Plastic baggage: It’s not easy being green
Consumer awareness of packaging has never been greater, but the pressure to go green is coming up against some economic realities.
Cherry tomatoes and strawberries in plastic containers. Cucumbers in shrink wrap. Shrinkwrapped meat on a plastic tray. Coleslaw in a plastic tub.
This is how we have traditionally liked our food. Untainted, unbruised, and, with any luck, in recyclable packaging.
But since China stopped taking a heap of the world’s recycling, Kiwis have been confronted head-on with our plastics issue, on top of the huge amount of packaging which is only designed for the landfill.
At its heart, the supermarket industry will tell you, the predominance of plastics is about convenience and food safety.
Consumers, who are still struggling to remember to bring shopping bags, are not expected to provide their own containers for goods such as meat, fish or sloppy salads.
And packaging does cut down on a massive amount of food waste.
This week a supermarket was scrutinised for double wrapping bakery goods already behind a glass cabinet – as it turned out, to stop fruit fly contamination.
Thom Adams, the man who tweeted a picture of the excessively wrapped goods, used to carry out waste audits and he says there is a case for plastics.
‘‘The problem with soft plastic waste isn’t necessarily that it exists in the first place, it’s that there are very few systems to recapture it.’’
The fruit and vegetables industry is also frequently criticised for using plastic because a lot of produce can be bought loose.
But it’s hard for growers to move away from something that protects more fragile fruit, is cheaper than the alternatives, and significantly extends shelf life.
Mike Chapman, chief executive of Horticulture NZ, says the sector is open to more environmentally friendly packaging – ‘‘as an industry, it’s part of our ethos’’.
He believes the solution is ‘‘a double whammy’’ of innovative packaging and better disposal for the current products.
‘‘But at the moment we haven’t got the plant in New Zealand that can deal with the plastics.’’
Disposal is a key issue. Up until Christmas, consumers had an outlet for soft plastics in the form of a nationwide recycling programme.
However, the scheme is currently suspended after its main buyer in Australia stopped receiving the plastic.
It’s set to resume in
April, in a reduced number of regions.
Sharon Humphreys, of the Packaging Forum, says one of the issues with the scheme was that it accepted all types of ‘‘scrunchable’’ plastic, some of which was more valuable than others.
‘‘This left the scheme dependant on markets which used the material for conversion into products such as park benches, etc, with limited end markets, compromising the economic viability of the whole scheme,’’ she says.
Although soft plastic remains problematic, there is plenty of work going on to find alternatives to other plastics.
‘‘Green’’ coffee cups, bamboo picnic utensils and recyclable plastic meat trays have all burst onto the market in recent years, as people get concerned about packaging’s end game.
Two companies at the forefront are Jenkins Freshpac Systems in Tauranga, which deals with the horticultural industry, and Packaging Plus, which deals in both conventional and environmentally friendly plastic.
Tim Marshall of Packaging Plus says it’s responding to unprecedented public awareness.
‘‘In the past it’s always been about the price and no one really gave a hoot about the environment. And then what started happening about 24 months ago, there started being a shift, and this drum started to beat.’’
The company started travelling the world, looking at recyclable or compostable alternatives – even a microwavable cardboard TV dinner tray – and getting them certified.
‘‘We didn’t just bring in anything,’’ Marshall says.
That’s because not everything works in with the New Zealand waste system. For example, he says, PLA, a plant-based plastic, is biodegradable but only if it goes to an industrial facility, of which there are very few here.
‘‘We don’t have that end of life process that some other countries have,’’ Marshall says. ‘‘That will come, but until there’s some dollar value for the processors at the other end, it’s not going to happen.’’
An alternative for fruit and vegetables is particularly tricky as some of them, like blueberries, are very fragile and consumers also want to see their product so clear packaging is important.
Jenkins’ solutions include paper-based packaging for the likes of mushrooms, and compostable wood-fibre based netting for the likes of oranges. Its film wraps are also recyclable, and its clear packaging is at least plant-based.
Jenkins general manager Jamie Lunam says it’s possible, for example, to do a fully compostable clam shell for tomatoes. But not one council in the country will accept them, and many people don’t compost.
‘‘Pretty much everything we sell is recyclable, it’s just not easily recyclable.’’
And these new products aren’t cheap. They can be three times the price of conventional plastic, but can be as high as 10 times the cost.
Recycling’s mantra is: if you can’t recycle it, you should try to reduce it or re-use it. Our lightest hard plastics can now be reprocessed within New Zealand by Wellington-based Flight Plastics, reducing the need for oil-based, ‘‘virgin’’ plastic.
Big users like Coca-Cola Amatil have committed to using only plastic that’s recyclable or recycled, by 2025 at the latest.
And both Countdown and rival Foodstuffs are gradually shifting to recycled plastic polyethylene terephthalate (or RPET, as its known), particularly for meat trays.
But better still is the move to reduce the need for plastic at all. Bulk bin groceries are springing up, people are being urged to rediscover their local butchery and patronise farmers markets.
Personal care firm Ecostore has 60 ‘‘refill stations’’ where people can bring their own containers for shampoo and cleaning products.
But managing director Pablo Kraus says cost is a big factor holding a lot of companies back from alternative measures. Ecostore shaved $2.5 million off its bottom line when it introduced sugar-based recyclable containers.
Price is also one of the key barriers for horticulturists, Mike Chapman says – and whether the supermarkets will allow growers to pass on the costs.
‘‘It’s not about the growers, it’s whether you have to absorb the cost of the extra packaging or whether you can move that cost on. If your margins are tight, you may not have much leeway.’’
Kraus is hopeful that if enough manufacturers and producers change to greener alternatives, the price of being greener will come down.
With large businesses like Unilever starting to commit to the cause, ‘‘it makes it a lot easier for a lot of the smaller businesses that use
‘‘About 24 months ago, there started being a shift, and this drum started to beat.’’ Tim Marshall Packaging Plus
a lot of the same materials and ingredients’’.
‘‘They will start to change their supply chains and companies will start to innovate at the beginning of the packaging lifestyle that won’t have the same impact or waste.’’
Re-using plastic for other purposes is also starting. Kathmandu uses plastic bottles for clothing and bags, and Future Post is using bottles and bags for fence posts.
But the process isn’t a smooth one. Thomas Neitzert, a professor of engineering at AUT, says people don’t always realise that recycled plastic can lose some of its strength.
This has ramifications for the construction industry which contributes up to 40 per cent of the rubbish going to landfill.
Many of those materials could be re-used if concerns about lifespan and reliability could be overcome.
The banning of plastic bags has been both applauded as a good start and criticised as a token gesture in a sea of plastic.
Who takes the lead and who pays for dealing with waste continue to be the major issues. A waste levy on manufacturers is regarded as a disincentive, but not enough to provide new recycling facilities.
Meantime, packaging is a huge, $4 billion industry and a big part of the export sector, so plastics won’t go away overnight.
The burgeoning green packaging industry also faces charges that it’s playing a little loose and free with terms like compostable, bio-based or biodegradable.
Consumers don’t always know whether their compostable cup is one that may last decades in the ocean.
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton, last year called on the Government to help clear up the confusion.
‘‘Businesses and consumers face a bewildering array of claims about plastic that can lead to misunderstandings on the part of even the most environmentally conscious citizens,’’ he said in a letter.
‘‘Simply promoting materials as being biodegradable or recyclable as ends in themselves could lead to unintended consequences.’’
Neitzert says this is where consumers have some power.
‘‘In many cases, we have alternatives through other materials like metals, glass and textiles. If consumers refuse plastics and switch to alternatives, then certain industries are on the back foot to explain the safety of their products. This is one way to achieve product stewardship.’’
Ultimately, he believes the Government will have to regulate so manufacturers are made accountable in terms of where their packaging ends up.
Jenkins’ Lunam agrees. The burden has to be shared, he says, and no one wants to jump first.
‘‘Somebody needs to be prepared to accept that there’s a premium to doing things more sustainably. That might be in the form that your product doesn’t last as long on the shelf, it might be that to get it onto the shelf is going to cost more.
‘‘The reality is, from where I’m sitting it’s going to take a central government mandate, like we’ve seen with plastic bags.’’
Asked about regulation, Sharon Humphreys says ‘‘what is required here is a plan’’, and the industry is prepared to take a leading role.
‘‘Government regulations alone are not the answer, just as targeting manufacturers isn’t either. All of society has a part to play, so we tackle our waste and recycling in the context of New Zealand.’’
But a mandate from on high will still need buy-in lower down, says James Griffin of the Sustainable Business Network.
‘‘There’s a need and opportunity for businesses to move faster and innovate much quicker than the Government can act. So everyone’s got a role to play.’’