News
Soap Box - are biodegradable packs good for the environment?
Compostable packaging and other forms of biodegradable materials have been in the headlines in recent weeks - most recently, Sainsbury's and Amcor began trialling a compostable salad bag.
But some of the supposedly biodegradable materials out there – in particular, those based on additives which break down plastics – are failing to win support from packaging buyers.
So in this week’s Soap Box, we are asking: what are the best compostable or biodegradable materials, and which are the worst? What are the limits of these materials? And is a zero-waste packaging industry, which these materials are supposed to herald, a realistic aim?
Log in, either under your own name or a pseudonym, and let us know your opinions. We'll be publishing a write-up of the sector's views on Friday's Daily Bulletin and may use some of the comments in November's Packaging News magazine.
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Comments
DANJIM MARKETING - 24 September 2008
Given choice in degradable or compostable, then compostable every time. However, retailers only tend to use compostable packaging for organic foods and slowly we are seeing more compostable packaging on other products. The price of compostable packaging is far higher so the cost will inevitably be added into the cost of the end-product to the consumer. There is also the issue of using GM crops for compostable packaging, if not Materbi. The overriding advantage of compostable over degradable, is that in landfill the packaging will degrade in 60-80 days.
However, is sending materials to landfill the answer, even if they are compostable? We believe the answer must be to recycle products and the retailers to seriously start to reduce significantly the amount of packaging being used. If you combine a reduction in packaging being used and better recycling facilities and infrastructure then this is a significant step in the right direction.
Rob Nathan - 24 September 2008
The statement that compostable packaging will degrade in landfills in 60-80 days is completely incorrect. For example, PLA packaging is industrially compostable but will take decades to degrade in a landfill. Most compostable packaging is not truly compostable, it is industrially compostable. This means that it will not degrade in a personal compost heap as the temperature will not attain that of an industrial composter. These items are not degradable in landfills. Manufacturers should be pushed to use materials that are degradable in landfills, as that is where the majority of things end up. Until such time as people are better about recycling and reusing, landfill-degradable materials are best.
DANJIM MARKETING - 25 September 2008
To reduce confusion we call to approve plastic products according to EN 13432, respectively EN 14995, if the marketer advertises the product to be "compostable" or "biodegradable". Because these terms are not always used correctly, for instance, "degradable" or "oxo-degradable". Suppliers should signed a voluntary self commitment on product certification which should be acknowlegded by the European DG Enterprise.
Harry Hotfoot - 25 September 2008
Degradable, biodegradable, compostable, EN13432? Most "degradable" material is oxodegradable, and really just breaks up into smaller pieces - not particularly good for the environment. Compostable? mostly based on corn somehow, which is great unless you're in the 3rd world and starving. EN13432? defines a set of conditions for biodegradation, that's all. Material isn't supposed to degrade in a land-fill. It's all spin, except for simply "using less", which is down to design and (less so) to technology.
Rob Nathan - 25 September 2008
So here is the question- which material is best when one needs to make packaging? Paper? And if paper just doesn't have the inherent strength needed for the package? Recyclable plastic like PET? Biodegradable additives in PET so if it gets landfilled, thrown out as litter, etc. it will degrade? (I.e., ECM Biofilms or Bio-Tec Environmental's degradable additives that are not oxo-degradable but based solely on biodegradation and will even work in a marine environment.)
Michal Stephen - 30 September 2008
Compostability of plastics is an irrelevance because compostable plastics are far too expensive for everyday use, and there are very few industrial composting facilities. Also, as it is difficult and expensive to separate compostable plastics from other plastics, many industrial composters do not want plastic of any kind in their feedstock.
Home composting of plastic packaging should not be encouraged, as it is often contaminated with meat, fish, or poultry residues, and temperatures may not rise high enough to kill the pathogens.
Compostable plastics will damage the recycling process if they get into in a normal plastic recycling waste stream
They are not really "renewable" either. Just consider the hydrocarbons burned by machines which clear the land, plough the land, make the fertilisers and pesticides, transport them to the farm, sow the seeds, spray the crops, etc etc.
The best and least expensive option is oxo-biodegradable plastic, which can be recycled but will completely degrade if it escapes into the environment, leaving no fragments, no heavy metals and no harmful residues,
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