The Puzzled Artist are helping keep our Oceans plastic free!
We are excited to announce that we’ve partnered with CleanHub - an organisation on a mission to free our planet from plastic pollution.
We have the pleasure of living on the Cornish Coast, as a result we are passionate about supporting clean oceans and protecting all sealife from plastic pollution.
Therefore from now on, in partnership with Clean Hub, we'll collect plastic waste from the environment, preventing it from reaching our oceans. We will be collecting 1lb (0.45kg) minimum per every order. The entire process is tracked through CleanHub’s own Track & Trace technology, ensuring certified impact.
Ensuring that we don't contribute to this pollution is always at the forefront of our minds when manufacturing our jigsaw puzzles. We do not use single use plastics with our jigsaw puzzles, our boxes are not covered in plastic and the interior bag our puzzle first comes in is recyclable.
But not all plastics are recyclable, CleanHub specifically target non-recyclable plastics, which would be otherwise left in landfill, dumped in our seas or, burnt. Instead they are redirected to industrial plants that responsibly convert them into energy, reducing the carbon footprint of their industrial processes by up to 25% - amazing! 🤩
FAQs
Who is CleanHub?
CleanHub is a Berlin-based company using technology to keep plastic out of the sea by implementing waste recovery where there is none. Their solution enables proactive brands to fund and advance plastic recovery in coastal communities across Asia and Africa with the greatest risk of plastic entering the ocean. Collection efforts are fully transparent and openly impactful. Its TÜV SÜD ISO-verified AI technology is used to track and trace collection. Unlike alternative approaches that are focused on recovering plastic once it is already in nature, CleanHub is stopping it from getting there in the first place.
Where do CleanHub recover the plastic?
CleanHub operate primarily in South East Asia which is the gateway for more than 80% of all plastic that enters our oceans. With your investment, we can reduce and eventually stop the mismanagement of plastic waste in these regions to save our Oceans and the planet.
Who are CleanHub's Collection Partners?
CleanHub are building a global network of local Collection Hubs in high-impact locations to facilitate the collection and safe processing of non-recyclable plastic. All the partners use the CleanHub track and trace platform to ensure a full audit trail. CleanHub also make sure that the workers in these locations have fair pay and working conditions through accredited social impact auditors.
Their code of conduct is drawn from:
FLA(Fair Labor Association, USA),
ETI (Ethical Trading Initiative) UK and
SA8000 (Social Accountability Intl USA-Europe).
What do CleanHub recover (recyclable vs. non-recyclable)?
Your investment gives value to non-recyclable plastic so that it is recovered and processed.
80% of the plastic waste that ends up in the oceans is so-called flexible packaging or multilayer packaging, like chip packets, sauce sachets, etc. This material is either impossible to recycle or there is no demand from the market for the products (unlike water bottles which are commonly collected as they can be recycled, and so have ‘value’). Plastic that can’t be recycled is openly burned in small backyard fires or in landfills, or it is carried away into nature by the monsoon or strong winds. While we do collect all plastics, we focus on non-recyclable plastic to maximize our impact.
CleanHub aim to implement zero waste systems in the communities where they are active. That means that wet waste is collected separately from dry waste. That is important because mixing organic waste with dry waste like paper, cardboard, and plastic can reduce the recyclability of dry waste. Within the dry waste, every item needs to have value, else from a system theory perspective no one would collect it. It's a bit like having gold nuggets buried in a pile of dust. Gold diggers will only hold on to the gold and leave the dust behind. We make sure that the dust is collected as well.
What is safe processing?
Recyclable goods are already sold for local recycling. Non-recyclables are sent for co-processing. This is where the investment from CleanHub goes. Previously this was not financially viable, but with CleanHub and our partner brands investing it now has a value and so is collected and processed.
Co-processing refers to the simultaneous recycling of mineral materials and recovery of energy in the process of cement manufacturing and achieves superior environmental performance as compared to landfill and incineration. For co-processing recovery, we partner with Geocycle.
We know this is not yet a perfect solution but it prevents plastic from entering the Ocean and decreases the Co2 of an existing process <GET A Reference number>. We are looking for even better ways to co-process all the time.
To learn more, read CleanHub's blog What happens to the waste collected?
Visit CleanHub's website
