Bionic Yarn - Pharrell Goes Plastic

"I want to balance my own personal footprint. My life is not perfect... I wanted to be part of a movement that preached to people and changed the world", Williams says about his ambitions to create a movement dedicated to sustainability.

Plastic pollution is the latest buzzword in show business. In order to put an end to the endless consumption of plastic, and the resulting waste that mounts to millions of tons per year, Pharrell Williams has joined forces with the event conference "Parley- For the Oceans". This years conference is held in Berlin as part of the high-profile Fashion Week, and brings together artist and activists to engage in so-called collaboration sessions aiming to inform, converse, and raise awareness.

Where's the connection between plastic pollution and fashion, you might ask. Did you know that old, recycled plastic bottles can be turned into perfectly new and highly fashionable garments? As part of his newly found role as an environmental activist, hit-maker Pharrell has become brand ambassador of Bionic Yarn, a company that develops and manufactures premium yarns and fabrics made with fibres from recycled plastic bottles.

"Our company operates from New York, where you kick plastic down the street. But that's money! When you melt down a plastic bottle you have the same polymer as in polyester", explains Bionic Yarn founder and CEO Tyson Toussant.

Even as an oblivious non-environmentalist it's pretty obvious: plastic is EVERYWHERE. Bottles, food packaging, and particularly plastic bags, which only have a 'use span' of about 50 minutes. In a world full of plastic, the complete eradication of plastic products seems somewhat unrealistic at this stage. Instead, both Parley and Bionic Yarn aim for a more conscious and sensible usage and re-usage of plastics, because the solution to reducing overall consumption is as simple as recycling. Ideally, this would one day confine non-reusable plastic waste to history - no need for disposal, only recycling.

For Pharrell Williams the process starts with the individual.
"We can't expect any help from politicians, no help from corporations, that just leaves humanity. We need to make this a tradition. Just like we teach our kids about looking after themselves, we should teach them to look after the planet".

One thing is for certain: our current, excessive, and careless consumption of plastic products is not only harmful to us, but, more importantly, detrimental to the well-being of our planet, which, in the words of Williams, is the only one we've got.