As the recent Biodegradable and Compostable Packaging Materials for Foodstuffs report from Campden BRI highlights: ‘A few years ago, it was perceived that biodegradable plastics were the only sustainable option and that they would replace all conventional packaging materials. Nowadays, sustainability is perceived in a different way, and biodegradable plastics have become only one of many alternatives to achieve sustainability.’
Retailers, which, with legislators, remain the key drivers of sustainability agendas, are looking at the fuller impact of packs. Sainsbury’s in the UK, which was facing fines for its overuse of packaging on a beef roasting joint recently, has ditched boxes for its cereals and swapped bags for the cartons or bottles used for its full range of milk products following bumper sales of its semi-skimmed milk in bags.
See related story about Sainsbury’s bagged milk.
“This is the biggest change to occur to the nation’s shopping habits for at least a decade,” says Emma Metcalf King, Sainsbury’s senior dairy buyer of the quantum shift to plastic milk bags, which the supermarket says will use 75% less packaging than standard plastic bottles.
With a target to cut its packaging by a third by 2015, Sainsbury’s is aggressively pursuing the reduction route and says that its switch to bags instead of boxes for cereals will save 165 tonnes of packaging every year.
“It will also reduce our packaging costs, enabling us to keep these cereals at low prices,” says Stuart Lendrum, Sainsbury’s head of packaging (the mastermind behind a switch to PET for wine, and to cartons for chopped tomatoes). “As such, customers’ wallets win, and the environment wins too.”
Environmental packaging by its very nature doesn’t exist (bar the egg or coconut shell), but the move to finding more sustainable, less damaging packaging options and reducing the quantity of packaging is forcing manufacturers to think outside the box!
In order to help companies, The Consumer Goods Forum’s Global Packaging Project ‘addresses the need in the industry for a common language to enable intelligent and informed discussion’. It has already established the ‘principles of sustainability’, ‘how packaging can contribute to improving sustainability’, and a measurement system including ‘indicators and metrics for packaging and sustainability’.
Currently in its pilot phase with 25 companies to evaluate the practical implementation of the framework and measurement systems developed, the Project has identified 52 indicators, including:
The Framework extends to cover issues such as forced or compulsory labour, product safety and freshwater ecotoxicity potential. For each of these indicators, a definition has been provided that also gives guidance on what and where to measure.
A summary of the results of the initial pilot programme will be published in November, which will be followed by an implementation programme designed to support companies in embedding the principles into their daily business activity.
In the US, where there’s still plenty of space for landfill yet dwindling supplies of oil, the environmental emphasis is on using materials from renewable sources. In Europe & Japan, where landfill space is rapidly running out, more importance is given to the reduction of any packaging materials used (biodegradable materials are positively received, though not actively promoted, apart from in Germany, where biodegradable bottles are exempt from the compulsory deposit for single-use containers), according to Campden BRI’s report, which outlines the current state of development of biodegradable food packaging highlighting its strengths and weaknesses, giving examples of recent applications and current innovations in the field.
The report says: ‘There is a vast array of materials whose properties and potential applications are still being investigated; and if their production can be scaled up, they may revolutionise the food packaging sector. However, there are also negative aspects associated with the recent plethora of biodegradable materials. In addition to the fear that crops for plastic will displace crops for food, leading to a shortage of food, and the controversy surrounding the use of GM crops to produce plastic, the problem of correctly disposing of them is significant. So far, no country has promoted a way of disposing of biodegradable packaging, relying instead on consumers’ environmental awareness.’
As with all packaging materials that are hoping to assert their position in the environmentally more-friendly tables, bioplastics from renewable resources – whether biodegradable and compostable or not – also have to take the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) approach and consider other environmental parameters, such as the amount of fossil fuel required to create the materials in the first place.
According to Campden, companies such as NatureWorks (owned by Cargill) has already responded by presenting LCA data that suggests that its products are obtained using less energy than is needed for conventional plastic materials. The company has since introduced a new generation of PLA, which is said to require even less energy for its production, and has said that by fuelling part of its own processes with wind energy, it has produced a material with negative greenhouse gas emissions.
Despite the challenge in LCA including end-use handling, and historically the cost of bioplastics, many companies are turning to it as a solution and the market is growing. Figures provided by the European Bioplastics Association demonstrate the increase in production figures that have risen from 20,000 and 262,000 tonnes in 1995 and 2007 respectively up to the 1,502,000 tonnes predicted for 2011.
Volume demand has been pushed by companies such as Coca-Cola, which led the march last year with the introduction of its PET PlantBottle, 30% of which consists of sugar- and molasses-based materials, followed by Volvic, which has just introduced its greener bottle made from 20% sugarcane waste blended with PET.
Read more about Coca-Cola’s PlantBottle. Read more about Volvic’s greener bottle.
PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay division opted for a full 100% compostable bag made from plant-based polylactic acid (PLA) for its SunChips brand of potato chips, and Liquid Planet has released a 100% organic tea packed in single-serve, fully biodegradable and compostable sachets.
Sainsbury’s has worked with Innovia Films and Novamont on its biodegradable packaging from renewable resources for its fruit, vegetables and prepared salads, and Asda is taking its lead from its US parent company Wal-Mart by using PLA for fresh-cut fruit, herbs, strawberries and sprouts. Marks & Spencer is using NatureWorks’ and Plantic’s materials to package some of its products, and developments are continuing in this dynamic area.
Performance is key for any packaging, and developments in bioplastic materials are constantly addressing this. Biome Bioplastics Ltd, Stanelco’s bioplastics division, has recently introduced a new range of high temperature bioplastics that have a softening point greater than 90°C in dry and wet conditions. BiomeHT 90 exceeds the performance of alternatives by 20-30°C, according to Biome, which is marketing it for use in injection mouldings and sheet/thermoforming applications.
For deep-freeze applications, DKuR Plastics Corp has developed a film based on its Bio-Flex range of compostable biofilms, which has high impact strength. To obtain the film properties required for deep-freeze packaging, a three-layer system made from Bio-Flex F2110, Bio-Flex A 4100 CL and Bio-Flex F 2110 can be used. This combination creates a film with an appealing gloss surface, together with great strength and chemical resistance as well as good barrier properties.
Biopack Environmental Solutions has recently completed trials for the use of its moisture, grease and water resistant trays (or coated trays) in frozen food or ready meals, fresh and frozen meat, cut fruit and vegetables, baked goods as well as seafood applications. Its packaging technology draws on a water-based spray coating technique, which provides the additional performance without affecting the material’s compostability or biodegradability.
Ultimate Packaging, Innovia Films and Sun Chemical have worked together on the development of Ultigreen – a biodegradable and home compostable printed laminate for the food industry.
“Until now, only a small coverage of standard inks could be used to enable products to be rated biodegradable,” says Derek Gibson, technical manager, Ultimate Packaging. “The new Sun Chemical hybrid biodegradable inks allow total print coverage on food packs, and the biodegradable adhesive applied to bond the two Innovia materials (used in the laminate) means that this product can be classed as being made from totally biodegradable components.”
Limagrain Céréales Ingrédients has launched its second-generation Biolice bioplastic, which is more transparent and less permeable to oxygen, yet stiffer and more tear-resistant. Biolice 50C is made from whole cereal grains from a number of Limagrain corn varieties.
Cereplast is currently near a commercial breakthrough with its algae-based resins. Cereplast Algae Plastics will be available commercially by the end of this year and have the potential to replace 50% or more of the petroleum content used in traditional plastic resins ‘without impinging on foodstuffs as their raw material’ (according to Cereplast).
However wonderful the material, any new developments have to be assessed using an LCA approach, and despite the coverage of bioplastics here, the best solution remains to reduce the packaging materials used as long as the product remains fully protected throughout its shelf life.
There is no straight answer to the question ‘which pack is the most environmentally friendly?’, but the unceasing work being done by suppliers and manufacturers alike to improve their overall environmental impact wherever possible will surely bring benefits to the industry and society as a whole over time.
Claire Rowan is managing editor of Food & Beverage International magazine. Subscribe here.
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