5: Contemporary issuesAn awareness and implications of the

following contemporary issues:

- biodegradability of packaging materials

THE 3 P’S OF PACKAGING

PROTECT

PRESERVE

PROMOTE

Glass- baby foods - salad cream - pickles

- reusable - heat-resistant - recyclable - keeps shape - low cost

- fragile - safety issues - heavy

Metal- soup cans - take-away containers - bottle tops

- recyclable - lightweight - impermeable - withstands heat processing

- may react with food

Card/paper- fruit-juice cartons - egg boxes

- easy to print on - cheap to produce - biodegradable - recyclable - can be moulded - can be coated - lightweight

- not water-resistant - easily damaged

Plastic (50 different groups)-Milk- ready meals

- cheap- lightweight- versatile- durable

- not all recyclable

The factsThe UK generates around 25 million tonnes of household wasteper year, much of this ends up in landfill. As part of the ‘War onWaste’ campaign, there is an ongoing study of food packaging.The third wave of this study investigated the food packaginglevels and composition on 29 common food items in the

followingRetail outlets: ASDA, Co-op, Lidl, Marks and Spencer,Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.Key findings from the third wave:• 5% of the weight of the shopping baskets were made

up of packaging • The average weight of packaging in a basket was

727g, but this ranged from 645.5g for the basket of items from Tesco to 802.5g for Waitrose’s basket

• The proportion of waste packaging that was recyclable ranged from 57.8% in Lidl's basket to 66.8% in the baskets from Sainsburys

The damage we are doing

Plastic waste causes untold damage to theEnvironment as well as costinggovernments millions of pounds/eurosevery year for disposal. Plastic waste such

asfood cartons often ends up in landfill sitesor discarded on the street. Incineration ofplastic waste causes toxic gases to pollutethe air.

Biodegradable

• Biodegradable means that it can be broken down by the earth. • A biodegradable product is disposed of to the earth. The microorganisms in the earth (bacteria, fungi or other simple organisms), break the object down by natural processes, into

more basic components. • The end of the process results in Carbon

Dioxide(CO2) and Water (H2O).

• A 100% biodegradable product will be completely broken down, with no remain trace.

What schemes/initiativ

es are being introduced to

help?

Symbols Recycle Now -

Together we can make a difference

Compostable packaging in the UK

• The UK is becoming a leading light in the introduction of compostable packaging, due to a number of specific factors:

• Increasing Media and consumer awareness of environmental issues

• Media anti-packaging focus• Dynamic retail market

Response to above‘Green wars’‘let’s make it happen’ mentality

Increasing consumer recycling

Who is doing what?

Solutions

One solution to the problem is to usebiodegradable packaging that decomposesnaturally and has no harmful effects on theenvironment. Used in conjunction with

recyclingas a means of disposal, this technology can

helpreduce the millions of tonnes of plastic

wastethat accumulate every year.

Biopac

Biopac harness state-of-the-arttechnology to develop biodegradable

andcompostable alternatives topetrochemical based plastics. Home | Biopac - Packaging with PrinciplesWe have a wide range of

soup containers all made from sustainable board. They have many uses - not just soup but perfect for Ice Cream and other foods.

Our Sandwich containers are produced from sustainable materials but where possible  we use a high percentage of recycled material.

• Cornstarch is derived from cornstarch resin and that of other natural starches, which are wholly renewable and therefore a completely sustainable resource for packaging.  It is light, but durable and is safe and non-toxic. Cornstarch packaging is 100% compostable and like a vegetable, will reduce down to carbon dioxide and water.

• Potato Starch comes from waste potatoes, not a crop grown expressly for their manufacture. The 100% compostable material contains no oil based materials, plastics or harmful toxins.It’s durable, but will break down in just 12 weeks on a compost heap, making it the ideal material for multi-use retail carrier bags or hygienic domestic disposal bags.

• Recycled Post-Consumer Waste which is both biodegradable and compostable – and highly sustainable as a raw material. 

• Palm Hailing from Northern India and naturally shed, the palm leaf sheaths we use for our products provide valuable employment for small village communities, in their harvesting. Palm is a versatile and fully biodegradable and compostable material that requires no chemicals, resins or dyes.  It’s hygienic, lightweight, strong and water and heat resistant; so it’s suitable for fridge/freezer storage and microwave and oven cooking (up to 220 degrees).  

• Cane Sugarcane is a natural by-product of the sugar industry in South East Asia that would conventionally be discarded or burnt, in order to dispose of it.  It can tolerate the freezer or microwave, and won’t absorb oil or leak.

• Wood It’s one of the oldest raw materials known to man, but to continue to use it on a large scale, we need to source it responsibly and sustainably.  Our wood products are made from timber sourced from Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC).

Abel and Cole

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How do Abel and Cole try and reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink, reuse and

repair their packaging?

Excess food packaging; Retailer action

• UK businesses must recycle 55% of packaging• Cutting down on excess food packaging can involve initial

costs for a company, eg investing in new machines or methods. But even simple changes to packaging can mean savings for the manufacturer as well as the environment.

• Legal packaging requirements:• Laws require packaging to be manufactured so volume and

weight are limited to the minimum amount necessary to maintain required levels of safety and hygiene and for the packed product and for the consumer.

• Large companies are also required to pay for the cost of recycling a certain percentage of the packaging they handle – so it makes sense for them to use fewer materials.

• Each year there are packaging recovery and recycling targets for UK businesses to meet, designed to help the UK meet European targets. In 2008 businesses must recover 60% of packaging waste and recycle 55% of packaging.

Reducing packaging on the shelves • Supermarkets are taking steps to reduce excess packaging• Retailers have traditionally focused on reducing industrial food

packaging rather than on the packs we see on the shelves.• The main supermarkets, for example, told us they've reduced

transport packaging or switched to reusable materials for transporting foods.

• Few companies have done the same for packaging used on the food itself, although this is starting to change for the better.

Supermarkets reducing excess packaging

• Tesco has reduced the packaging of its sandwiches, saving the equivalent of one 15 tonne lorry full of waste every month.

• In Waitrose stores 50% of organic produce is available in degradable, biodegradable and compostable packaging.

• Asda has reduced the thickness of its plastic salad bags by 15%, and removed an unnecessary cardboard sleeve on a selection of ready meals.

• The Co-operative has reduced the weight of glass bottles used for 26 different Co-operative wines – saving a total of 450 tonnes of glass a year

Future of food packaging

• Some attempts to make food packaging more environmentally friendly work better than others. 

• Tesco introduced biodegradable packing for organic fruit in 2001, claiming it 'could save millions of pounds in waste disposal'. But it's now used on just a few Tesco products as 'customers weren't willing to pay for more costly packaging'.

• Some other companies are still using biodegradable packaging. And they're not limited to fruit: in Australia, Cadbury's Milk Tray chocolates are packed in plantic – a plastic made from corn starch that dissolves when wet and can be composted.

• New laws mean we're likely to see a new generation of food packaging. 'Active' packs interact with food to prolong shelf life, while 'intelligent' packs tell you about the food's condition.

• Such innovations may seem to add to our packaging burden, but the hope is they'll lead to less food waste – another drain on landfill space.

Packaging Analysis:

PRODUCT PROTECT

PRESERVE

PROMOTE

ECO IMPACT

IMPROVE

Research:

• Research a well known company to find out what they are doing to keep up to date with the contemporary issue of biodegradable packaging. Some examples you could research:

• Kenco• Cadburys• Heinz• Kellogg's• Walkers• McDonalds

What schemes have they tried?

How much has it cost them?

Have the schemes worked?

What are the benefits/implications?

Do they feel there are no issues with their packaging?