450 YRS

Yes! These are, hands down, the most eco-friendly stickers on the market.

The stickers are made with 100% post-consumer waste materials, do not contain any plastic, and are compostable.

Stickers use Recycle Compatible Adhesive (RCA) which does not contain any plastic and is biodegradable.

The liner (sticker backing) is made with 100% post-consumer waste, does not contain any plastic, and is recyclable (put with paper).

The easiest, and recommended way of using 450YRS stickers, is to put them on single-use plastic items that you already own or have purchased. Then take pics, post to social media, and tag the corporation: Hey @corporation–we need better options! #450yrs.

Keep in mind that as a general rule, you do not have the right to put stickers on objects that do not belong to you and you could face consequences if you do.

Check out the project on Instagram or Facebook to see how others are participating in the project.

Yes, most plastic will last at least 450 years. The chemical bonds in plastic simply cannot be digested by organisms in nature so plastic will never biodegrade. It’d be like asking you to rip steel apart with your bare hands–it’s not gonna happen.

All plastic will eventually wind up in one of four places: landfill, incinerator, a recycling facility, or the ocean. Let’s explore each destination to see what percentage of plastic winds up there, as well as how long a typical plastic bottle would last in each destination.

75% chance plastic winds up in landfill
It is currently unknown how long it will take for plastic to disintegrate in landfill because landfills are designed to isolate their contents from external stimuli such as sunlight, wind, and rain. It is likely that under these conditions, plastic will take several centuries, and perhaps more than 1,000 years, to fully disintegrate into millions of microplastics. Given that timescale, the most likely fate of plastics in landfill is that they will eventually end up leeching their chemicals into the ground and water beneath them.

12% chance plastic is incinerated
Incinerators for plastics are not very common because they are typically extremely expensive to build and maintain. In addition, the proper disposal of the resulting toxic ash is costly and difficult .

9% chance plastic ends up in a recycling facility
Even in this best-case scenario, it turns out that approximately 90% of the time, consumer plastic is mixed with too many additives, is inseparable from its labeling, or is just too dirty to be recycled into food-safe plastic again. Instead will most likely be “downcycled,” meaning it will be made into a cheaper, lower quality plastic item like a plastic bag, which will wind up in landfill the next time around.

Turns out there’s only a 0.18% chance our bottle will become another plastic bottle.* Yay?

4% chance plastic will wind up in the ocean
In this case, UV rays will cause the plastic to slowly disintegrate into smaller and smaller pieces over time, eventually becoming microplastics. Under these circumstances, it is commonly thought that it will take around 450 years for a typical plastic bottle to fully disintegrate into millions of pieces of microplastic.

As you can see, arriving at one number for how long single-use plastic items will last is challenging. However, taking all these factors into account I believe it is fair and reasonably accurate to say that most single-use plastic will last for at least 450 years. See the information sources section for more detailed information.

Approximately 75% goes back into this project in the form of:

• social media staff and advertising
• creating more stickers
• warehousing and distribution
• design services and production

Approximately 20% goes towards making sure Eric Corriel Studios, the independent, multidisciplinary art studio running this project, stays afloat:

• rent
• utilities
• materials
• equipment
• staff
• R&D for future projects

In an effort to systematically reduce replace plastic packaging, approximately 5% of proceeds will be donated to Beyond Plastics, whose mission it is to end plastic pollution by using deep policy and advocacy expertise to achieve the institutional, economic, and societal change.

Yes! Checkout the instructions here.