What makes Relic products unique?
Plastic sources
Pre- and post-consumer plastics saved from the landfill or incineration
We do our best to source local plastic that would otherwise be sent to landfill or incineration. We also partner with companies who are looking for a more traceable recycling system that we offer - who else could tell you your pot might be made from left behind coathangers from students, broken tupperware lids and some offcuts of material used to create faceshields!
Resin ID codes
You may know it as the recycling number
Each plastic type has a number so recyclers and manufacturers know what the chemical composition is. Not all products and packaging are required to have it, and not all waste management programmes take every type - one of the many reasons commercial recycling systems struggle!
We feel it should be required of all plastic items produced, so all Relic products are marked with a Resin ID Code.
Plastic we use
We don’t mix our plastics
The main reason is that if our plastics are mixed our products can’t be recycled at the end of their lifecycle. Entirely defeating the purpose of a cradle-to-cradle system.
We mainly use Polypropylene (PP) - resin code 5, a fairly hard plastic with a high melting point, doesn’t break down easily, resistant to stress and cracking, and durable.
PP is also the least valued of the 3 common plastics found in your home which is another reason we prioritise the material to be turned into new products and save it from a worse fate.
A lot of our plastic comes from broken or mis-matched tupperware, hangers, Correx plastic sign board, plastic bottle tops, faceshield offcuts, and commercially recycled plastic shreds.
Colour mixing / colour matching
Each item is hand mixed using a variety of colours to make our intriguing colour blends.
Colour availability
Because our products are made from recycled plastic that we source through a variety of methods, we cannot guarantee that we will always be able to reproduce specific colourways. We consider all our colours “limited run” - we just don’t know when that run will end!
Colour matching
Due to the nature of the plastic injecting process and the nature of recycled plastic sourcing, please note that your product might not exactly match the item you see on screen. We do our best to keep colourways as similar as possible and discontinue them when we’ve run out and can’t recreate with new sources. Please be aware we also cannot offer to reproduce specific swirls you see in products - that is entirely out of anyone’s hands!
What does it mean?
Cradle-to-cradle
The design and production of products in such a way that at the end of their life, they can be truly recycled (upcycled), imitating nature's cycle with everything either recycled or returned to the earth.
Closed loop
Closed-loop production processes are those that reuse material waste created during the production process for additional products, as well as use the recycled products to create new items.
Single-use plastic
Goods that are meant to be disposed of right after use—often, in mere minutes. Single-use plastics are most commonly used for packaging and serviceware, such as bottles, wrappers, straws, and bags. Our products are meant to remove single use plastic items from the waste stream.
Pre-consumer waste
Discarded before it was ready for consumer use such as manufacturing scrap, trimmings/offcuts, defective products, trial products, etc.
Post-consumer waste
Finished products that have served their purpose and would otherwise end up in a landfill or be incinerated.