Adidas reaffirms commitment to end plastic waste

Source: Unsplash

True to the brand’s Impossible is Nothing mindset, Adidas has set challenging sustainability targets. Currently, more than 90% of the polyester used is recycled polyester, and by 2024, adidas will only use recycled polyester where possible.

By 2025, the company aims to have 90% of its product be sustainable and to achieve climate neutrality across its entire value chain by 2050. This is also the year when it’s expected that our oceans will contain more plastic than fish if we don’t act now to end plastic waste.

The Adidas solution is through sustainable innovation - an “innovation is deeply rooted in the company culture”. The company’s sustainable innovations revolve around three loops - Recycled Loop (products made in part with recycled materials such as Parley Ocean Plastic), Circular Loop (products made to be worn, returned, ground up, and remade into new products) and Regenerative Loop (products made in part with natural and renewable materials).

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Product innovations to end plastic trash

In 2015, Adidas presented the first Adidas x Parley running shoe at the United Nations headquarters in New York, made with recycled plastic waste intercepted from beaches and coastal communities. By the end of 2021, Adidas had produced close to 50 million pairs of shoes containing Parley Ocean Plastic.

Each sneaker in this collection has been made with a yarn which contains at least 50% Parley Ocean Plastic. The other 50% of the yarn is recycled polyester. According to Adidas, this is just one of the innovations that represent its commitment to help end plastic waste.

“At a global level, adidas is committed to ending plastic waste, and this is something we actively drive in South Africa across our consumer activations, partner agreements, store environment, and at our head office. If we take action individually, together, we will make an impact,” senior brand director at Adidas SA, Kate Woods, commented.

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Call for consumers to join in on the campaign

In addition to product innovations aimed at tackling plastic waste, Adidas is calling on consumers to join the brand and its global community of athletes and creators to end plastic waste through activations such as Run for the Oceans - an international movement to help end plastic waste.

In 2021, over 5 million people around the world ran over 56 million kilometers, which saw over 230,000 kilograms of plastic waste being collected from beaches and coastal communities. This year, for every 10 minutes of running, adidas and Parley will clean up the equivalent weight of one plastic bottle from our beaches and islands, up to 250,000 kilograms.