A recent Fast Company article has taken an in-depth look at some emerging startups and how climate change is spurring product innovation to eliminate plastic.

The report details how a new wave of startups have popped up to reduce the amount of single-use plastic in our daily lives. Prompted by the anxieties about the environmental crisis, many companies are developing sustainable alternatives to the everyday, single-use plastic products we have come to depend on.

However, though the business case for this new genre of startups is obvious, these companies are still in their infancy, and to succeed, they’ll have to go up against household brand names that have been around for decades, the report notes.

Fast Company has more details:

I’ll admit it’s taken me a while to come to terms with how dire the environmental crisis is. I assumed my everyday eco-friendly behaviors–like recycling and bringing reusable bags to the grocery store–were helping to stave off plastic pollution and carbon pollution.

But the numbers are in, and it’s clear that an apocalyptic disaster is hurtling toward us much faster than we previously anticipated. Most experts believe we’ll be living in a state of crisis by 2040, with food shortages and frequent natural disasters part of everyday life. U.S. carbon emissions surged by 3.4% in 2018, the largest increase in eight years, further accelerating the pace of climate change. Meanwhile, billions of plastic pieces are filling the oceans every year, killing off sea life and ending up in the food chain, causing liver damage to both animals and people.

Read the full article here.