New data shows that the majority of UK adults support substituting conventional plastic with compostable alternatives and want local authorities and government to do more to incentivise the collection of compostable packaging. A survey of 1734 UK adults conducted by YouGov found 89% of respondents support local councils being required to collect all recyclable or compostable packaging from households.
The survey also showed that over 60% of people across the UK expressed concern about the amount of plastic waste created in their households from daily life. 86% of people also supported enabling the collection of compostable packaging alongside food waste. The survey was commissioned by TIPA, a developer and manufacturer of compostable packaging solutions. In addition to improving collection services, the survey also canvassed views on a range of other policy interventions to support tackling plastic waste.
85% of people supported banning conventional plastic packaging where alternative compostable solutions were available, with 70% of people viewing a product more positively when packaged in compostable packaging.
When asked whether they felt Government, brands and retailers were making as much effort as possible (with 0 being the least and 10 being the most) to reduce plastic waste, the survey showed that over half of the public think the Government, brands and retailers are not doing enough to tackle plastic waste. Brands and retailers were deemed to be doing slightly more than the Government to reduce plastic waste with 44% rating the Government’s achievements as 5 or above, compared to 49% for brands and retailers.
The Chartered Institution of Waste Management (CIWM) said that while it understands the use of compostable plastics is something that “resonates” with many members of the public, their use “does not necessarily provide a viable solution to reducing the amount of plastic waste that wrongly ends up in the natural environment”.
A CIWM spokesperson said: “Compostable plastics should not be viewed as an enabler for single-use products in applications where their sole reason for being is to replace conventional plastics. No plastics, compostable or otherwise should be discarded in the open environment, and as such compostable plastics are not a solution to inappropriate waste management or littering.
“Compostable plastics are typically thought of as contaminants in waste streams destined for mechanically recycling, and separate collections for compostable plastic are not generally in place in the UK. “There are many different types of compostable plastics, not all of which are suitable for industrial composting, anaerobic digestion, or home composting. If littered, or otherwise released into the environment in an uncontrolled way, these compostable materials may not degrade quickly or even at all.
“However, CIWM believes compostable plastics do have a role, but it is in specific applications where there is a clear environmental benefit in using them, predominantly to facilitate the collection of organic and food wastes for treatment in suitable industrial composting, anaerobic digestion, or home composting facilities.
Nestle solution
Looking at the contents of the average grocery cart, it is no surprise that the World Economic Forum warns that there will be more plastic than fish by weight in oceans by 2050. From coffee bags to cheese wrappers, food and beverage packaging is a major contributor to plastic pollution. Scientists warn that the proliferation of plastics in the environment is creating a variety of health and ecological problems. Some companies are starting to recognize the need to act.
Nestlé estimates that it produced about 1.5 million tons of plastic in 2018. In April 2018, Nestlé committed to make 100 percent of its packaging reusable or recyclable by 2025. Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider said in the announcement, “Plastic waste is one of the biggest sustainability issues the world is facing today. Tackling it requires a collective approach. We are committed to finding improved solutions to reduce, re-use and recycle.”
From 2020 to 2025, Nestlé will phase out all plastics that are not recyclable or are hard to recycle. And Nestlé will significantly raise the percentage of recycled plastics used in its water bottle lines by 2025. Starting in 2019, the company will begin to eliminate all plastic straws in its products. The newly created Nestlé Institute of Packaging Sciences will lead the development and evaluation of new sustainable packaging.
Nestlé also joined Loop, a subscription home delivery service for foods and household goods with reusable packaging. Spearheaded by TerraCycle, the project will deliver items to the consumer’s front door in customized, durable packaging that is then collected, cleaned, refilled and re-used. Nestlé will participate in the project through its brand Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream in New York City, thereby joining other consumer goods producers such as Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo and Mondelēz International.
Mondelēz International joins the platform with its Milka brand of biscuits, cakes and sweet snacks as part of its commitment to making all packaging recyclable by 2025. The commitment also includes eliminating 65 million kilograms of packaging material worldwide and sustainably sourcing all paper-based packaging by 2020. Acknowledging the role consumers play in a complete recycling system, Mondelēz also aims to provide better recycling information to consumers by 2025 with clear instructions for its packaging.
“Plastic waste and its impact on the planet is a broad, systemic issue that our consumers care deeply about, and which requires a holistic response. Together with partners from across the industry, as well as public and private entities, we can help to develop practical solutions that result in a positive environmental impact,” says Rob Hargrove, executive VP of research, development, quality and innovation at Mondelēz.
TIPA
1January 2023 saw the UK replace its previous packaging waste regulations with the new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation which forced businesses to look at their packaging choices and become more responsible for the packaging waste they produce.
Compostable, flexible packaging provider TIPA, which was founded in 2010, believes the use of compostable packaging would significantly cut down on the amount of plastic waste generated by fast fashion and online shopping. Compostable packaging is seen as an eco-friendly alternative to single-use plastics as it can be fully decomposed in six to 12 months and TIPA sees this as a suitable alternative material to single-use plastics which could save a vast number of plastic bags from ending up in landfill.
To their credit, many brands and retailers are showing considerable leadership in switching from conventional plastic to using compostable plastic for products ranging from tea bags to packaging for snacks, fresh produce and frozen food. As is the case with many eco-friendly products, however, protecting the environment often comes at an increased cost to retailers in the short term.
Now that we are facing an economic downturn, the higher price of compostable plastics relative to conventional plastic poses an even greater challenge for brands and retailers. The hope is that retailers will be able to look past short-term costs and see the greater picture. A recent TIPA-commissioned survey suggests businesses that adopt more compostable packaging will be supported by high consumer demand. The survey polled the response of 1,734 UK adults and found 89% of those surveyed supported local councils being required to collect all compostable packaging from households.
Businesses also have to contend with UK policy frameworks that are currently hindering the ability of the compostables industry to fully expand its surrounding infrastructure. This would no longer be a challenge if the UK Government mandated that compostables were widely collected from the kerbside and organically recycled along with food waste.
Biodegradable and recyclable glass
The widespread use of persistent, non-biodegradable glass that cannot be naturally eliminated can cause long-term environmental hazards and social burdens. While glass is widely recycled, and can be recycled indefinitely unlike plastic, much of it still ends up in landfill when recyclers find it too difficult or expensive to separate the material out from other materials.
According to Recycle Across America, “More than 28 billion glass bottles and jars end up in landfills every year — that is the equivalent of filling up two Empire State Buildings every three weeks.” To solve this problem, a research group led by professor Yan Xuehai from the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a family of eco-friendly glass of biological origin fabricated from biologically derived amino acids or peptides.
Traditional glass, such as commercial inorganic glass and poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) organic glass, is biologically incompatible and not readily degraded in nature. The development of biodegradable and biorecyclable glass is expected to have a minimal environmental footprint. Unfortunately, manufacturing such eco-friendly glass of biological origin is very challenging because biomolecules possess poor thermal stability and decompose easily at the high temperatures typically used in glass manufacturing.
In this study, the researchers used chemically modified amino acids and peptides to fabricate biomolecular glass with biodegradability and biorecyclability features through the classic “heating-quenching” procedure. The researchers tracked the glass-forming ability, glass-transition-related kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the material, as well as glass performance in vitro and in vivo. The biomolecular glass showed a unique combination of functional properties and eco-friendly features. This included “excellent optical characteristics and mechanical properties”, the researchers said.
“The concept of biomolecular glass, beyond the commercially-used glasses or plastics, may underlie a green-life technology for a sustainable future,” said Xuehai. “However, the biomolecular glass is currently in the laboratory stage, and far from large-scale commercialisation.”
UBC and Wet’suwet’en First Nation collaboration
A new biodegradable packing foam developed at UBC not only potentially addresses the world’s plastic pollution crisis but also serves as an equal and true partnership example of working with First Nations.
Dr. Jiang, an assistant professor in the UBC faculty of forestry and the Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Functional Biomaterials, started developing a “biofoam” many years ago both to find new uses for wood waste and reduce pollution from packaging foam. “Styrofoam waste fills up to 30 per cent of global landfills and can take more than 500 years to break down. Our biofoam breaks down in the soil in a couple of weeks, requires little heat and few chemicals to make, and can be used as substitute for packaging foams, packing peanuts and even thermal insulation boards,” says Dr. Jiang.
He adds that the project also helps repurpose wood waste that is often left behind after trees are harvested. “Less than 50 per cent of harvested trees are used in the wood industries—the rest is left behind in the forest, serving as potential fuel for devastating wildfires.”
The team came together to turn a timely research idea into reality while helping solve a critical community need at the same time: UBC researchers Dr. Feng Jiang and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Yeling Zhu, Reg Ogen and Joe Wong, president and CEO and vice president respectively of Wet’suwet’en First Nation’s Yinka Dene Economic Development Limited Partnership, and the office of the Chief Forester in the Ministry of Forests. According to a report by Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which was published in early November 2022, the world is at risk of not meeting its plastic pact targets. Investing in innovation and re-thinking the design of plastic packaging is crucial: we cannot recycle our way out of plastic pollution.