We think it’s weird to make products for kids without truly caring for their future. As a commersial producer, it’s our responsibility to make sure we produce with as low an environmental footprint as possible. We are determined for KAOS to make a difference in our industry.
Imagine the massive volume of babygear being produced every year. And just think of all the baby gear you know about, that are made from virgin plastic. Our industry is one of the worst contributors of virgin plastic to our planet. This simply has to change.
We want to put a stop to the supply of new resources such as oil-based plastics. There is too much plastic flooding around and action is needed. As we started to dig into the plastic economy in the world, we learned that marine waste and ghost fishing are some of the biggest problems. Ghost fishing happens when fishing nets are discarded or lost in the ocean. Lost nets float around and trap more marine life, the nets sink and allow scavengers to feast on their kill. Empty ghost nets resurface and continue catching new prey. It’s awful.
Pre-Consumer waste is residual material and waste from the production of food contact items. Food contact items are, for example, food packaging. Due to regulations, manufacturers of food contact items are not allowed to use waste from their own production and reuse it in their own production. But we can! Therefore, we utilize existing raw materials (aka waste), rather than adding more new, fossil plastic to the world.
While researching further on how we could contribute to reduce ocean waste, we came across AION by Aker BioMarine. AION works to establish a global, circular plastic economy, where all materials are traceable and recyclable. AIONxKAOS were perfect for each other, and Klapp accessories are the first offspring of our collaboration.
The green KAOS Klapp accessories are developed from 50% recycled fishing nets that has been collected from the oceans, from post-industrial waste. Prevented from becoming Ghost Fishnets. For that reason the products are green. Each piece is unique and comes with a story from the sea. The remaining 50% is virgin PP (plastic), we simply need to mix with virgin PP to reach the desired strength and stiffness that such products need to obtain, in order to comply to formal standards. All KAOS products have been certified according to the formal European standards.
Plastic waste is one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges. And the children’s equipment category is a huge contributor to fossil plastic use. KAOS is the first in the world to work with recycled, post-industrial plastic waste and offers a deposit on selected children’s products that would otherwise end up in the bin.
Read all about our pawnsome process here.