4 replies to this topic

[Simon]

As promised follows is a summary from the article 'Disappearing Act' from March / April Edition of ‘Brand - the Journal of Brand Technology'.

- In the UK 30 million tonnes of waste is produced annually, 40% of which is household waste that ends up in landfill.

- The pressure is on from Government and Consumers for Brand owners to curb the level of waste produced.

- The majority of renewable biodegradable packaging is starched based and derived from crops such as corn, potato or wheat. Current biodegradable plastics materials research work is focussed on orange peel, milk proteins and wood fibres.

- Biodegradable packaging essentially remains a form of recycling targeted at single use cups. Biodegradable packaging is set to replace conventional plastic serviceware for outdoor events. Could be used for food packaging take-outs; the use of compostable bags, trays and packaging means the pack could be disposed of with the food scraps.

- Biodegradable packaging may not be the solution for countries where recycling is successful e.g. Belgium, France, Italy, Spain. More suited to countries where the only solution is landfill.

- Biggest inhibitor is the much higher cost than traditional packaging materials and/or with reduced performance characteristics.

Biodegradable packaging will probably remain niche (e.g. speciality / organic products) until the materials can be developed cost effectively, environmentally, they are fully compostable (degrade in natural environment) and they work as well as traditional materials in converter equipment and processes.

Regards,
Simon

[Bonno]

As one of my duties in waste management I recently inspected our waste contractor that handles our landfill waste.

During the inspection we witnessed several deliveries within which I was amazed to see was mostly made up of cardboard, paper and wood. Include the glass and plastic bottles and my best guess is that the waste could easily have been reduced by about 90%.

Over the last 3 years our site has reduced our landfill waste by 75% through segregation and recycling - not rocket science, just removing the most obvious stuff that anyone can recycle from home.

What I am getting at is that I think we are wasting so much time trying to invent some materials that degrade safely and quickly when all we really need to do first is recycle what we already have. Making new materials that are more 'Environmentally Friendly' is hogwash - all we want is a material that we can casually throw away that will rot away before we do so that we can feel better about it and ourselves.
A lot of this is driven by a number of major stores and fast food outlets that want to earn 'brownie points' for looking as though they are thinking of the environment - although rain forests destroyed to make grazing plains for cattle for the meat for these stores and fast food outlets paints a different picture.
We had a number of meetings at the end of last year with representatives from all they major stores demanding 'greener' packaging alternatives. They all arrived separately in big 'gas guzzling' executive cars after all setting off from the same location..........hypocrisy at its finest.



Everyone should take a look at what they throw away - most of it can be re-used and is cheaper to reprocess than it is to make again from base materials.

[Simon]

What I am getting at is that I think we are wasting so much time trying to invent some materials that degrade safely and quickly when all we really need to do first is recycle what we already have.  Making new materials that are more 'Environmentally Friendly' is hogwash - all we want is a material that we can casually throw away that will rot away before we do so that we can feel better about it and ourselves.

Yes we are lazy, but wouldn't it be fantastic if we could throw away our waste knowing it would turn to compost in a matter of weeks. I agree we could all do a lot more as individuals, businesses, and society in general to minimise the waste we create and deal with our waste more intelligently. Facilities for recycling our home waste are now much better than they were ten years ago and we all do a lot more recycling, but we could still do more. In countries currently without established recycling systems biodegradable packaging could be an answer as setting up and managing recycling systems is a mighty expensive undertaking. How soon or likely biodegradable consumer packaging will be available on a wide scale is a different matter. One thing is for sure there's a hell of a lot of effort going into its development and personally I keep an open mind on the subject. It would be foolish to ignore it completely.

Just my opinion.

BTW did you mention to them about the gas guzzlers or did you bite through your lip?

Regards,
Simon

[Bonno]

BTW did you mention to them about the gas-guzzlers or did you bite through your lip?

I've never been very good at biting my lip, although I am becoming more subtle. My point was surprisingly well taken however, although I doubt whether I have changed anyone's travelling habits.


I agree completely that if materials could be found/produced that 'safely' disappear after only a short period of time, this would be better - unfortunately, human history leads me to form the opinion that we would then dramatically increase how much we produce - safe in the knowledge that we are not damaging the environment.
By-products & waste are however only the most visual of the problems - the extended use of raw materials and energy to produce them are the major problems. Reusing materials uses considerably less energy to reformulate, hence you reduce energy use, reduce landfill waste and the natural resources last longer?

I once read somewhere that in the future "all products will be made from recycled materials". Unfortunately (I believe) that when we finally realise that this must begin, or natural resources will be so diminished that the quality of our products will be significantly inferior - possibly un-reusable (is that a word?).

There is no 'right answer', but so long as people are still asking the questions things should only improve?

This discussion reminds me of something a close friend of mind said last Summer:
"To make yourself feel better at your barbeque, carefully fold up the empty beef burger box and save for recycling. Do not under any circumstances think of how many thousands of acres of rain forest were felled to provide cattle grazing land so that your burger is a few pence cheaper." NO, he is not invited this year.

Many thanks (as always) for your comments Simon,
Bonno

[Simon]

By-products & waste are however only the most visual of the problems - the extended use of raw materials and energy to produce them are the major problems. Reusing materials uses considerably less energy to reformulate, hence you reduce energy use, reduce landfill waste and the natural resources last longer?
I once read somewhere that in the future "all products will be made from recycled materials". Unfortunately (I believe) that when we finally realise that this must begin, or natural resources will be so diminished that the quality of our products will be significantly inferior - possibly un-reusable (is that a word?).

Oh yeah - I totally overlooked the increased amount of energy that's used to manufacture from scratch rather than reuse.

This discussion reminds me of something a close friend of mind said last Summer:
"To make yourself feel better at your barbeque, carefully fold up the empty beef burger box and save for recycling. Do not under any circumstances think of how many thousands of acres of rain forest were felled to provide cattle grazing land so that your burger is a few pence cheaper." NO, he is not invited this year.

Your right packaging does tend to get a bad press because of its high visibility; mind you whenever I get my hands on a burger there's nothing left worth recycling or reusing by the time I've finished.

Thanks Bonno, have a nice weekend.

Regards,
Simon