We have an industry-wide responsibility to ensure that consumers of our packaging can dispose of it correctly and easily, while also ensuring that waste management companies can recycle it as efficiently as possible.
If the waste processer can effectively sort the incoming recycling, the end-product is likely to be more valuable to them. It should also be of a higher quality. This whole process then becomes self-serving, as more investment will be put into dealing with the single material items and will therefore lead to an increase in efficiencies. Waste management companies will also generate a higher profit from these items, creating an incentive to feed the process.
One of the best ways to encourage this, is to use packaging items which are made from just one material wherever possible, and ideally… a material which can easily be recycled. However, being in the food industry, we have another potential problem which is… food contaminating the packaging material itself. If packaging material becomes heavily contaminated with food stuffs (e.g. oils), then its recycled value decreases and recyclers are less inclined to take it. This is where Compostable Packaging can play a part, if it’s Composted correctly.
At NaturePac, we understand these issues. We have developed an entire section of products which are made from just ONE material and beyond that… we’ve selected the products which can easily be recycled NOW via the kerbside. Plus, if they become heavily contaminated, they can also be Composted.
The majority of these products are made from a paperboard and covered with a recyclable, water-based coating. These products can be recycled through existing paper waste streams, NO extra processes are needed.
The product range made from this board is growing all the time and (very soon), we’ll have a brand-new takeaway cup made from the same material!
We will continue to develop our food-to-go packaging range and make these items a lot easier to recycle, because the fewer virgin materials we can use, the better.
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