Niche Writer or a General Copywriter? Yes, It Makes a Big Difference

by NC Fitz | Nov 13, 2020 | Marketing, Writer | 0 comments

Considering hiring a writer, but you’re not sure if you need a niche writer or a general copywriter?

If it was just a matter of getting words on the screen, you might be able to do that yourself. But if you want to get a return on investment, improve your leads, and connect with your audience, hiring a writer is your best option. Plus, a good writer can help your business get ranked in search engines.

There are a lot of writers out there. Some will specialize in blogging, others in white papers. But many copywriters can write whatever you need. Blogs, articles, case studies, and social media content are the services they provide. But what about your industry? How much do they know about what you do? When you decide on the type of writing you need, your next step is to find a writer that knows your industry.

There are many advantages to hiring a writer dedicated to your specific industry – a niche writer. The more projects writers complete in your particular field, the more aware they are of trends and influential factors. It helps them know how they may affect what you’re doing. They know how to communicate with your audience and what kind of information they are looking for and need.

It’s the same as you selling eco-friendly cutlery and not selling cameras at the same time. You’re focused. And so is the niche writer.

Here are a few reasons to consider a niche writer over a general copywriter.

What You Get With a Niche Writer

A Writer Who Is in Familiar Territory
A Writer That Understands the Problem You Solve
A Writer Who Is Enthusiastic About the Industry

A Niche Writer Is in Familiar Territory

Hiring a niche writer means that the writer knows how to write blogs and articles, particularly for your specific market.

It’s a lot like if you’re looking for a quaint place to visit in Scotland. Both Charlie and Donna mention they’ve been there. However, Charlie’s time in Scotland means he hung out at the Glasgow airport for several hours during a layover from New York to London.

When Donna says she’s been to Scotland, she means that she spent a few weeks in Pitlochry. She can tell you how to get there, what store sells the best tweeds, where to buy jewelry made of highland heather, and where not to go for fish and chips.

A niche writer is like Donna. She has a solid knowledge-base about your industry. When you hire her, she already understands your needs. And she understands your customer’s needs due to research she continually conducts in your area.

Donna is up to date on industry trends, and she may even have direct contact with industry experts. She might not be an IT provider, but if she’s an IT copywriter, then she lives in your world. She has an edge over a general copywriter who has to learn about the IT industry specifically for your project.

A Niche Writer Understands the Problem You Solve

Your product solves a problem for your customers. But with content marketing, you are trying to do something more than just sell a product. You need a writer who understands what you do and can help your customers understand why you do it.

The writer that understands the problem that you solve in-depth before they start writing has a huge advantage over one who is not aware that there is a problem.

That understanding is related to knowing your industry. When the writer regularly works in your industry, they will be able to relay all the ways you solve a problem from a place of understanding and not just by listing your product’s benefits or features.

A Niche Writer Is Enthusiastic About the Industry

Marketing Managers and businesses don’t often count a writer’s enthusiasm for the project they’re being hired for as a bonus. But for copywriters, there are jobs we can’t wait to get started on because they’re in an industry we’re passionate about. And then there are jobs because we need the work.

While the end product for both scenarios can have excellent results, consider the following.

You want to have a perfect smile, so you get braces. There’s the delight at the prospect of using one less filter on your photos. The excitement level on the day you get braces versus the day you get them off is on opposite ends of the spectrum. As a business, you want your writer to have the day braces come off excitement for every project they work on for you.

Again, it’s not that a good copywriter won’t be able to give you precisely what you hired them to do. But the enthusiasm for an industry shows through even with a newbie writer. A writer working on a topic that is important to them will produce higher quality work than the writer who doesn’t really care for the subject but is just getting it done.

What You Save With a Niche Writer

Time, on Both Ends
Money, Even Though They May Cost More
Increased Productivity

Time, on Both Ends

Whether you’re a solopreneur or have a booming business with a few dozen employees, you have a lot on your plate. You can’t afford to take shortcuts, but you need things done fast. Time is not something you can spare.

Hiring a niche writer is similar to preparing dinner. You can run to the grocery store with no idea what to cook and go down every aisle looking for inspiration. Or, you can head straight to aisle 8 for the ricotta cheese. Then back home because you already have all of the other ingredients – and a recipe.

You save time, and so does the writer.

You save time by not having to try out several writers before finding one that gets what you do or the message you want to send. The writer saves time by not having to gather all the pieces before they can create the content you need.

Research, however, is a given. It is needed regardless of how familiar the writer is with the subject matter. A writer who is unfamiliar with your industry will have to start their research from scratch. First, on the industry, then how your company fits in or stands out in that industry, and then your target audience. A niche writer will already be familiar with most of those things.

Cutting down on the amount of time it takes to understand an industry increases the time put into the message. And time + the message = money.

Money, Even Though They May Cost More

Speaking of money, niche writers may be more expensive than generalists. But you’re already getting so much more with a niche writer.

There’s a reason general practitioners do not perform medical surgery. A general practitioner will be able to patch you up and maybe give you some pain meds. But an accurate diagnosis, proper treatment, and complicated surgery call for a specialist.

A niche writer is a specialist. They can guide you in your messaging direction because they know what would work best in the industry. They have insights that the general writer, new to the industry, may not have.

Specialists usually cost a little more. But the ROI is worth it.

After all, you’re not paying several writers until you find the right one. You’re not paying for research time that goes beyond the message you need to send to your target audience. And you’re not paying to wait on several rounds of revisions until they get your message just right.

Increased Productivity

When your writer doesn’t need extra coaching from you or time to do initial research, you can get on with running your business. And the writer can get on with providing you with great content.

They could even put some time into giving you content you didn’t know you needed.

Conclusion

When you need enough content for your business but don’t have time to write it yourself, consider hiring a writer. Whether it’s a content writer or a copywriter, make sure that they are familiar with your industry. A generalist is good. A niche writer is better.

Hello, I’m NC Fitz, a freelance content writer. I write for companies that make bio-based products, packaging, and any alternative solutions to single-use plastics. I help them connect with their audience by promoting their better than plastic products with content highlighting their environmental benefits.

Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are my own. The links provided are for informational purposes only and are not affiliate links.

The photos in the post header are from Unsplash, credited to:
Business Suit – Photo by Hunters Race on Unsplash, Justice – Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash, Photographer – Photo by freestocks on Unsplash, Code – Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash, Nurse – Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

Body photos:
Highland Heather – Photo by Felix Mooneeram on Unsplash, Money – Photo by Mathieu Turle on Unsplash, Clock – Photo by Sonja Langford on Unsplash

Reusable Packaging You Should Know About

by NC Fitz | Feb 4, 2019 | Recycle, Save the Planet, Sustainability | 0 comments

It is about time! I am so excited about the Loop reusable packaging joint venture. This is exactly what’s needed right now – collaboration. Big brand corporations that are combining efforts and trying something new to create real change in the consumer-packaged goods market. Because no one company, brand, or group of people is responsible for all of our package pollution problems. Still, we all need to put in the effort to solve those problems. And Loop is a significant effort.

The Real Issue

Recycling by itself is not enough. There’s already too much existing plastic and too many variations of materials. At the same time, there are not enough recycling facilities to handle the volume or the different kinds of materials that make up our packaging and a large part of our landfill and ocean pollution problems.

No matter how much waste we as consumers don’t create (think of the zero-waste movement), the packaging and products are still being made. And that is the base of the problem. If we don’t have the packaging to throw away, there will be less of it. If packaging that is necessary is made with materials that are compostable rather than recyclable – that would be another win. The only thing missing is the infrastructure needed to accommodate composting on a large scale that also makes it as easily accessible as regular garbage disposal.

Even though we are constantly trying to improve our recycling efforts, we are still throwing away a lot more than we are recycling.

Not everyone realizes what happens to plastic after it has been recycled. The process cannot repeat indefinitely. A product can be recycled down into a different product, but that product more than likely will not be recyclable.

In other words, water bottles aren’t recycled into new water bottles. They’re usually made into stuffing for cold weather wear. At that point, we still have a plastic based product that isn’t going anywhere. So that same plastic continues to exist on the planet.

Our World In Data.org published an article in 2015 on plastic pollution that showed the vast increase in plastic production from the 1950s up to 2015. It also showed how discarding plastic products had been handled in that time as well as global plastic waste generation, total plastic waste by country, and several plastic projections.

The charts below show the plastic producing industrial sectors and the plastic waste produced by each sector globally in 2015. By far, the sector with the highest amount of plastic production was packaging. The sector that generated the largest amount of waste was also packaging.

There were 146 million tons of plastic produced for packaging in 2015. There has been a steady increase in plastic production, including bio-based variations, since then.

Though its aim is to reduce waste, the current recycling infrastructure does not easily accommodate diverse or mixed materials, making recycling even less effective.

Even though we are constantly trying to improve our recycling efforts, we are still throwing away a lot more than we are recycling.

“The United States throws away $11.4 billion worth of recyclable containers and packaging every year.”¹ Many of which end up in landfills and oceans.

So if recycling isn’t the answer to the plastic problem (no one thing is), then what are the alternatives?

An Alternative Option

Less packaging.

Individuals are answering the less packaging – less waste call. Every day a new person or family works toward having a zero-waste household. Though it is not an easy task, it is effective and becoming quite popular.

But if the plastic problem is shared by everyone, then individuals shouldn’t have to tackle it on their own. There are too many people who won’t, for whatever reason, be able to go zero-waste.

What else can be done?

Repackaging.

Brands, corporations, and government need to work together to find a solution, rather than leaving it up to any one entity or the consumers while package production continues at the same pace.

That’s not to say there haven’t been any attempts by brands to change the package to waste process in the past. There have been many packaging redesign experiments and just as many failures.

In 2010, PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay division made a valiant attempt to reduce the amount of plastic it produced by developing a biodegradable bio-based bag for Sun Chips. The result was that sales took a hit. The reason? Consumers felt that the bag was too noisy.

Judging by the videos on YouTube, the bags were noisy. But weren’t all chips bags noisy when they first came out? Potato chips were initially packaged in wax paper bags. So that new packaging – cellophane – would not have been easy on the ears. It certainly wasn’t a natural sound, but you get used to it.

Luckily, PepsiCo persevered and designed a new, not so noisy biodegradable Sun Chips bag. Although learning that consumers rule with their wallets (and YouTube reviews) was painful, PepsiCo wasn’t the only company to learn the lesson.

A lot of the consumer negativity is usually in response to a change that has taken place without the consumer’s awareness. Consumers ultimately determine whether changes, even those changes that are for the better, will work or not.

But change, coming from the top down, is what we need now.

The Loop shopping system collaboration is something that allows consumers to play an interactive part that is not so different from how they are already shopping. Those gorgeous stainless-steel containers won’t suddenly arrive on store shelves. Eco-conscious consumers will knowingly order them.

Loop

The customer gets the product, but the company owns the package.

This is an amazing concept that would cut down on a tremendous amount of waste. Think about everything you buy from the grocery store, use, and then discard the packaging it came in. This creates the need to continuously produce more packaging. With Loop, you buy the product, use it, then send the packaging back to be reused.

And many big brands are in agreement. The top three producers of what ends up as plastic waste – Nestlé, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola – are all onboard. Many familiar names have also joined in such as Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Mars, Clorox, and Danone for starters. UPS is also participating and will be a large part of the program as they will be delivering the reusable products to your door (and picking them up).

So basically, you order from any of the brand partners on the loop store site or the brand’s site. Your products are delivered in a Loop Tote, which is also used to send all of the empty product containers back. The reusable packaging is durable and elegantly designed. You are not going to want to hide them. And that specially-made for Loop, stylish packaging belongs to the brand. When your product runs out, you get a new delivery sent to you. The best part is – there is nothing to throw away. All of the packaging is returned, cleaned and sanitized, and put back into circulation.

On the Loop Store site, there are 25 brands, 11 of which are currently in use in my home, and several which I would consider simply because they are a part of this program.

Loop launches this spring in Paris and New York. Lucky devils. I’ve already put my name on the waiting list.

When I first learned about Loop from the January 25th GreenBiz Circular Weekly, I was quite impressed that so many brands were already on board. But I was also happy to learn about other packaging innovators who have been up and running for a while, right here in the U.S.

I looked into these companies because I hadn’t heard of them before.

LimeLoop
GO Box
Package Free Shop

LimeLoop

“Reinventing the way goods are sent and received.”

The LimeLoop (not to be confused with TerraCycle’s Loop) process is simple and hassle-free for the online shopper. The store ships its merchandise to you in a LimeLoop reusable bag. When you receive the package, you remove your items and secure the bag with the provided zip tie. You then place the pre-paid return label in the same slot the shipping label was in and return it via your mailbox or Postal Service. The bag can then go on to be reused, countless times, up to 10 years.

The bags are made of upcycled billboard vinyl and lined with recycled cotton and are waterproof. Because the bags are flat, they are easy to ship in a standard USPS mailbox.

LimeLoop also provides the shipper (e-commerce store owner) with a software platform that allows them to track the bags after they’ve been shipped, get customer feedback, and monitor the environmental impact that the use of the bags is having. The more the bags are used, the more trees, oil, and water are saved, and each shipper will know the exact impact they are making.

These bags remove the need for the items to be individually wrapped in plastic, placed in a box, and then shipped in yet another cardboard box. You would receive your shipment and have nothing to throw out after.

Wearwell, Toad&Co., and Maika are brand partners. Imagine the overall environmental impact if even half of e-commerce clothing sites in the U.S. shipped goods using LimeLoop?

Bold Reuse

Bold Reuse (formerly GO Box) is a new take on take-out.

It’s Taco Tuesday. You pull up to the drive-thru of your local taco restaurant and place your order. You get tacos. But you also get a million packets of hot sauce, mild sauce, in-between sauce. You get napkins, the packaging that each taco is wrapped in, possibly some plastic utensils, and a plastic bag to help you carry it all to your home.

Or maybe you have the food delivered. It’s the same for burgers, pizza, Chinese, and anything that you don’t cook for yourself. You get the meal and a lot of packaging with it. Packaging that ends up contributing to landfill methane and carbon dioxide gases.

“Food delivery is a $43 billion business in the US today.”²

The take-out and delivery services that are so convenient are also significantly contributing to our pollution problems. The items are used for an hour at the most, possibly, several times a day by countless individuals. The packaging mounts up quickly, even if you recycle most of it.

“Containers and packaging alone contribute over 23% of the material reaching landfills in the U.S., and some of these discarded materials are food-related containers and packaging. Additionally, packaging makes up a majority of the litter that ends up on our beaches and other waterways.”³

Enter Bold Reuse.

The Portland-based company offers reusable take-out boxes for restaurants and food truck vendors. You go to your favorite lunch spot, order, and then take your meal with you. But instead of throwing away the take-out box when you’re done, you return it to one of the drop sites located around town. Nothing to throw away. The reusable containers are then picked up, taken to be cleaned and sanitized and put back into circulation. The pick-up vehicle? A bike.

There are an impressive 80+ participating food carts and restaurants in the Portland area offering reusable containers. And there are several drop site locations as well. How do you find the drop sites? The entire program is done by mobile app making the zero-waste concept interactive with consumers. You download the app to join, pay a yearly or monthly subscription, and the mobile app shows you the restaurants using the GO Boxes and the drop sites.

GO Box is looking to expand into other metropolitan areas. Anyone can launch a GO Box business by getting a GO Box license. A lot of business extras come with the license, so you’re not left trying to figure things out on your own.

*Some of this information has changed since GO Box evolved into Bold Reuse. Check out their website for current details.

The Package Free Shop

In New York, there’s an entire store catering to less packaging. It’s called the Package Free Shop. The Brooklyn-based store offers package free products and shipping. They promote a zero-waste lifestyle and provide enough items to make it a one-stop waste free shop.

But unfortunately, there’s no way that every kind of item can be completely package free. Some products require packaging by the FDA for health reasons, like toothbrushes. So the vendors they source are doing their part to provide products with minimum packaging or packaging that is 100% recyclable and/or compostable. And the shop works tirelessly with their vendors to find ways to avoid unnecessary packaging.

Their online shipping is plastic free, completely recyclable and compostable, and comes in an upcycled or 100% post-consumer box. The shop even has an in-store waste recycling program where shoppers can bring difficult to recycle or non-recyclable products. They teamed up with TerraCycle (the company behind Loop) for the bins to help people dispose of things like plastic toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, spray bottles, dryer sheets, and even computer cables, printers, and copiers.

These are just a few of the companies working to reduce the flow of waste on their end so that we can have an easier time doing the same on ours.

The Opposition

The only opposition to a system like this would be if the number of consumers and businesses who refuse to change, outnumber the ones who will.

Consumers have brought down well-intentioned and well thought out plans for sustainability and environmental benefit in the past. As consumers, we don’t like change. We don’t like inconvenience. And we really don’t like spending extra money. All of those things come before the environment for a lot of people. Not to mention the throw-away culture that has persisted (and gotten worse) for decades. It’s not even a matter of convenience. It’s a habit, a way of doing things, second nature for so many of us.

One of the best things about Loop, and there are several, is that some major brands are behind it. Profit is not the primary motivation, sustainability and the environment are the concern.

No One Thing…

Loop is not going to single-handedly end overflowing landfills or ocean pollution. Neither is the zero-waste lifestyle. However, the combination of these two ideas has an excellent chance of reducing the existing problem by not adding to it.

An important thing to note is that people, designers, organizations, e-commerce, and brands have all recognized their part in the plastic problem and are looking for ways to correct it. We have a lot of work to do and a long way to go. But we are getting closer. Loop is a huge step in the right direction.

When we all work together, it will make a difference.

[1] https://www.rubiconglobal.com/blog-statistics-trash-recycling/
[2] https://www.vox.com/videos/2018/1/3/16842068/climate-lab-takeout-food
[3] https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-08/documents/reducing_wasted_food_pkg_tool.pdf

Additional Information

https://www.waste360.com/plastics/greenpeace-report-names-top-producers-plastic-trash
https://earth911.com/business-policy/how-many-times-recycled/
Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser (2019) – “Plastic Pollution”. Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution’ [Online Resource]

Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are my own. The links provided are for informational purposes only and are not affiliate links.

The photos in the post header are from Unsplash and are credited to:

Center: Photo by Gary Chan on Unsplash, Top left: Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash and https://pixabay.com/photo-16875/, Top right: Photo by Christopher Flowers on Unsplash, Bottom Left: RitaE – https://pixabay.com/photo-2729608/, Bottom right: Prylarer – https://pixabay.com/photo-879437/

Why We Need Bioplastics

by NC Fitz | Oct 31, 2018 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

Summary …………………………………………………………………………….. 03

The Problem ……………………………………………………………………….. 04

Existing Solutions and Their Drawbacks ………………………………. 06

A Better Solution …………………………………………………………………. 09

Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………….. 14

fitzcopy ……………………………………………………………………………….. 15

SUMMARY

Plastic. It’s causing a lot of environmental problems, but we need it.

The quantity of plastic packaging in the food and consumer goods industries is part of the problem. Yet at the same time, tons of food end up in landfills every year. Petroleum-based plastics don’t truly biodegrade or compost. However, in order to preserve food and other items, packaging is still needed.

Plastic bans by governments, cities, and stores can help to cut down on the amount of plastic we use. Clean up organizations and ocean conservancy groups can help with the existing plastic pollution. But we have been dependent on plastic in many ways for a long time. If we eliminate plastic completely, what will its replacement be? Food still needs to be preserved. Items still need protection during shipment. And people still eat on the go.

How do we resolve these issues? With a better plastic. Bioplastic.

There are three main objectives in creating a more sustainable, environmentally friendly plastic – better sourcing, better performance during its lifetime, and better end-of-life options.

Bioplastic checks off all of those boxes.

It is plant based and sustainably sourced, and more eco-friendly sources are discovered every year. It has several end-of-life options that create a closed loop cycle. Also, due to constant advancements in the field of bioplastics, its performance during its lifespan continues to improve allowing it to be used in greater capacities.

For the consumer packaging industry, it provides a better material for single-use products. The main advantage is that bioplastic end-of-life options divert a large amount of waste away from landfills and oceans, and do not contribute to the environmental issues that we see traditional plastics causing today. Consumers would be able to have their take-out without the guilt or environmental damage.

THE PROBLEM

The problem is plastic. But it’s not just plastic, it’s how we handle it, how we use it, how it’s made, how we dispose of it. That combination of circumstances has made it into one of the world’s biggest environmental issues.

Traditional plastics don’t biodegrade or compost, and stay around for years

Conventional, petroleum-based plastic does not biodegrade. By that definition, it will not decompose or break down through the help of microorganisms or bacteria. It can, however, degrade or photodegrade. The UV exposure will break petroleum-based plastics apart into tiny fragments known as microplastics. The breaking down of the plastics into microplastics releases chemical compounds which can pollute the ground if they are in a landfill, or the water if they are in the ocean.

Every year, about 8 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans.[1] As a result, marine wild life is at risk. We’ve all seen it. A turtle with a straw so deeply embedded in its nose that it had to be surgically removed. A pilot whale that beached itself and died several days later because it had eaten 17 pounds of plastic bags, as well as other incidents involving the plastic diet of whales in recent years.[2]

Plastic has invaded sea life, so in turn, invades seafood. Microplastics don’t dissolve completely. They continue to break down to 100 nanometers, so small you can’t see it without a microscope. If the fish that we eat are living in and consuming these microplastics, then so are we. Even sea salt can contain several hundred microplastics per kilogram.[3]

Professor Richard Thompson of Plymouth University released the first research on microplastics in 2004, when it was not at the dangerous level that it is today or will be in the years to come. “We’re on the edge of a major ecological disaster. Microplastics in seafood is an illustration of that. There are things we can do, but we need to do them now.”[4] Again, that was 14 years ago.

Apart from possibly ingesting microplastics from seafood, there are other ways that dangerous chemicals can get into our bodies. The chemical makeup of the plastic can be the problem.

BPA, Bisphenol A, is an industrial chemical commonly found in polycarbonate plastics. Polycarbonates are used in many durable items – water bottles, beverage containers, the linings of food cans, and in food storage containers used in homes.

Food containers that are made of plastic resins 3 and 7 should not be used to heat foods, as the BPA chemicals can leach into the food through melting from high heat. BPA has been found in 93% of urine samples of people over the age of six.[5]

The consumer goods packaging industry is part of the problem (and solution)

In 2016, the amount of plastic produced was approximately 335 million metric tons.[6] That amount increases significantly each year due to demand. Unfortunately, about half of the plastics being produced are for single-use products. If we only recycle around 14% of plastic packaging, then too much of it ends up polluting the environment in landfills or oceans.[7]

Consumers are now looking at brands to help curb our dependency on harmful plastics. And some government regulations are now requiring a more sustainable production process.

In a recent Greenbiz article, ClientEarth wildlife lawyer Tatiana Lujan stated, “With the amount of plastic waste literally choking our marine environment, there are serious risks for companies that don’t move fast enough in responding to the business risk associated with plastic waste.”[8]

It is a world-wide issue that all companies must take into consideration, particularly in the consumer goods industry. According to the EPA, almost 45% of landfill materials are from food and packaging/containers.[9]

Like it or not we need plastics, particularly for food storage, shipment, and longevity

It is a difficult situation because packaging is needed to protect and preserve goods during shipment, especially foods. In spite of the large amounts of packaging materials that are discarded, over 33 million tons of food in 2010 entered landfills in the United States. Improper storage resulting in spoilage accounts for part of food waste. Rotting food in landfills releases methane gas which is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

Many food items can have extended shelf lives and avoid being thrown away by the use of plastic packaging. Out of the variety of resources that could be used to package and preserve food items, plastic is by far the most efficient. Plastic packaging and wraps are lightweight and strong, provide an airtight seal when needed, and are the best materials for freezing foods.

However, this same need creates the high demand for plastics in food packaging. Add to that single-use plastic containers for on-the-go meals and drinks and there seems to be no end to the cycle.

REFERENCES AND SOURCES

[1] World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office. (2018). “World Environment Day 2018: A Call to Beat Plastic Pollution.” Retrieved from
http://www.emro.who.int/media/news/world-environment-day-2018-a-call-to-beat-plastic-pollution.html

[2] Smithsonian Magazine. (2018). “Whale Dies in Thailand With 80 Plastic Bags in Its Stomach.” Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/whale-dies-thailand-80-plastic-bags-its-stomach-180969232/

[3] The Conversation. (2018). “You’re Eating Microplastics in Ways You Don’t Even Realise.” Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/youre-eating-microplastics-in-ways-you-dont-even-realise-97649

[4] Smillie, S. (2017, February). From Sea to Plate: How Plastic Got Into Our Fish. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/feb/14/sea-to-plate-plastic-got-into-fish

[5] Earth Day Network. (2018). “Fact Sheet: The Plastic Threat to Human Health.” Retrieved from
https://www.earthday.org/2018/03/14/fact-sheet-the-plastic-threat-to-human-health/

[6] Earth Day Network. (2018). “Fact Sheet: Single-Use Plastics.” Retrieved from
https://www.earthday.org/2018/03/29/fact-sheet-single-use-plastics

[7] United Biopolymers. (2017). News & Media: Article 21 June 2017 – Whitepaper 06/2017 Time is Right for Bioplastics! Retrieved from https://unitedbiopolymers.com/news/whitepaper-062017/

[8] Holder, M. (2018, July). How should businesses tackle risks posed by the shift away from plastics? GreenBiz. Retrieved from https://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-should-businesses-tackle-risks-posed-shift-away-plastics

[9] United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2015). Toolkit: “Reducing Wasted Food & Packaging: A Guide for Food Services and Restaurants.” Retrieved from
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-08/documents/reducing_wasted_food_pkg_tool.pdf

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Count Down to Ocean Cleanup

by NC Fitz | Oct 22, 2018 | Greener Than Before, Recycle, Save the Planet | 0 comments

A week before the Ocean Cleanup launch from San Francisco, California, I was reading comments on the Ocean Cleanup Facebook page. The majority of the comments were positive, supportive, and encouraging. People were calling Boyan Slat and his crew heroes. And I agreed with them. But many comments made me very angry.

I could not believe the negativity. It is always amazing to me that people who have nothing to contribute will still go out of their way to put down someone else’s ideas. These skeptical Facebook people don’t have resolutions. They don’t have a plan. But they know with absolute certainty that Boyan’s method won’t work.

In response, I wrote the below post. I have to admit, it has been cleaned up quite a bit (no pun intended). Steam was coming out of my ears as I wrote it because the negative comments were so out of place in the middle of such a brave and positive plan to resolve a world-wide problem.

Ask anyone how to solve the plastic problem and their answer is going to be, “avoid using plastic whenever you can.” But that is only one part of the problem.

We tend to feel like taking our reusable bags to the grocery store instead of bringing home a dozen plastic bags is enough. Refilling our stainless-steel water bottles is enough. Not using straws anymore is enough. Boyan Slat went scuba diving and saw more plastic than fish in the ocean and decided – enough.

Boyan, an amazing young man, was just a kid when he started The Ocean Cleanup, his plan to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. He is to be championed and imitated and most of all, assisted. We should all back him up in whatever way we can because he has the courage and the strength to try to undo the mess we made while we were completely unaware of the damage our convenience-based lifestyle was causing to the environment.

I often advocate for recycling or avoiding single-use plastics when possible. And I am very excited about the new advancements that bio-based material makers are contributing to the plastics industry. However, I am also aware that the plastic problem affecting the environment cannot be fixed by any one institution, government, company, brand, or group of people.

I understand that not using single-use plastic today may have a positive effect tomorrow. But, using a refillable bottle instead of buying a case of individual water bottles will not remove a single piece of the plastic floating in the ocean today.

I am impressed by Boyan’s willingness to go out and make a solution rather than wait for someone else to do it. He didn’t point fingers. He didn’t lobby to get someone else to clean it up. He didn’t need anyone’s permission to come up with an idea. He didn’t wait for someone to show up and tell him what to do. He saw a problem and designed a solution for it. Not just any problem, but one that affects the entire world.

It would be amazing if his system works flawlessly on September 8, when it launches. If it doesn’t, he is not afraid to alter his plan until he gets it right. He’s already been through several prototypes of his clean up system. I think if the System 001 doesn’t work as he intends, he will try again and again until it does. He is an inspiration for people to stop waiting for someone else to do something about the environmental problems that exist today.

His 300k+ followers on The Ocean Cleanup’s Facebook page and I are behind him. I wish him and the entire crew of The Ocean Cleanup good luck next Saturday.

#oceancleanup

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own.
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Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photo-1017596/

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Case Study – Bio-based Materials Help Clean Up Florida Beaches

by NC Fitz | Aug 21, 2018 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

It’s hard to run a beach clean-up program when the majority of your clean-up supplies are plastic.

H2Oceans Beach Clean-Up, or H2OBCU, is a beach cleaning service for the Largo Florida area. H2OBCU has been cleaning up beaches in and around Largo since 1999. Sunny Mitchel, head of the clean-up program, started picking up plastic bottles on the beach when she was 11 years old. On a Sunday trip to the beach, she noticed the amount of plastic accumulating with no recycling bins nearby. So, she organized a group of her friends and their parents to return the following weekend and pick up the garbage. And she’s been doing it ever since.

H2OBCU, now officially a non-profit with 23 members, organizes group clean-ups with high schools, universities, corporate, and private groups. The groups are provided with clean-up gear, gloves, trash bags, and a light lunch by H2OBCU.

The Challenges

The groups from the universities are usually environmental science classes or eco-conscious student groups. They were not too happy to be picking up plastic and putting it into big black non-recyclable plastic bags. Sunny heard one of the students saying that it was good to get the plastic off the beaches, but not in these kinds of bags.

“We were collecting all of this trash from the beach and ocean, but we were taking the trash to the recycling facility in non-recyclable, non-compostable bags. The bags we were using were a huge part of the problem that we were trying to clean-up.”

Sunny Mitchel

Founder, H2OBCU

Even the lunches H2OBCU offered were causing some fallout. They used plastic cutlery, which they had to throw away and could not recycle.

Recycling Issues

H2OBCU was also feeling the stress of their trash bags at the recycling facility. After they spent a day collecting, separating, and rinsing off the recyclables, they had a two to three-hour drive to the nearest recycling facility. When they arrived, they were told they could not bring in the loads because of the bags they were using. So, they had to move all of the bags out of their pick-up truck, empty them into the truck bed and drive the truck into the dumping area.

Sometimes, they had to do this several times a trip. Then it was another two to three-hour drive back to headquarters, where they had to then clean out the truck bed. This process was taking up considerable time for Sunny and her crew.

To add to that, people who lived near the H2OBCU headquarters started dropping off recyclables that they had collected for Sunny to take care of because they didn’t know where else to take them. Eventually, Sunny had to borrow trucks to get everything to the recycling facility. It was costing a lot in time and gas for the trucks.

“We could never do two-day clean-ups back to back. That would cost us too much to get it all properly recycled,” said Mark Fowler, Sunny’s assistant.

H2OBCU was not able to expand their clean-ups along the west coast of Florida.

One day Mark attended a birthday party with his six year old son and was introduced to a new product. The family had compostable cutlery, plates, and cups for the event. When Mark researched, he found a few brands of compostable products that they could use at H2OBCU.

Composting Issues

They had one of the university groups help them set up a compost station at headquarters. But none of the compostable cutlery they used was composting at all. After digging a little further Mark discovered that all of the brands he chose needed industrial level composting at the correct temperature. That was something he couldn’t achieve with his “home-based” compost.

The Solution

Then Mark found Natrl-Based Biotech cutlery in another online search. He was reluctant to try another compostable product. But it guaranteed that it was “home compostable.” That was something he had not seen before. Mark admitted, “With all of our attempts at composting the cutlery, we weren’t sure if it was the products or us. It turns out, it was a little bit of both.”

Natrl-Based Biotech Composting Assistance

Natrl-Based’s website has tips on how to get the best results in your home-based compost. It walks you through what needs to be added to the compost to help break down the materials faster. There is a certain temperature that needs to be maintained, but it’s nowhere near industrial compost temperature specifications. After following the website instructions, H2OBCU had true compost in a few months. Since H2OBCU first started using the products, Natrl-Based has added the composting instructions to their packaging so their customers would know exactly what to do from the moment of purchase.

Along with compostable liners, Natrl-Based has a division that recycles plastics. They supplied H2OBCU with a line of heavy duty trash liners that are made from recycled water bottle materials. So, the bags are also able to be recycled.

The Results

The Natrl-Based cutlery works really well for the beach clean-up lunches. And the bags are easily accepted at the recycling facility. This allows H2OBCU to cut back on unloading time at the facility and have more time to arrange additional clean-ups. The groups are also happy that everything they are being provided with is either recyclable or made from biobased materials and is compostable. The comments and references on social media by the organizations that work with them have increased their group requests by 35%. H2OBCU is now known as environmentally conscious for more than its beach clean-ups. And that has increased their donations by 45%. More and more companies want to join in to help clean-up local and far away beaches.

“Thanks to our partnership with Natrl-Based Biotech, we have more volunteers and we’re now able to expand the clean-up area further down the west coast.”