What is sustainable packaging?

It seems as though the full book has been thrown at the plastics industry when it comes to waste and pollution. It would be easy to feel a little hard done by when this only paints a small part of the big picture.

As one of many industry suppliers, we held our hands up to our part of the problem. We're now working on new and exciting breakthroughs all the time.

New materials and technologies have been developed to assist with plastic waste and the problems with the current recycling systems.

We believe that plastic can still be the answer; and used in the correct way, can often be better for the environment and be a lower carbon footprint than the alternatives.

What we really need is an ‘all-round’ education to fuel our solutions

“Trying to keep the customer happy whilst doing the practical, scientific thing has become almost impossible. Switch to paper, card, metal or glass and all the time you are adding carbon. I guess the question is: what problem are you trying to solve?”

Very wise words from Keith Vyse – a UK Government Packaging Advisor.

In this article, we’re going to look solely at how technology is continuously changing and how the industry is moving towards providing the answers we need.

Instead of getting stuck in doing things the way the press and social media have convinced us is right, we should look at which option gives a far better ecological solution regarding resources, energy, their carbon footprint, as well as the vast production and transport savings.

• Recyclable packaging
• Compostable packaging
• Sustainable packaging

With more elements to consider than simply labelling plastic as ‘the enemy’, it wouldn’t be fair if we didn’t try to level the playing field.

Recent reports show that during the pandemic shoppers prefer to buy their food and produce in plastic packaging as fewer people have handled it and so is safer.

Also, the use of plastic PPE hit highs of 1 billion pieces every week – all single use plastic. What would have been the alternative?

According to the UN, 35-50% of all food produced worldwide is wasted – around 1.3 billion tonnes. This % reduces in countries that use more packaging. Plastic packaging forms a large proportion of this as it can extend shelf life quite considerably. Food waste has a much greater effect on Climate Change than packaging ever could!

Multiple lifecycle analysis from around the world highlight that all alternative packaging materials including paper, board, glass or aluminium consume more of the Earth’s resources and generate more CO₂ emissions in their manufacture and use.

One report concluded “replacing alternative packaging materials with plastic would reduce carbon emissions from packaging by around 22 million tonnes PA (30%), even if none of the plastic was recycled”.

If plastic is to play a part as a possible answer to our problems, where did all this trouble start?

Admittedly, single use plastics and single use packaging have been part of the problem of littering and our overflowing landfill sites. These products and their destructive materials continued to make headlines as the abundance of non-recyclable waste became the chief scapegoat on our screens.

David Attenborough brought our attention to the horrendous problems we’ve created in our oceans. He continually captures the hearts of nations with his stunning documentaries. His program Blue Planet raised massive awareness of the issues in our seas, driving politicians and the public alike to seek out and support initiatives that could take steps to remedy the horrors of the situation.

However, Jo Ruxton, Clean Up Britain Campaign Partner, Founder of Plastic Oceans UK and co-producer of the BBC TV’s Blue Planet documentary, had this to say on the matter.

“Plastic is an amazing product; versatile, cheap, light and its invention has changed the way we live, particularly in the world of medicine. It’s what we do with it that’s the problem! Plastic does not degrade, or decompose. It is virtually indestructible and you cannot simply throw it away”.

Plastic does not pollute oceans, people do.

Let’s be honest – how many plastic bank notes do you see floating in the North Sea??!

Solving the problems of our seas

A significant cause of the pollution and destruction were the masses of primarily plastic products and other non-bio-degradable materials being flushed out to sea. It’s shocking to think that we humans are responsible for such abuse towards the planet we live on. The largest of these ‘floating plastic islands’ is three times the size of France — and that’s only one of five.

It turns out that 46% of that pollution (almost half) is abandoned fishing equipment. Another 20% is the debris left over from the 2011 Japanese Tsunami; statistics announced by Laura Parker of NationalGeographic.com.

However the UK Government reacted to other environmental sources, revealing the amount of packaging we throw away each day from basic shopping essentials, from food, drink, consumables, clothing, and everything in between.

That goes for both manufacturers and consumers. We’re all well aware of how drinking straws and plastic bags made the headlines and demanded a complete turnaround via the introduction of our Government’s new legislation and Plastic Tax.

Brought into effect in April 2022, the Plastic Packaging Tax applies to all plastic packaging that does not contain at least 30% recycled plastic.

It’s objective is to provide a clear economic incentive for businesses to use recycled material in the production of plastic packaging. This will create greater demand and in turn stimulate increased levels of recycling and collection of plastic waste, diverting it away from landfill or incineration.

Recycling, resources, and energy use in manufacturing—how does it affect our carbon footprint?

It’s true; we waste far too much of the planet’s valuable resources, and something needs to be done before it’s too late. However, the wider view should include every aspect of how we safeguard our resources, our energy supplies, and how we use our water supply.

Sadly, even with the best intentions, the war against plastic packaging is misguided. We believe the best solutions will be from understanding and developing plastic technology and adapting to it. As a country we must improve our kerbside collection of flexible plastics for recycling.

Paper, card, and wood packaging, glass bottles, and metal cans deliver a much more damaging carbon footprint and use far more materials, energy, and water in their manufacture.

Recyclable packaging solutions

With the forward movement in plastic technology, there are solutions available to the problems we currently face.

There are various ways to recycle our plastics: some, through our traditional kerbside collections, and others using the growing number of supermarket collection points that started life as simple carrier bag return points.

In a range of thicknesses appropriate to all kinds of packaging, the 100% recyclable materials we provide are:

• OPP – Polypropylene – OPP is recyclable but at the moment it isn’t collected kerbside by most Local Authorities. The major supermarkets are trialling accepting this film back at store in the bag recycling schemes
• OPE – Polyethylene: A huge range from low to high densities, high strength, excellent sealability, and a high moisture barrier. Again the majority of Local Authorities do not collect kerbside but the major supermarkets accept these films back at store.

These films can bolster the Circular Economy as well as contributing to the various plastic pact targets. On top of that, they’re the type of low-cost solution manufacturers will welcome with open arms.

There are several plastic recycling systems, but they’re only part of how we need to manage the solution—collection and sorting play just as big a factor.

·        Mechanical recycling

Mechanical recycling involves processing plastic waste into a secondary raw material without significantly changing the chemical/molecular structure.

·        Chemical recycling

Chemical recycling, however, refers to several different technologies. These thermal-based processes break the plastic waste down to its original (or somewhere similar) molecular building blocks. In effect, they are turned back into ‘oil’ which can then be ‘cracked’ again into its constituent parts including plastics.

Despite having such technologies in continuing development and operation, recycled plastic has already shown to provide food-grade quality, maintaining higher material qualities for longer. Some of such tech has even successfully recovered the aluminium layers from specific packaging.

Compostable packaging

National Flexible supplies a complete range of environmental films. One of our groundbreaking lines is the addition of compostable films.

Benefits of compostable films:

• Home compostable under certain conditions
• Conform to EN13432 under industrial composting conditions.
• Available in single web or laminate form.
• Available with high barrier for oxygen and moisture.

These films will decompose in land or water, and under industrial composting conditions, they’ll reduce to 95% carbon dioxide and water with 5% organic matter over a 6-month period.

Just as paper and card, these new plastics will rot away to practically nothing, removing a considerable part of the problem our packaging systems currently create.

A World First

How we print our plastic packaging can be done in a more environmentally way, so National Flexible introduced a World First into the UK market.

The printing plant runs entirely on hydroelectric power and the printing inks used are water based, so no solvents are released into the environment.

This reduces our customers carbon footprint, saving them tonnes of CO₂ and solvents every year.

Single use packaging and single use plastic

As much as it’s hard to hear, it’s a simple fact that we live in a society that, so often, doesn’t think twice about what we throw away. Single-use items such as straws, stirrers, sweet wrappers, bags, and packets, are used once and thrown away—straight away.

We’ve got used to living in a disposable product society, with only a small idea about the plastics that are problematic compared to those that we can recycle. We dutifully put our plastic bottles and food packs in the recycling bins where we can, yet so many either aren’t making it to recycling facilities or aren’t appropriate for recycling.

The single-use plastic initiatives set up in the UK and Europe tried to assist with that and are regularly bringing new and updated plastic recycling legislation into effect to help combat the issue.

Engaging in methods to beat plastic taxes are the ways we can help the environment and the manufacturing economy—utilising more recyclable materials in manufacturing and implementing recycled plastics in our processes.

As we look at all the available options to redress our plastic problems, we still need to face the question of how we handle the reduction in plastic versus climate change – and how to deliver what’s best for the environment. Which brings us neatly to The Academy.

The Academy at National Flexible

We are passionate about delivering solutions to each of the plastic waste problems created by our industry. To provide what our customers and consumers need, we have to understand those problems with a fair and just appraisal of the whole situation.

That’s where The Academy comes in.

We designed an educational presentation based on the problems and solutions of the world of plastics and plastic packaging. The content of which includes:

• Our plastic reduction programme
• In-depth information about recyclable, compostable, and bio-degradable plastic solutions
• Our environmental packaging audits
• The circular economy

We work with a list of popular, big-name brands, including Morrisons, Hovis, Aunt Bessie’s, Twinings, and Weetabix—with 100% of delegates saying they would recommend our presentation.

The information and technology is available, becoming easier to implement as each system is tweaked and improved. How we choose to engage is down to educating everyone fairly, instead of pointing a press-hungry finger at the nearest scapegoat.

We want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, that’s why we provide our Academy for FREE. 

Places book up quickly so if you'd like to attend, please make sure you take advantage of the dates whilst they're still available. 

14 | 03 | 2021