The letter “C” and its meaning – from a chemical perspective.
C is for "carbon." Everything that lives on Earth consists in some proportion of carbon and other elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, or nitrogen. CO2 is one of the most well-known compounds, often used in the debate about climate protection and global warming. We are referring to the combination of carbon and oxygen.
Trees and other plants can filter this combination. They store the carbon (C) and release the oxygen (O2). Carbon is food for plants. When plants die, carbon is released and recombines with oxygen (CO2). Newly growing plants then absorb the carbon (C) from the environment. These are referred to as renewable cycles because this process occurs within an average human lifetime.
However, there are also carbon conversion processes that usually take several million years. The conversion of seaweed to petroleum, for example, is considered non-renewable (fossil). Fossil means that something has to be transported from the depths to the Earth's surface.
The problem with plastic
In 2020, approximately 92 million barrels of crude oil were consumed per day. One barrel is approximately 159 liters—a tremendous amount. This trend is still rising. Naturally, a significant portion of this is used to produce plastic. As functional as this material may be, plastic not only contributes to increased CO2 emissions but also ends up in the oceans and nature as plastic waste. We have already produced far more of these materials than we can recycle.
Ideally
This information is equally essential in the clothing and sportswear sector to understand that we must also think away from fossil materials here. In a best-case scenario, these materials should be biodegradable at the end of their lifespan to prevent even more plastic waste from ending up in the oceans and our natural environment. Recycling is a start, but zero-waste should be the goal. We already require enough resources and energy to produce clothing, so it shouldn't end up as waste in nature.
Sources:
Petruch, M. & Walcher, D. (2022). "The stuff of the future: 101 products made from renewable carbon." FBV-Verlag: Munich.