Scotch whisky Littlemill Testament has been launched in new bespoke decanters from Glencairn Crystal Studio.
Littlemill is Scotland’s oldest licensed distillery and its new expression comes in a handblown crystal decanter.
According to Glencairn, the decanters have been facet cut at the base by skilled Glencairn craftspeople, mirroring the style of glass cutting during the Georgian period. A handmade collar was designed and produced to fit around the neck of the decanter.
Each decanter is housed in a bespoke handcrafted cabinet and the team at Glencairn worked closely with the cabinet manufacturer to develop the metal elements required to match the metalware on the decanter. Each cabinet comes complete with a dress stopper made from the sandstone taken from the remains of the Littlemill distillery. Crystal pegs had to be cut by hand and were then hand fitted into the decorative stoppers.
Only 250 decanters have been made and the limited edition Littlemill Testament retails at £8,000.
Futamura has supplied German confectionery brand Cool with NatureFlex compostable cellulose films to package its confectionery product Ocoologisch Herz Lolli (lollies).
According to Futamura, its NatureFlex and Cellophane products have good technical performance for confectionery, with barrier, optical clarity and deadfold, a benefit for traditional twist wrap applications.
The films can also be printed and laminated just like conventional plastic films.
The individual lollies are wrapped in single-ply NatureFlex and the outer bag is a NatureFlex / biofilm laminate.
André Richter from Cool, said: “We were looking for an ‘environmentally friendly’ variant of this type of packaging and found a suitable price-performance ratio at NatureFlex. Good quality, stability and hold are important.
“We have found the machine performance to be good and in no way inferior to other conventional films. We regularly receive good feedback from consumers who feel it is very positive that we care about the environment, often asking if there are other products using these bio films.”
Olga Kachook, senior manager at the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, asks if the FMCG value chain’s fixation on shelf life hinders the ability of packaging to prevent food waste.
Do you think of packaging as a tool for fighting climate change? It can be. Preventing food waste is a top solution to climate change, and making changes to packaging is the seventh most effective way to reduce the climate emissions from food waste. Research shows changes to packaging design could help prevent 650,000 tons of food waste a year.
While the potential for preventing food waste – and its associated emissions – with packaging is impressive, the devil is in the details. It’s true that packaging can help prevent food waste by extending shelf life, but it’s not a guaranteed fix. Rather, it depends on how the packaging is designed and used in practice.
First, let’s consider the disconnect between manufacturers and consumers. Brands and retailers may consider extended shelf life for products as a significant achievement for food waste prevention. Yet, consumer research seems to indicate these benefits aren’t realized by consumers. In a survey of 1,117 Austrian consumers, only about one-third noticed the shelf life-extending function of packaging, while nearly two-thirds of consumers did not agree that packaging helps to avoid food waste.
It’s worth noting that packaging in retail settings serves just as much to efficiently and easily distribute, stock, and price food as it does to extend shelf life or protect the product. For both companies and consumers, packaging is often equally about convenience as it is about food waste prevention.
Today, food manufacturers typically seek to make a product with the maximum possible shelf life, since this gives a company more time to transport and sell the product at retail. The trade-off is that a longer shelf life can be concerning to consumers, who are increasingly not interested in foods that appear to be highly processed.
From a packaging standpoint, a longer shelf life may also require more material or more complex packaging, which may not be recyclable. For example, do pastries, which are often individually packaged in unrecyclable plastic film, need to have a retail shelf life of several weeks? Certain products, such as baked goods, are typically purchased by consumers for specific occasions on or near the day of purchase. With this in mind, we might design packaging that meets “real world” shelf life needs and does not limit recyclability.Expand
Consider how other solutions beyond shelf life extension might prevent food waste. For example, some foods like dried pasta are well-suited to being sold loose and unpackaged. Typically, pasta’s packaging accounts for 60% of dried pasta’s total carbon footprint. What if consumers were able to purchase only what they need from bulk stations and reduce excessive purchasing? Combined with the elimination of single-use primary packaging, the reduced product waste could lower the overall carbon footprint of dried pasta.
If these solutions can prevent food waste, what stops more consumers from buying unpackaged food, and more retailers from offering products loose? For consumers, it likely comes down to the inconvenience of using bulk stations or concerns about the perceived freshness of food that has been “out” in bulk bins. For retailers, there are issues of cleanliness, staffing, and checkout procedures that need to be addressed. These barriers are masking real opportunities to reduce both food waste and packaging waste.
Nestle is one example of a company that has questioned its shelf life needs. It has suggested that its packaging for shelf-stable products “may in many cases be overspecified, and that a more sustainable use of materials could go hand-in-hand with reduced shelf life.” They note that their shelf-stable foods typically have a shelf life of 18 months or two years, even though consumers may not need it to last for such a long time.
Ultimately, it’s not enough to assume that extended shelf life automatically prevents food waste. As the recent STOP Waste SAVE Food project concluded, “until concrete evidence of waste reduction is provided, the effect of an extended shelf life can only be considered as a potential solution for waste avoidance. In practice, counterproductive effects can also occur which cancel out the targeted waste reduction or even reverse it. For example, prolonged shelf life can lead to too many products being offered or purchased at the same time.”
What can manufacturers and brands do about this? It’s time to explore the link between packaging and food waste in more detail. Shelf life extension is one possible strategy for preventing food waste, but there are others – better closures and product evacuation, smaller portion sizes, active and intelligent packaging, and improved resealability to name a few.
Ultimately, brands and manufacturers need to assess the design and performance of each package, particularly how it can help store and deliver food in consumers’ homes. Packaging’s job is to protect food and prevent waste. Sometimes, this might be achieved through shelf life extension. In other cases, design innovations are needed to ensure that the root causes of consumer food waste, like portion sizes that are too big, are addressed. With better design, packaging can be a truly effective tool for fighting food waste and mitigating the climate crisis.
Versalis, Eni’s chemical company, is expanding its Revive portfolio to include a new product for food packaging made with 75% domestic post-consumer polystyrene.
The product, referred to as Versalis Revive PS Air F – Series Forever, is the result of the company’s existing collaboration with Forever Plast S.p.A., and has been developed as part of a collaborative project with various players in the polystyrene industry value chain, including Corepla, ProFood and Unionplast.
This collaboration has given rise to a tray that is suitable for food and is composed of recycled polystyrene developed by the companies that are members of Pro Food. According to the company, the solution is also recyclable.
The tray consists of an inner layer containing Versalis Revive PS Air F – Series Forever and two outer layers made from virgin polystyrene. This structure, known as the A-B-A functional barrier, ensures food contact compliance.
The functional barrier design and stringent testing were developed in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging (IVV), a Germany-based applied research institute that works with industry to develop viable technologies for bringing innovative products to the market.
This new solution is scheduled to be marketed over the next few weeks and is mainly aimed at the meat and fish packaging market.
The Versalis Revive range comprises products made exclusively from mechanical recycling of post-consumer plastics and plastics from the industry supply chain. In addition to Versalis Revive PS, other polymer-based products are available on the market, including expandable polystyrene (Versalis Revive EPS) and polyethylene (Versalis Revive PE).
With the increase in home deliveries of medicines and pharmaceuticals – accelerated by COVID-19 – it is important to implement sustainable packaging early in the supply chain to ensure not just speed and security, but to minimize the environmental impact. Victoria Hattersley spoke with Alex Manisty, Group Head of Strategy at DS Smith, about the implications of this increased demand for the packaging sector.
VH: Clearly the COVID-19 crisis has increased demand for home delivery of healthcare products, but is this merely accelerating a process that was already taking place?
AM: While the move to online is a trend that has been steadily increasing, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a surge in that trend across all sectors, the level of which was not expected for at least a few more years.
Our research has also found that many of the online shopping habits European consumers have adopted during the boom are here to stay. The pharmaceutical industry will need to adapt to these changes in order to further satisfy consumers, but as they do so, it’s vital they don’t lose sight of another key demand from online shoppers – sustainability. Consumer expectations and values are continuing to shift, with people increasingly wanting brands to help them live more sustainably – in fact, DS Smith recently revealed that 71% of Europeans believe long term climate change is as serious a crisis as Covid-19.
VH: Do you think the healthcare sector is prepared to cope with the increased packaging demands of e-commerce when it comes to safety, security and sustainability?
AM: With the rising trend of e-commerce, the industry needs to ensure that healthcare products, including drugs and important medicines, can be transported with no compromise over their security. High performance cardboard packaging is able to effectively protect high-value and sensitive products along complex global supply chains – innovations include tailor-made cardboard trays with inserts that secure products, anti-counterfeit features, and lastly, technology that can monitor each package in real time to bolster security.
VH: What are the most important strategies the industry can use to ensure medical products are packaged safely and at the right temperatures?
AM: The challenge to us and the entire packaging industry is clear – it’s about ensuring the safety of medical products in a way that also satisfies the overwhelming need for sustainability.
For example, some manufacturers use EPS foam insulators keep products at the correct temperature. Unfortunately, this foam is a problem plastic that is very difficult to recycle. In our mission to offer fully recyclable solutions, we recently partnered with TemperPack to introduce ClimaCell®, a sustainable thermal insulation barrier for temperature sensitive goods.
Not only are ClimaCell liners an award-winning thermal insulation barrier with cushioning protective properties, they are made from paper and bio-based materials which can be easily recycled in paper recycling bins by the consumer after use. Switching from EPS foam to ClimaCell® also reduces carbon emissions by 65%, aligning to consumer expectations about concerns for the environment.
It’s innovations such as this, alongside our tailor-made cardboard trays and anti-counterfeit measures, that will ensure the safety and security of medical products need not come at the cost of sustainability.
VH: What are your thoughts on emerging technologies such as NFC to help increase supply chain security, efficiency and improve patient experience?
AM: Any packaging innovation that provides greater security and efficiency for customers, is an innovation that we welcome and our expert design and innovation team is constantly embracing and investigating cutting edge technology so we can develop innovative solutions that help our customers.
In line with this, is our use of ParceLive, an advanced multi-sensory tracker that travels within packaging and continuously records real-time data linked to supply chain conditions, such as temperature, humidity, location, and even if the parcel is dropped, tilted, or opened.
Our packaging solutions are fundamental in helping our customers to safely deliver their products across multiple markets and supply chains, and by knowing exactly what’s happening at every touchpoint along the supply chain, we can help them and their logistics partners deliver results in packaging performance, quality, security and sustainability.
VH: With more and more healthcare products and devices being delivered directly to the patient, what packaging strategies can be used to improve the patient experience and tackle the ongoing challenge of increasing compliance?
AM: The healthcare industry needs to understand that the boom of home delivery means that packaging is now one of the unique ways they can connect with patients and improve their experience.
With this opportunity the industry needs to be ready to explore innovations such as personalised packaging, through bespoke printing capabilities, and also be mindful that consumers continue to demand sustainable packaging solutions. We work with each of our customers to find solutions that work specifically for them.
VH: How can the necessary requirements for safety and security be balanced out with the need to minimize the environmental impact of the supply chain?
AM: There is no compromise when it comes to safety and security, and fortunately, sustainable packaging is a solution that delivers on these aspects and reduces the impact on the environment too. It is circular by design, fit for a circular economy and feeds into a closed loop cycle. It allows for the designing out of waste from the onset, ensuring that what does remain can be recycled or reused into new products at end of life, so that the material comes full circle. A well-designed package can also ensure that recycling is made easier for consumers, especially as the rise of e-commerce in all sectors is on the rise.
As Extended Producer regulations loom in SA, leading SA packaging group, Polyoak, took the opportunity on Global Recycling Day (18 March 2021) to put its recycling credentials forward, both internally to employees and also to its market base.
Polyoak MD, Karl Lambrecht explained, “With Extended Producer Regulations coming into effect from 5 May 2021, we are fully committed to partnering with our customers to achieve the legislated recycling targets.”
Polyoak’s rigid plastic packaging is already widely recycled. For example, HDPE beverage bottles are the most recycled milk packaging in South Africa, with a recycling rate of 75%. These bottles are recycled into numerous useful items including new bottles for personal and home care products, crates, bins and plastic bags.
‘Design for Recycling’ best practice
“Polyoak is well placed to advise customers on optimal recycling best practice,” added Lamprecht. “It is essential that plastic packaging is designed and adapted to give it the best chance of being circulated multiple times through our economy, by choosing materials that are widely recycled in practice and at scale in South Africa.
“The whole pack must be considered in terms of its recyclability, as even one component can limit or prohibit recycling of the whole pack. Polyoak offers rigid plastic packaging that is already optimised for recycling. Furthermore, all our packaging carries accurate and legible material identification codes (MICs) required to assist collectors and recyclers.”
Designing for recycling is also essential to create high quality feedstocks which can be included as recycled content in new packaging.
Polyoak already offers bottles containing recycled PET (rPET) and, provided there is a sufficient supply of rPET, the company is well placed to assist customers in meeting the legislated recycled content target of 10% for PET beverage bottles in year one, as well as the SA Plastics Pact target of 30% by 2025.
New drums with recycled content
Polyoak is especially excited about its new Tight Head Drum range made from virgin and recycled HDPE, available in sizes ranging from 100L up to 250L.
“This advanced multilayer technology now gives customers access to world-class quality drums that are fully recyclable and can contain recycled content. This will significantly contribute towards circular economy,” noted Lamprecht.
“It’s clear that extended producer responsibility (EPR) is our collective responsibility. It’s not just about supplying environmentally sustainable packaging. We need to motivate action through education and inspiration – every touchpoint is an opportunity!”
This was the thinking behind Polyoak’s internal programme of events to celebrate Global Recycling Day.
Polyoak hosted various internal workshops across its manufacturing sites in Diepriver, Aeroton, Roodekop, Kwa-Zulu Natal and East London to remind employees about the role of plastic packaging in a circular economy, and the relevance of separation at source to maximise recycling which helps create job opportunities, diverts valuable waste going to South Africa’s already overflowing landfills and helps prevent plastic pollution.
Employees already separate their waste out for recycling at all manufacturing sites.
Water and energy optimisation programmes are in place and there is a continuous focus on reducing waste throughout operations.
Polyoak’s Roodekop site in Gauteng has already achieved ‘zero waste to landfill’ status with learnings being shared across the business. Separation of waste plays a crucial role in achieving ‘zero waste’ status.
Polyoak’s Marketing and Sustainability Executive, Michelle Penlington (Left) expanded, “SA’s National Waste Management Strategy highlights the importance of reducing waste going to landfill and eliminating plastic pollution.
“Therefore, our campaign aimed to educate and inspire households to divert their organic kitchen waste and recyclable packaging from landfill, by learning how easy it is to make compost and recycle their plastic instead. Both streams are too valuable to waste!”
Diverting organic and waste from landfill
Organic waste contributes more than 50% of total general waste disposed at landfill, where it is at risk of emitting dangerous methane gasses.
Therefore, Polyoak partnered with Soil for Life for Recycling Day. This NGO teaches people how to grow nutritious food with whatever resources they have available. They facilitated a workshop with Polyoak employees to demonstrate simple ways of transforming organic kitchen waste into compost.
Penlington said, “Composting in Polyoak’s 20-litre plastic buckets is simple and effective. It’s not necessary to buy expensive equipment or have a large garden.”
According to Soil for Life, easy growers in small spaces include tomatoes, strawberries, eggplant and radishes for example.
An effective way to help eliminate litter is to highlight and reinforce the ‘trash is cash’ principle and to get households to separate out their recycling, to be beneficiated at its highest value.
Polyoak employees have been trained and already practice separation of waste at work. For Recycling Day, Polyoak hosted various talks by local recycling organisations to provide useful tips on home recycling, to help employees take home the recycling behaviours learnt at work.
Gregory Player from Clean C highlighted the importance of On-Pack Recycling Labels (OPRLs), which should be applied to all primary packaging to clearly direct the consumer on how to responsibly dispose of their packaging at end of life.
Upcycling plastic packaging
Recent research by Polyco and the Moss Group shows that over 80% of plastic (polypropylene) tubs are re-used for a myriad of other purposes, once empty. This ranges from freezing leftovers and using as a lunchbox, to storing stationery, toys and tools.
“The widespread upcycling of our ice-cream, yoghurt and spreads tubs inspired us to explore additional re-uses for our packaging that are practical and useful at home, school or work. This was the inspiration for our ‘Packaging Upcycling’ internal campaign launched on Global Recycling Day,” explained Penlington.
Recycling Day also presented the opportunity to show employees how entrepreneurs transform Polyoak’s recycled packaging into beautiful arts and crafts.
Polyoak’s Diepriver branch partnered with local Cape Town artist, Heath Nash, well-known for his pleated lampshades and flowers made from folded die-cut panels of polypropylene, much of which has been exhibited at numerous Design Indabas and galleries in London, Tokyo, Milan and Vienna.
Nash heads up “Guga S’thebe” [Our Workshop] based in Langa, Cape Town, as a self-sustaining, free and supportive collaborative workspace that provides economic and creative stability through learning and skills development. Heath and his team facilitated numerous plastic craft workshops with Polyoak’s employees to highlight the entrepreneurial value and potential of plastic packaging.
Lambrecht concluded, “Sustainable packaging is everyone’s responsibility. We need to leverage every platform available to help educate and motivate all citizens of this beautiful country to use plastic responsibly and recycle to help eliminate plastic pollution.”
Ocado.com has revamped its own label range, claiming the move has reduced 27 tonnes of plastic and removed 9 million “non-essential packaging components”.
The online grocery retailer has linked up with design agency JKR to create the new range, which also features updated artwork. The own label range comprises over 530 products including coffee, berries, salad and tinned goods. New additions include Moroccan Inspired Houmous, Cheese & Chive Dip and Chimichurri British Flat Iron Steak.
According to Ocado, 27 tonnes less plastic packaging has been used, 640,000 plastic nets have been taken away and at least 9 million non-essential packaging components have been removed. As part of its commitment to the UK Plastics Pack, the retailer has eliminated PVC, polystyrene and black plastics from all own-range packaging and it is Ocado’s target is for all items to be 100% recyclable and made from at least 30% recycled materials by 2025.
Rachel Cox Reynolds, head of own-range and technical compliance said: “We have been busy working on a new look and feel to the Ocado own-range for some time now and are delighted to be able to share the final results. Each and every one of our own-range items has received a fresh makeover featuring brighter colours and bolder patterns, just in time for the Spring.
“These products, with their updated imagery, continue to demonstrate the great quality that Ocado customers have come to expect, whilst also offering superb value for money for our customers.”
Laura Harricks, chief customer officer at Ocado Retail added: “It’s so important to us that we are able to delight customers through our range, value and convenience but we also recognise the importance of ensuring that our impact on people, animals and the environment is positive and sustainable in the long term.
“We’re delighted that the refreshed collection has given us the opportunity to improve the sustainability-credentials of our own-range packaging whilst maintaining high quality and great prices. We are proud of the steps forward we’ve made here – the bright, bold packaging is just the icing on the cake.”
Popular, versatile household product Zoflora has been redesigned for the ‘Instagram generation’
Zoflora has a loyal customer base and has passed through the generations. However, with “a new generation of Instagram-loving Zoflora fans and proliferation of ‘me-too’ products entering the market”, Thonton & Ross decided it was time to revisit the brand’s range design and cement Zoflora as the market leader in the category.
The UK manufactured, leading disinfectant brand has been helping UK households stay safe from germs for almost 100 years. Its range of beautifully fragranced, perfumer developed, concentrated disinfectants is inspired by nature and represents the perfect partner for a hygienically clean home.
PB Creative was briefed to create a contemporary and desirable look and feel for the brand that was more appealing and relevant to new consumers, with increased stand out on shelf, but without alienating the brand’s existing and very loyal users. PB also sought to celebrate the abundance and explosion of ingredients within the products and champion the fragrance story of each variant, whilst still communicating the efficacious nature of the brand.
“This project has given us a great opportunity to upgrade and enhance the Zoflora brand,” said Agata Racka, design director at PB Creative.
“We knew that the new designs would need to entice and resonate with all Zoflora consumers, both old and new. It was key that we kept existing consumers at the heart of the brand, whilst leveraging appeal and excitement for new ones.”
“With a unique and diverse range of ingredients, it was clear that we needed to develop a strong design system that was robust enough to work across a large number of fragrance variants, while giving us the scope to communicate a distinct product story that was easy to understand. The addition of the tag line, ‘A little goes a long way,’ helps to clarify the formulation’s efficacious and concentrated nature.”
“By refreshing the Zoflora colour palette and enhancing the fragrance story (which wasn’t coming through as a USP previously), we’ve created a bold, fresh new range design that retains the brand’s uplifting personality, but now makes it more relevant and appealing to a new generation of Zoflora devotees. Our main challenge was to remain distinct and unique in an ever-growing category increasingly populated by copy-cat brands.”
Sarah Fozzard, head of marketing, Home Hygiene, Thornton & Ross added: “PB’s new range design for Zoflora delivers instant fragrance impact and product clarity – not an easy task for such a complex brand. The team has succeeded in modernising Zoflora without losing its distinctive character and whilst striking the difficult balance between fragrance and efficacy which we knew would be key to the success of the redesign. This new contemporary classic aesthetic will allow Zoflora to continue to lead in the category and to communicate clearly with a new generation of Zoflora consumers.”
“Now more than ever, we’re keen to highlight Zoflora as a brand that can help keep us protected as we go through these unprecedented times. Zoflora offers consumers an opportunity to create not only a hygienic, but also a welcoming space where they can all feel safe and comfortable.”
The new range design is being rolled out across 120ml, 250ml and 500ml formats this month and will launch across other markets throughout 2021.
Beefeater is relaunching its flavoured gins series with new packaging from Boundless Brand Design.
The existing Pink Strawberry and Blood Orange flavours have been relaunched alongside a new Peach & Raspberry product.
Beefeater wanted to reinforce its current contemporary design cues, whilst visually building on the bright and bold variants within its colourful range. Boundless said that the new design feature modernised elements such as intricate botanical illustrations, printed and embossed on a new recyclable paper label.
Hamish Shand, founder and creative director at Boundless said: “This Beefeater re-launch is the latest in a series of exciting packaging innovations. We employed high level craftsmanship to showcase the authenticity of the range, giving a solid foundation to build a more contemporary and authentic product story that truly reflects the fantastic quality of the liquid inside. Delivering against evolving consumer needs, this proposition now has increased standout, strongly showcasing naturality and refreshment.”
To start dealing with Australia’s mounting plastic crisis, the federal government recently launched its first National Plastics Plan. The plan will fight plastic on various fronts, such as banning plastic on beaches, ending polystyrene packaging for takeaway containers, and phasing in microplastic filters in washing machines.
But we’re particularly pleased to see a main form of biodegradable plastic will also be phased out.
Biodegradable plastic promises a plastic that breaks down into natural components when it’s no longer wanted for its original purpose. The idea of a plastic that literally disappears once in the ocean, littered on land or in landfill is tantalising — but also (at this stage) a pipe dream.
Why ‘biodegradable plastics’ ain’t that great
“Biodegradable” suggests an item is made from plant-based materials. But this isn’t always the case.
A major problem with “biodegradable” plastic is the lack of regulations or standards around how the term should be used. This means it could, and is, being used to refer to all manner of things, many of which aren’t great for the environment.
Many plastics labelled biodegradable are actually traditional fossil-fuel plastics that are simply degradable (as all plastic is) or even “oxo-degradable” — where chemical additives make the fossil-fuel plastic fragment into microplastics. The fragments are usually so small they’re invisible to the naked eye, but still exist in our landfills, water ways and soils.
The National Plastics Plan aims to work with industry to phase out this problematic “fragmentable” plastic by July, 2022.
Some biodegradable plastics are made from plant-based materials. But it’s often unknown what type of environment they’ll break down in and how long that would take.
So it’s best to avoid all plastic labelled as biodegradable. Even after the ban eliminates fragmentation — the worst of these — there’s still no evidence remaining types of biodegradable plastics are better for the environment.
Compostable plastics aren’t much better
Compostable plastic is another label you may have come across that’s meant to be better for the environment. It’s specifically designed to break down into natural, non-toxic components in certain conditions.
Unlike biodegradable plastics, there are certification standards for compostable plastics, so it’s important to check for one the below labels. If an item doesn’t have a certification label, there’s nothing to say it isn’t some form of mislabelled “biodegradable” plastic.
But most certified compostable plastics are only for industrial composts, which reach very high temperatures. This means they’re unlikely to break down sufficiently in home composts. Even those certified as “home compostable” are assessed under perfect lab conditions, which aren’t easily achieved in the backyard.
And while certified compostable plastics are increasing, the number of industrial composting facilities that actually accept them isn’t yet keeping up.
Nor are collection systems to get your plastics to these facilities. The vast majority of kerbside organics recycling bins don’t currently accept compostable plastics and other packaging. This means placing compostable plastics in these bins is considered contamination.
Even if you can get your certified compostable plastics to an appropriate facility, composting plastics actually reduces their economic value as they can no longer be used in packaging and products. Instead, they’re only valuable for returning nutrients to soil and, potentially, capturing a fraction of the energy used to produce them.
Finally, if you don’t have an appropriate collection system and your compostable plastic ends up in landfill, that might actually be worse than traditional plastic. Compostable plastics could release methane — a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide — in landfill, in the same way food waste does.
So, you should only consider compostable plastics when you have a facility that will take them, and a way to get them there.
And while the National Plastics Plan and National Packaging Targets are aiming for at least 70% of plastics to be recovered by 2025 (including through composting), nothing yet has been said about how collection systems will be supported to achieve this.
In Australia, systems for recycling the most common types of plastic packaging are well established and in many cases operate adequately. However, there are still major issues.
For example, many plastic items can’t be recycled in our kerbside bins (including soft and flexible plastics such as bags and cling films, and small items like bottle lids, plastic cutlery and straws). Placing these items in your kerbside recycling bin can contaminate other recycling and even damage sorting machines.
What’s more, much of the plastic collected for recycling doesn’t have high value “end markets”. Only two types of plastic — PET (think water or soft drink bottles and some detergent containers) and HDPE (milk bottles, shampoo/conditioner/detergent containers) — are easily turned back into new plastic containers.
The obvious answer then, is to eliminate problematic plastic altogether, as the National Plastics Plan is attempting to do, and replace single-use plastics with reusable alternatives.
Little actions such as bringing your reusable water bottle, coffee cup and cutlery, can add up to big changes, if adequately supported by businesses and government to create a widespread culture shift. So too, could a swing away from insidious coffee capsules, cling wrap and cotton buds so many of us depend on.
Opting too, for plastic items made from recycled materials can make a big impact on the feasibility of plastic recycling.
