Welcome to Table Scraps, a monthly series on the growing problem of food-related waste and what some eateries, officials, farms, institutes, and everyday people are doing right. This isn’t a guilt trip, just a way to unpack initiatives attempting to reduce kitchen waste and food loss. We’re exploring backyard composting to city programs, restaurant tips to technology, and anything related to this global issue. Heat up those leftovers, and settle in.
In my memory, it was around 2018 that people started talking about how plastic straws kill turtles (or something) and that the right thing to do was to switch to reusable ones. That included paper straws (useless, but whatever), metal and silicone straws, biodegradable straws, even edible straws.
2. A disconnect exists between post-consumer packaging and recycled content demand.
The challenge will be made greater by the fact that commitments to use recycled content in packaging exceed currently available supply, and what supply is available is largely used for non-packaging applications like fiber, pipe, and other durable goods.
Meanwhile, even as we have insufficient recycled materials to meet goals, materials like polypropylene and PET thermoforms are at risk of being dropped from municipal recycling programs due to lack of necessary infrastructure. To enable brands to meet their goals, we need investments to increase the supply of recycled materials and ensure that valuable materials are not being discarded.
Photo supplied by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition To advance circularity, we need to support recycling and optimize the use of recycled materials in packaging. Here’s how we can make this more manageable.
Companies are setting aggressive goals around the use of recycled materials in their packaging, but they have a long way to go and a short time to meet them. Recycled material certification can help by offering assurance of the authenticity of materials, new ways of tracking material flows, and investment mechanisms that will advance the use of recycled materials in packaging and other applications.
Here are four good reasons to consider recycled material certifications:
Ferrara Signs Ellen MacArthur Foundation s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment for a Circular Economy for Plastic
Company commits to 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025
Published 12-16-20
CHICAGO, December 16, 2020 /CSRwire/
– Chicago-based sweet snacking company Ferrara today announced its commitment to make all packaging 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. The company has become a signatory of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s and UN Environment Program (UNEP)’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, joining 500 businesses and governments for a vision of a circular economy for plastic in which it never becomes waste or pollution.
To achieve its commitment, Ferrara will engage its entire organization, suppliers and partners to implement the following initiatives as part of a roadmap towards 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging by 2025: