by Valdamark | Jan 12, 2022 | Scoop.it
The current system of consumer responsibility for the disposal of products is not enough. Two states have passed new laws that will extend this burden onto manufacturers – specifically. However this only applies to materials produced in America!
In 2018, U.S municipal solid waste was 82 million tons with 28% or 40+ million being containers and packaging. Unfortunately almost half (44%) is not recycled! The problem facing our planet today? Plastics in particular that make up most of this disgusting mess are the elephant in the room.
Recycling some materials, such as aluminum can be cost effective. However plastics are more expensive to recycle and generally speaking are only recycled into low value products. With this in mind the market demand does not make a compelling case for recycling because there simply isn’t enough profit to made from the end product. Instead of creating new material & products from the waste they would rather just instead send everything straight into landfills where its likely going stay forever unless you start adding financial incentives or penalties.
The recycling industry has been struggling with the problem of how to handle waste for years. The burden was originally placed on local governments, but they can’t afford it anymore and consumers have to pay a price in taxes or fees now.
The movement to hold producers accountable for the waste they generate is growing. Two new EPR laws in Oregon and Maine will take effect soon, which could save money for municipalities as well as making packaging more sustainable!
Governor Brown signed a new law today that will provide Oregon ratepayers with much more accessible and stable recycling systems. The new system also gives producers financial incentives to make their packaging sustainable, as well as funding for reuse programs in local communities!
Read the full article at: earth911.com
by Valdamark | Jun 28, 2021 | Scoop.it
Sainsburys recently conducted a successful recycling initiative trial across the North East of England. Now the scheme is to be rolled out across 520 of its stores nationwide.
The scheme allows its customers to fully recycle all their flexible plastic packaging items which is currently a problem for local authorities as many kerbside refuse collection services do not commonly accept many formats.
The new recycling points will be positioned front of store and will allow customers easy access. The goal is to make sustainable choices easier than ever for Sainsbury’s customers offering a trustworthy recycling system that can easily dispose of flexible plastic packaging products.
Think the usual everyday items that generate packaging waste. Crisp packets, pouch packaging, salad pouches, biscuits and cake wrappers. Despite these being common everyday items over 83% of local authorities do not currently accept these formats for recycling.
Sainsbury’s Leads Flexible Packaging Recycling Drive
The creators of this initiative hope to significantly reduce the volume of plastic packaging that makes its way to landfill. A recent report from WRAP estimated that a whopping 290,000 tonnes of flexible packaging film waste ended up in landfills during 2019.
This new recycling system is intended to sync with the retailers own efforts to reduce, replace, reuse and recycle many of the plastic packaging products used in it’s own operations. This dual approach tackles the problem internally whilst making it easier for their customers to recycle in an effective way.
Sainsbury’s recently joined to the Flexible Plastic Fund. This initiative aims to spread awareness and ensure plastics are properly recycled. It is a little known fact that whilst flexible plastic packaging represent over a fifth of all packaging waste generated by UK citizens only 6% is collected for processing and recycling.
Making recycling easier for customers has become a key part of Sainsburys strategy to reduce the scourge of single use plastics on the environment. As already mentioned Sainsburys is also looking to reduce the use of plastics in it’s own operations by 50% by 2025. This makes Sainsburys the first retailer to set itself such ambitious reduction targets.
The supermarket giant has already achieved some impressive milestones. Plastic bags for loose produce have been completely removed, plastics in the Taste the Difference and SO Organic ranges have reduced by 70% whilst over 297 tonnes of waste packaging has removed form the oceans working in collaboration with Prevented Ocean Plastic to repurposed ocean discarded plastic into plastic packaging for it’s strawberry and fresh fish ranges.
Read the full article at: www.circularonline.co.uk
by Valdamark | Jun 28, 2021 | Scoop.it
Here we have another interesting plastic packaging replacement made from bio based, eco friendly materials.
Developed by forestry scientists at the University of Gottingen in Germany this new innovation is designed to replace both current plastic and Styrofoam packaging products. The novelty here is it is made of popcorn!
The plastics industry sends over 40% of it’s products to the packaging industry making this sector their most important client base by quite some margin.
This in and of itself would present quite a large obstacle for any widespread adoption of this new innovation however their is cause for optimism as many global brands have looked to rethink their product packaging and make it more recyclable or biodegradable in recent times.
Popcorn Packaging: Really?
In the context of an ever growing renewable packaging market the team form the Chemistry and Composite Materials process engineering team at Gottingen looked to develop a repeatable process that allows them to produce 3D moulded formats converted from popcorn granules.
With this new process refined a wide variety of moulded parts can now be produced. Many different designs can also be tailored for different applications. Including open end designs like 3 side seal pouch packaging which are far more familiar and widely adopted solutions in the retail and FMCG markets. Once products are placed inside the packaging responds well to heat and can be welded and closed with a Heat Sealer machine.
Aleireza Kharazipour, Head of the Research Group also commented that the current production process if based on current techniques used in the plastics packaging industry. The new popcorn packaging solutions are able to be transported safely and are very safe solution for use in the general supply chain. The packaging substrate itself is fully biodegradable.
Interestingly the packaging developed is also water repellent with the faculty already looking to commercialize this process.
Read the full article at: www.entrepreneur.com
by Valdamark | Jun 19, 2021 | Scoop.it
It is common knowledge that the current volumes of plastics being used is unsustainable. Due mostly to the huge amount of waste being discarded in landfills and the oceans it is doing tremendous damage to natural habitats and eco systems.
Since the 1970’s mechanical recycling has been used as the primary method for recycling. The so called ‘back to plastics’ method has been used to transform waste into reusable raw material. Quantities however vary drastically depending on geographical position.
The Chemical Recycling Buzzword
Chemical Recycling has become a by word in recent times for using technology as a potential solution to the plastic packaging problem. Critics of this approach cite the potential environmental hazards that come with the use of recycling chemicals as well as health risks through exposure and inefficiency.
Does the current chemical recycling technology have the potential to fix this huge issue?
Read the full article at: www.technewsworld.com
by Valdamark | Jun 16, 2021 | Scoop.it
We all know plastics are very useful materials used in nearly every part of our lives, they have contributed greatly to the formation of our modern world.
However we also know that the unprecedented amount used in production over recent years can caused serious unbalance and damage to the environment around us. In fact packaging alone contributed a whopping 46% out of 340 million overall tonnes of plastic waste generated on earth in 2018.
Plastic recycling has increased enormously over recent years however the majority used today are single use and neither recyclable or biodegradable. Pair this with the simple fact that the global demand for food will double by 2050 and you have a recipe for a problem that will get much worse, much more quickly.
At present it is usually poorer countries in Africa that hold the burden of waste disposal for us in the West, the pressure they are already under will of course increase in the coming years.
In order to meet these challenges we need more sustainable packaging materials that are naturally biodegradable and if necessary can easily be recycled.
Spider Silk and Plant Based Sustainable Packaging : A lesson from Nature
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered an innovative way to produce plastic from abundant and sustainable plant proteins. Inspired by the spider silk ( weaved by spiders when they produce their web ) these packaging films function in a similar way to traditional plastics, but can be readily composted at home.
Types of Plastics Packaging
Using the food packaging market as an example we typically see both synthetic and non-biodegradable plastics used in film constructions. These include PET (polyethylene terephthalate), PS (Polystyrene) and CPET (Crystalline Polyethylene Terephthalate).
Some mechanical and chemical processes do already exist mainly for the disposal of PET but it is a little known fact that despite all the West recycling initiatives and efforts the vast majority of plastic packaging is still sent to landfills. This is exacerbated by the inconvenient truth that PET can take hundreds of years to decompose and is certainly not biodegradable. Unfortunately the damage done to eco systems in that time can be severe.
Enter Plant Based Plastics
Alternatively there a some biodegradable plant based plastics that can provide real world, viable alternatives to traditional plastics. These include PLA (Polylactic acid), PBS (Polybutylene Succinate), PCL (Polycaprolactone) and various PHA’s (Polyhydroxyalkanoates). Each is much more environmentally friendly when compared to non-renewable polymers, coming from renewable sources and being fully recyclable & compostable. Generally speaking though these plant based plastics are not currently as robust as their synthetic counterparts.
The new Cambridge research builds on this understanding and looks to further enhance plant based plastics by investigating new polymers such as soy proteins to further enhance stability and performance.
Vegan Spider Silk?
Researchers created plant based plastics with the addition of nanoparticles smaller than one millionth of a meter, This meant material structures could be manipulated and controlled in order to create new flexible packaging films for use across sectors. They were able to mimic a material that looks like spider silk on a molecular level. They christened it ‘Vegan Spider Silk’.
Watch this space for more innovations in the plant based packaging sector.
Read the full article at: thenextweb.com
