Unpopular opinion: Recycling alone is not enough.
Recycling is important, but it's not enough.
Many materials lose quality with each recycling cycle, consume a lot of energy, and are hardly fully recyclable.
At SUPASO, we think ahead: we use recycled paper as a basis and develop packaging that is reusable, recyclable, and produced regionally.
True sustainability doesn't begin after consumption, but at the design stage.
For decades, recycling has been considered the answer to our waste problem.
But the truth is: we don't recycle, we delay waste.
The reality:
Materials lose quality with each cycle (downcycling).
Recycling processes are energy-intensive and often release harmful chemicals.
Incorrect separation and contamination make many materials, especially plastics, difficult to recycle effectively.
What's more, the focus on recycling distracts from what really matters: avoiding waste and keeping materials in circulation.
Problems include the reduction in material quality (downcycling), the high energy consumption of the processes, the release of harmful chemicals, contamination due to incorrect separation, and the fact that certain materials, especially plastics, are hardly recyclable due to their complex composition.
Critics also complain that the focus on recycling distracts from the actual reduction of waste and the switch to reusable systems.
This is exactly where SUPASO comes in:
We use recycled waste paper as our raw material but we design our packaging so that it remains part of a closed system from the outset:
✅ 100% recycled & recyclable
✅ Reusable
✅ Produced regionally
Because true sustainability doesn't begin after use, but right from the design stage.
👉 Our goal: materials that don't become waste in the first place.