We usually think of education as adding knowledge. Children go to school to learn new words. University students attend classes to add new skills. Policymakers meet experts to get more data. Learning often feels like building a wall—brick by brick—with knowledge.
But today, on the International Day of Education, let’s look at it differently. To create a truly sustainable future, adding more information is not enough. We also need to unlearn old habits and false ideas—especially about plastic.
Moving Beyond a Linear Way of Thinking
For decades, our society has followed a simple model: take materials, make products, use them, and throw them away. This linear way of thinking starts early—every time we unwrap a chocolate bar, we’re part of it.
The problem is that this model doesn’t fit a world with limited resources. Every year, humanity produces around 400 million tonnes of plastic, and less than 10% is recycled. The rest stays in landfills, gets burned, or pollutes nature—sometimes breaking down into microplastics that enter our food and water.
To move forward, we must unlearn the idea that “away” exists. When we throw something in the bin, it doesn’t disappear—it goes somewhere else on this planet. If we understand this, we can change the system: make products last longer, design them better, and use resources more wisely.
So the first lesson to unlearn is this: plastic is not cheap waste—it is a valuable material. It took energy, technology, and resources to create. Once we see its real value, our behavior begins to change.
From Consumers to Custodians: Building Plastic Literacy
Everyone can help by developing a basic understanding—what we can call plastic literacy. You don’t need to be an expert; it’s about knowing how to handle materials properly in daily life.
Here are a few key points:
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Not all plastics are the same. Bottles, bags, and food containers are made of different materials that cannot always be recycled together.
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The recycling symbol is not a promise. The small triangle with a number only tells the type of plastic, not whether your local system can actually recycle it.
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“Bio-based” doesn’t always mean biodegradable. A plastic made from plants can still behave like traditional plastic, while some petroleum-based plastics can be compostable in special conditions.
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Reuse is the best option. Choosing reusable containers and refillable products reduces waste much more than recycling alone.
When we understand these basics, we stop seeing ourselves only as consumers who use and throw away. Instead, we can become custodians – people who take care of materials and return them to the system properly.
Closing the Green Skills Gap
Technology is already helping us deal with plastics in smarter ways. Some enzymes can break down PET bottles into their basic parts. Artificial intelligence can now recognize and sort plastics more accurately. Chemical recycling methods can turn old plastic back into new again.
But machines alone cannot fix the problem – we need skilled people to run them. Right now, there is a “Green Skills Gap”: a lack of trained workers for the circular economy.
The recycler of the future will need to understand biology, data science, and logistics. The designer will need to think about how materials can be separated and reused. The circular economy needs both technical and creative minds.
Learning by Doing: The MoeBIOS Example
In Europe, the MoeBIOS project, supported by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU), shows what this new learning can look like. MoeBIOS brings together more than 50 partners—universities, companies, and industries—to find better ways to recycle new plastics like PLA and PEF.
It acts as a living classroom. Industry experts who have worked with traditional plastics learn about new bio-based materials. Scientists see what really happens in factories. By working together, they combine theory and practice and help create real circular value chains.
Education as a Renewable Resource
The circular bioeconomy is not a final goal—it is a long journey. It challenges us to stay curious and open-minded. When we look at a piece of plastic waste, we should not see garbage—we should see a resource waiting to be used again.
The most powerful recycling tool we have is not a machine or a chemical process. It is a mind willing to change.
On this International Day of Education, let’s choose to unlearn what no longer serves us. When we understand plastic’s real value, we take the first step toward a cleaner, fairer, and truly circular future.
Learn more
To follow MoeBIOS’s journey toward sustainable bioplastics recycling:
- Visit our project website
- Follow us on LinkedIn