PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2020

PACKAGING / PALLETISING PETplanet Insider Vol. 21 No. 05/20 www.petpla.net 14 Paper carrier bags, reusable glass bottles, and organic produce bags: are these viable packaging alternatives or ecological nonsense? The supermarket check As consumers, we have an ambivalent attitude towards packag- ing: on the one hand, we appreciate the convenience of a comprehensive local supply with food and goods of all kinds, but on the other hand, looking at the mountains of waste associated with this convenience sets the alarm bells in our ecological conscience ringing. Even though the impact on the environment can be minimised with a number of measures – short transport routes, recycling of card- board, plastics, and glass, refillable instead of single-use containers – a world without packaging is unrealistic. To prevent food from perishing and thus avoid unnecessary waste, it must be adequately protected from exter- nal influences such as moisture, heat, and sunlight during transport and stor- age. The packaging of food is there- fore largely without alternative. Our much-cited common sense tells us that we need to choose the right kind of packaging for each product: namely the one that sufficiently protects the contents while leaving the smallest possible ecological footprint. This is where an important consideration that is currently gaining in popularity comes into play: design for recycling. In choosing and designing their packaging, companies now have a range of resources at their disposal, from design guidelines to internet platforms (e.g., RecyClass, Recycling- Compass), which help manufacturers to put their packaging through its paces. A good example of such a tool is the Circular Packaging Design Guideline of the University of Applied Sciences of Vienna “FH Campus Wien”, which pro- vides recommendations for designing recyclable packaging. These essentially cover the mate- rials plastics, paper, glass, tinplate, and aluminium; design examples for, e.g., aluminium cans or HDPE bot- tles give a good impression of how a complete, recyclable packaging could look like. Supermarkets: getting rid of plastic? For a while now, the retail sector has been aware of the need for sus- tainable packaging solutions. Aus- trian supermarket chains for example proudly present their strategies for greater sustainability, from organic bags and reusable nets up to car- rier bags made of jute. It is striking that a large part of these measures is directed against the material plas- tic. While Spar limits its campaign to “saving plastics together”, the Rewe Group is taking a more aggressive approach with “getting rid of plastic”. It almost appears as if merely dispens- ing with plastics was considered a guarantee for greater sustainability. Admittedly: plastics have an image problem. The media are full of pictures of polluted beaches, reports about the littering of the seas with plastic products and debates about the effects of microplastic on the human digestive system. But the problem is not plastic, it’s what we do with it, as rightly stated in the UN strategy for single-use plastics. As with all other materials, the specific purpose for which the plastic is used determines the sense and sustain- ability of plastic packaging. So how sustainable are the meas- ures of local supermarket chains in reality? In the following, three of these measures will be examined in more detail: the banning of single-use plas- tic carrier bags, the expansion of the range of refillable glass bottles at the expense of PET bottles as well as the shift from conventional plastic produce bags to various alternatives. Carrier bags – even common sense can be misleading It’s a fact that the ban on single- use plastic carrier bags is not some- thing that the supermarket chains came up with, but a direct conse- quence of EU directive 2015/720, which aims to drastically reduce the per capita consumption of lightweight plastic carrier bags. As a reason, the EU directive states that the disposal of plastic carrier bags causes environ- mental pollution such as the accu- mulation of waste in bodies of water. Even though plastic bags constitute only a small part of marine waste, waste prevention is definitely a good thing, provided that the right meas- ures are taken. On the positive side, supermarkets generally call for waste avoidance and PACKAGING