Manufacturer introduces innovative product to combat widespread threat to human health: 'Our planet is choking'

Major global packaging manufacturer Nefab recently opened a factory in Mexico with the sole purpose of expanding its sustainable packaging offerings, Packaging Gateway reported.

The factory will produce recyclable trays and cushioning solutions using a closed-loop recycling model. In this model, Nefab will collect used packaging, grind it down, and repurpose it into new recyclable products. In fact, the company has already stated that it aims to make several of its new product lines from 100% recycled content.

Nefab's regional managing director for Latin America, Eric Wickman, said that the new production capabilities "strengthens our ability to provide engineered solutions tailored to customers' needs." The facility, he added, will ultimately "help customers reduce material use, costs, and environmental impact."

As the world has become more and more aware of the harmful impacts of plastic, many packaging providers and mainstream brands are investing in their own sustainable packaging.

The amount of plastic pollution around the globe has skyrocketed to such levels in recent decades that, as the United Nations Environment Programme phrases it, "our planet is choking on plastic."

This poses a threat to human health and prosperity in a number of ways. Once plastic is discarded, it doesn't go away; rather, it gradually degrades into microplastics, which release contaminants and chemicals into our air, water, and soil. And once it's in the environment, it trickles into our bodies.

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In studies looking for the presence of microplastics in human bodies, researchers detected significant levels in the majority of human bloodstreams, brains, and even semen. This has heightened alarm among scientists, who fear that we're only beginning to understand the health repercussions they pose.

Similarly, plastic manufacturing uses dirty fuel sources that produce planet-heating pollution. This pollution poses another array of threats, from more severe weather events to agricultural failure, loss of clean air and water, and rising global temperatures.

Introducing sustainable, recyclable alternatives to this plastic manufacturing will therefore be instrumental in fighting the overwhelming and damaging tide of plastic pollution. And while most companies will need several years to fully migrate to sustainable production processes, companies like Nefab provide a helpful model for doing so.

In the meantime, you can do your part as a consumer by only purchasing from companies with sustainable products and packaging.