{"id":2213,"date":"2025-10-02T09:30:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T09:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/?p=2213"},"modified":"2025-10-06T10:54:48","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T10:54:48","slug":"plasticfree-makes-database-of-hundreds-of-plastic-alternatives-forever-free-to-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/02\/plasticfree-makes-database-of-hundreds-of-plastic-alternatives-forever-free-to-all\/","title":{"rendered":"PlasticFree makes database of hundreds of plastic alternatives &#8220;forever free to all&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-bottom: 15px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"852\" height=\"852\" src=\"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sq-plastic-free-open-source-news_dezeen_2364_col_0-852x852-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-homepage_article_featured size-homepage_article_featured\" alt=\"PlasticFree paywall removal graphic\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Environmental organisation\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/a-plastic-planet\/\">A Plastic Planet<\/a> has removed the paywall around its PlasticFree database, giving designers and brands unfettered access to its directory of expert-verified <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/plastic\/\">plastic<\/a> substitutes.<span id=\"more-2253480\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/plasticfree.com\/\">PlasticFree<\/a>, which originally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/2023\/01\/13\/plasticfree-materials-database-a-plastic-planet\/\">launched in 2023 with a subscription model<\/a>, hosts hundreds of in-depth reports on plastic-free materials alongside case studies on how they can be used to make products more sustainable.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2253509\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2253509\" style=\"width: 2364px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2253509 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/plastic-free-open-source-news_dezeen_2364_col_0.jpg\" alt=\"PlasticFree paywall removal graphic\" width=\"2364\" height=\"1982\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2253509\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PlasticFree is taking down its paywall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By making this database free for anyone to use, <a href=\"https:\/\/aplasticplanet.com\/\">A Plastic Planet<\/a> founder Sian Sutherland hopes to combat the rampant misinformation about plastic alternatives online, which she says has been exacerbated by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s because AI chatbots scrape up unsubstantiated claims about &#8220;sustainable&#8221; or &#8220;eco-friendly&#8221; materials from the internet and regurgitate them as facts.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1884278\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1884278\" style=\"width: 2364px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1884278 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/plasticfree-design-platform-launch_dezeen_2364_col_0.jpg\" alt=\"Social posts about different plastic alternatives by A Plastic Planet\" width=\"2364\" height=\"1330\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1884278\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Its directory of plastic-free materials is now freely accessible to all<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;We recognised that if we wanted AI to become a force for genuine sustainability rather than amplifying misinformation, we needed to flood the system with trusted, human-verified data,&#8221; Sutherland told Dezeen.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;By opening our database, we&#8217;re actively training the AI systems that will shape material choices for the next generation,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s about ensuring that when someone asks AI &#8216;What&#8217;s a better alternative to plastic?&#8217; the answer they get is rooted in science, not spin.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related-in-article-wrapper\" id=\"recommended-item-single-story\">\n<article class=\"related-in-article\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/2025\/08\/27\/plastic-smith-mordak-opinion\/\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- Can this image be in the exclude lightbox list? --><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"191\" height=\"191\" src=\"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ocean-plastic-bottle-ocean-sq_dezeen_2364_col_0-191x191-1.jpg\" class=\"excludeLightbox wp-post-image\" alt=\"Plastic bottle floating in the sea\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-in-article-text\">\n<h1>Read:<\/h1>\n<h2>&quot;We need plastic to keep our economic order going&quot;<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Making the PlasticFree &#8220;forever free for all&#8221; will also open it up to a wider range of human users looking for an alternative to plastics, Sutherland hopes.<\/p>\n<p>This is now more important than ever, after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/2025\/08\/27\/plastic-smith-mordak-opinion\/\">UN negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty collapsed in August<\/a> because countries could not agree on binding targets to curb production.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, the platform is receiving around 250,000 visits a month from 37 different countries.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our plan is to take this to the millions without the paywall,&#8221; Sutherland said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2253511\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2253511\" style=\"width: 2364px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-2253511 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/plastic-free-open-source-news_dezeen_2364_col_2.jpg\" alt=\"PlasticFree paywall removal graphic\" width=\"2364\" height=\"1982\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2253511\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The platform also includes case studies for how these materials can be used<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>PlasticFree launched in 2023 with a database of more than 100 materials, each carefully vetted by an &#8220;army&#8221; of scientific advisors.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The building of PlasticFree was a two-year endeavour, painstakingly researching and questioning every material to ensure our high bar of &#8216;PlasticFree-ness&#8217; was fully met,&#8221; Sutherland explained.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, the materials library has continued to grow and supported the launch of product innovations, including the <a href=\"https:\/\/packagingeurope.com\/news\/shellworks-unveils-worlds-first-fully-compostable-cosmetics-pipette-dropper\/12976.article\">&#8220;world-first fully compostable beauty pipette&#8221; by London company Shellworks<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/incredibusy.com\/purified-plastic-free-shoes\/\">Purified&#8217;s plastic-free trainers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/2025\/10\/02\/plasticfree-free-access-news\/\">PlasticFree makes database of hundreds of plastic alternatives &quot;forever free to all&quot;<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\">Dezeen<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Environmental organisation\u00a0A Plastic Planet has removed the paywall around its PlasticFree database, giving designers and brands unfettered access to its directory of expert-verified plastic substitutes. PlasticFree, which originally launched in 2023 with a subscription model, hosts hundreds of in-depth reports on plastic-free materials alongside case studies on how they can be used to make products [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2213"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2221,"href":"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213\/revisions\/2221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laurenhwhite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}