luggage going to be shipped in? Some retailers, while offering an ultimately eco-conscious product, don't ship those products in recyclable packaging. This information can be harder to find, but it's worth looking into. This helpful report from the Green Business Bureau lays out some of the best environmentally friendly packaging materials that can be used in place of wasteful, single-use options.   Your personal preferences: Lastly, you should also be getting luggage that you actually like — something you'll easily be able to carry around an airport. This is where things like style, quality, durability, size, number of compartments, built-in locks, luggage "genre" (a wheeled roller, backpack, or large tote), and more come into play. Really think about the role your luggage needs to fill and how it will fit into your specific lifestyle. Don't waste precious resources on something you don't love or won't use.   All of this doesn't necessarily mean you should go throw out your old, non-sustainably made suitcase right now. While that's an understandable first reaction to this information, it's actually more eco-friendly to use what you already have while it's still in serviceable shape — you should only pick up a new, ethically made bag if you actually need a replacement, or didn't have one to start with.   Remember, in general, buying more stuff is not always an eco-friendly action, whether said purchase is made sustainably or not. It still costs materials to create those products that you're inundating yourself with, and carbon emissions only increase when they're loaded onto the truck to be shipped to you.  

Alternatives to throwing away your old luggage

  If you do happen to have some used luggage that you're looking to offload, there are way more ethical ways to dispose of it than just leaving it on the curb (please, do not do that).   Here are some alternatives to sending your old luggage to the landfill:   1.     Donate it. You can always take a trip to your nearest Goodwill, but also consider doing some research about local clothing and hard goods dropoffs in your local area. A lot of community centers, municipal buildings, places of worship, travel agencies, and more have programs that send your used items to people who could use it. You can also send your stuff to Suitcases For Kids — an organization that donates luggage to foster children that move from home to home on a regular basis.   2.     Repurpose it. If your luggage is no longer fit for travel but isn't totally unusable, keep it and use it for extra storage in a closet or under your bed (it looks way tidier than putting your things in trash bags or assembling it into a terrifying Jenga tower of randomness). If your retired luggage happens to look vintage and chic, you can repurpose it as decorative accent storage instead of shoving it into a dark corner where no one can see it.   3.     A designated recycling service. If you opt to send your old suitcase into the next life instead of those other options, make sure you do it the right way. Plenty of cities and residential areas offer free-of-charge curbside pickup for bulky items to be recycled, like this one that's exclusive to San Francisco. And, while pricey, you can also make use of TerraCycle's Zero Waste Box, which lets you ship your luggage to be recycled if you aren't fortunate enough to have a local pickup program.   At the end of the day, thrifting consigned luggage instead of buying something completely new is a good way to save materials and extend the life cycle of whatever you purchase. It's usually really easy to find good, secondhand stuff in local thrift shops or on sites like eBay and depop.  

So, what's the best eco-friendly luggage option?

  A lot of brands out there claim to be sustainable, but in reality, they barely scratch the surface of true eco-friendliness (some can't even treat their own employees the right way) — so it's vital that we make sure we are supporting sustainable luggage production by giving our money to those companies that are exemplifying what "eco-friendly" can truly mean.   Here are our picks for the best eco-friendly luggage:

We are a wasteful society. Looking at plastic bag consumption alone, Americans use around 14,000,000,000 plastic bags per year, which in turn require 12 million barrels of oil to manufacture. According to Waste Management, only 1% of those plastic bags are returned for recycling — the rest end up in landfills or as litter. (Side note: Please use reusable shopping bags.)   It's a hard pill to swallow, sure, but the truth is that we have a lot of work to do when it comes to living more eco-conscious lifestyles. While some of the changes needed aren't completely in our control and need to happen at government levels, there are plenty of small edits that we can apply to our personal habits that have the potential to do some good for our Earth.   It goes beyond recycling your water bottles and soda cans the ethical way — what you eat, how you travel, how much electricity you use, and other actions you take on a daily basis all contribute to the state of our planet today, as well as its future.   One action we urge you to take immediately, though, is changing how you shop. While buying more stuff isn't all that eco-friendly to begin with (non-necessities, at least), it's an inescapable fact that we all need certain things to simply live our lives.   For many of us, one of those things is luggage. If you travel at all, you need something to carry your stuff in — the thing is, a lot of luggage isn't made sustainably. So how can we shop for our necessary luggage in the best way possible? What is the most eco-friendly way to buy our bags?  

What to look for in eco-friendly luggage

  The term "eco-friendly" is kind of an umbrella term — there are a lot of things to consider when shopping with the environment in mind. So it's vital to scrutinize the facts before you click "add to cart."   Not only should construction materials be taken into account when shopping for your luggage (which is what most buyers will probably look to first), you'll also want to inform yourself on where the product was made, who made it (and the treatment of those people).   Here's a breakdown of the boxes your eco-friendly luggage choice should tick:   Materials: Your best option here is going to be buying something that is manufactured with recyclable materials. Keep an eye out for luggage that is constructed from PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the thermoplastic polymer which is also used for plastic bottles. It's known to be really flexible, which helps to protect it from surface damage and cracking while also being highly recyclable.   Transparency: Give your business to a brand that is open with their consumers about how their products are made, where they are made, and the people who make them. Are these workers being paid fair wages? Are there warehouses, factories, and various other work environments safe for their employees? These are questions you'll definitely want to ask yourself throughout this process. (Companies like Everlane even have dedicated pages to their warehouses in an effort to be more transparent about their manufacturing processes.)   Packing materials: What is you're luggage going to be shipped in? Some retailers, while offering an ultimately eco-conscious product, don't ship those products in recyclable packaging. This information can be harder to find, but it's worth looking into. This helpful report from the Green Business Bureau lays out some of the best environmentally friendly packaging materials that can be used in place of wasteful, single-use options.   Your personal preferences: Lastly, you should also be getting luggage that you actually like — something you'll easily be able to carry around an airport. This is where things like style, quality, durability, size, number of compartments, built-in locks, luggage "genre" (a wheeled roller, backpack, or large tote), and more come into play. Really think about the role your luggage needs to fill and how it will fit into your specific lifestyle. Don't waste precious resources on something you don't love or won't use.   All of this doesn't necessarily mean you should go throw out your old, non-sustainably made suitcase right now. While that's an understandable first reaction to this information, it's actually more eco-friendly to use what you already have while it's still in serviceable shape — you should only pick up a new, ethically made bag if you actually need a replacement, or didn't have one to start with.   Remember, in general, buying more stuff is not always an eco-friendly action, whether said purchase is made sustainably or not. It still costs materials to create those products that you're inundating yourself with, and carbon emissions only increase when they're loaded onto the truck to be shipped to you.  

Alternatives to throwing away your old luggage

  If you do happen to have some used luggage that you're looking to offload, there are way more ethical ways to dispose of it than just leaving it on the curb (please, do not do that).   Here are some alternatives to sending your old luggage to the landfill:   1.     Donate it. You can always take a trip to your nearest Goodwill, but also consider doing some research about local clothing and hard goods dropoffs in your local area. A lot of community centers, municipal buildings, places of worship, travel agencies, and more have programs that send your used items to people who could use it. You can also send your stuff to Suitcases For Kids — an organization that donates luggage to foster children that move from home to home on a regular basis.   2.     Repurpose it. If your luggage is no longer fit for travel but isn't totally unusable, keep it and use it for extra storage in a closet or under your bed (it looks way tidier than putting your things in trash bags or assembling it into a terrifying Jenga tower of randomness). If your retired luggage happens to look vintage and chic, you can repurpose it as decorative accent storage instead of shoving it into a dark corner where no one can see it.   3.     A designated recycling service. If you opt to send your old suitcase into the next life instead of those other options, make sure you do it the right way. Plenty of cities and residential areas offer free-of-charge curbside pickup for bulky items to be recycled, like this one that's exclusive to San Francisco. And, while pricey, you can also make use of TerraCycle's Zero Waste Box, which lets you ship your luggage to be recycled if you aren't fortunate enough to have a local pickup program.   At the end of the day, thrifting consigned luggage instead of buying something completely new is a good way to save materials and extend the life cycle of whatever you purchase. It's usually really easy to find good, secondhand stuff in local thrift shops or on sites like eBay and depop.  

So, what's the best eco-friendly luggage option?

  A lot of brands out there claim to be sustainable, but in reality, they barely scratch the surface of true eco-friendliness (some can't even treat their own employees the right way) — so it's vital that we make sure we are supporting sustainable luggage production by giving our money to those companies that are exemplifying what "eco-friendly" can truly mean.   Here are our picks for the best eco-friendly luggage:

Recently, e-cigarette companies, such as JUUL, have come under fire for their harmful effects on human health. However, new information has come to light about the environmental impacts of e-cigarette products. Specifically, the waste they create once they are disposed of.   Nicotine has always been considered hazardous waste. A single JUUL pod’s nicotine content is equivalent to a pack of cigarettes, so disposing of this hazardous substance is a major issue. Regular cigarette buds are already damaging the environment. They can be seen polluting the streets of major cities or washing up on the shore of a beach. The disposal of cigarettes often leads to the deterioration of human health as well as the pollution of waterways and soil toxicity. However, because of how old the product is, there are programs in place for the proper recycling of cigarette buds and the disposal of the trace amounts of nicotine that they carry. Vaping, however, is still relatively new, and companies have failed to create a process to collect the waste their products create. Because of the unique composition of an e-cigarette, each individual part must be disposed of separately. The Lithium battery that powers the vape is a hazardous material. Usually, batteries can be disposed of at a local Best Buy or Home Depot so that the lithium content does not cause harm to waste workers or factories. However, these stores cannot accept vape batteries because they are connected to the rest of the product, and separating a vape from its battery is very dangerous. Because of this, vapes are shipped to a factory in Arizona where they are separated and broken down properly. Meanwhile, the plastic pods are sent to a special recycling plant in Colorado where the trace amounts of nicotine in the pod are broken down so that the plastic can be recycled without contaminating anything else. Even if a pod is used to its full capacity, it can still contain amounts of nicotine. If a pod is not properly disposed of, the trace amounts of nicotine can leak into groundwater and make it unsafe for consumption.   Outside companies have come up with ways to safely dispose of e-cigarette waste, however, these methods have not been widely used. Companies such as TerraCycle have created “Zero Waste Boxes” where users can buy a box and ship their e-cigarette waste to them for proper disposal. This seems like a great idea until you look at the price tag. Throwing a used pod on the floor is free; for one small shipping box, the sender will have to drop $104.00 (not including service fees). Taking into consideration that most vape users are teenagers and young adults who do not have a lot of money, this method for disposal is not practical. However, it is currently the only commercialized method for proper e-cigarette disposal.   The number of pods and amount of e-waste humans have created from these products is overwhelming the environment and causing unneeded pollution. The best way to fix this problem would be for the e-cigarette companies to come up with a unified method of disposal for their products. This system would have to be efficient and easy to access so that people are inclined to take care of their waste properly. Vaping is a relatively new industry, so it is important to put these systems into place now so that users can get accustomed to the process and no further waste is created.