Tom Ford and 52HZ Launch a $1.2 Million Prize for Biodegradable Poly Bag Replacement

Tom Ford and 52HZ Launch a $1.2 Million Prize for Biodegradable Poly Bag Replacement AOC Sustainability

Everywhere we look, humans exist in a metaphorical sea of plastic. While that plastic comes in many forms, designer Tom Ford’s focus is “thin-film” and the estimated 300 billion polybags and single-use, resealable sandwich and storage bags (SRPBs) used every year.

If you believe that your plastic bags are recylced - because you dump them in the recycle bin — reality is that they probably are not recycled. All of those plastic bags end up in landfills or on the ground and in our oceans. Reality is sobering — so sobering that Tom Ford has launched the Plastic Innovation Prize in partnership with 52HZ.

The Deadly Statistics Around Plastic in our Oceans

Plastic films make up 5 million metric tons of ocean leakage, or a full 46% of all ocean plastic leakage.

• It is estimated that there are 14 million metric tons of plastic on the ocean floor today that will be nearly impossible to extract.

• 11 million metric tons of new plastic enters the ocean every year. That number is expected to almost triple to 29 million metric tons by 2040 — the equivalent of 241 Washington Monuments.,

• Plastic in the ocean will only continue to endanger countless species and ecosystems already affected by increased warming, acidification, and other stressors.

Read more about Tom Ford’s challenge to innovators who can solve the biodegradable thin film plastic problem. Read on in Sustainability.

Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park Grows Coffee, Cashews, Honey and Hope

Gorongosa National Park Brings Coffee, Cashews, Honey and Hope to Mozambique AOC Sustainability

Gorongosa National Park has quite a history, from its inception 60 years ago to being battleground the subsequent Mozambique civil war, to its recent revitalization and engagement with the human community that lives among its borders.

The park enlists local people in management at all levels, and focuses on developing schools and girls’ empowerment programs, too, so in this context it seems a natural fit that the park would engage residents in a new, restorative agriculture venture which also serves to reforest the slopes of Mount Gorongosa, via agroforestry.

Matt Jordan is well suited to direct this project, having served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mozambique after earning degrees in environmental engineering, and being of the belief that the fates of human societies and the natural world are intertwined, and can thrive together. Today, he serves as the Director of Sustainable Development for the park which includes overseeing projects like Gorongosa Coffee, and he answered some questions via email: his responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Read on about the inspiring work being done in Gorongosa. The Chimanimani Mountains are an ancient home to Stone Age rock paintings by the San people, also known as Bushmen. Today, the entire park is alive with human activity as people try to put Mozambique’s deadly civil war behind them. As many as a million humans died, and countless, princely animals killed for food. Worse still, their body parts — ivory in particular — were traded for weapons.

Gorongosa National Park Brings Coffee, Cashews, Honey and Hope to Mozambique AOC Sustainability