New laws, including a ban on plastic packaging for several fruits and vegetables came into effect in France on New Year’s Day. The measures aimed at reducing pollution will also prevent manufacturers from dumping certain clothing, hygiene and furniture products that have not been sold.
Environmentalists have long campaigned against single-use plastics as pollution worsens globally while President Emmanuel Macron has backed the move defending a “pragmatic” approach.
The October decree covers for example the sale of under 1.5 kilos (3.3 lbs) of apples.
However, the full legislation will not be applied until 2026, allowing firms to adapt, including on the sale of red fruits considered fragile. Six months has also been granted to use up existing plastic packaging stocks.
“We were never consulted,” complained Laurent Grandin, head of the fruit and vegetable sector’s Interfel association.
He told AFP the costs were “insurmountable” for small companies who would have to keep using plastic to protect exports, notably to Britain, a major client for apples.
But Armand Chaigne, director of industrial markets at packaging firm DS Smith, sees the benefits, notably for cardboard manufacturers.
“It is estimated that in Europe, out of the eight million tonnes of plastic produced per year for single-use packaging, 1.5 million tonnes could already be removed,” he told AFP.
“That represents about 70 billion units of single-use plastic packaging”, or “about €7 billion ($7.9 billion) of additional turnover potential for cardboard”, he said.
When people think about ways to help the environment, encourage biodiversity and decrease greenhouse gases, they don’t usually think about the impact of food waste. And yet food waste is responsible for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Producing food for a growing global population is a complex challenge with a lot of negative environmental consequences, so food waste creates unnecessary strain on our fragile environment.
I was part of a recent research project with the UK Global Food Security programme, which explores ways to cut food waste. Our key findings and suggestions address waste throughout the food system – that includes all the processes, people and infrastructure involved in getting food from farm to fork. We found that cutting food waste needs cooperative action from all of us – businesses, policymakers and individuals. The most commonly wasted foods are fresh fruit and vegetables, bread and baked goods, and leftovers. Products with short shelf lives, such as meat and dairy, are also prone to be wasted.
Domestic food waste declined in the UK dramatically during the early pandemic lockdowns, with 30% using up more leftovers, but waste levels are increasing again as people go out more and have less time to cook.
Here are five things you can do:
1) Set your fridge to below 5℃: This can help increase the shelf life of many of the most commonly wasted foods, including fruit, vegetables and dairy products. About 90% of milk waste happens in the home – this adds up to nearly 500 million pints annually in the UK. Setting your fridge to the right temperature can save 50,000 tonnes of milk waste every year. Yet many of us don’t know how to adjust our fridge temperature, or how best to store food.
WRAP, a charity working on cutting waste, has guidance on understanding and adjusting fridge temperatures, and the best ways to stop milk and dairy products being wasted.
2) Single-use plastics: Many of us are seeking to decrease the amount of single-use plastics in our lives, and in our shopping baskets. This is good – but often these plastics and packaging keep food fresh for longer. Fortunately, there are significant developments towards a post-plastic world. Scientists are working on developing methods of treating and storing food that can extend its shelf life. For now, if you’re going to ditch the plastic wrap, make sure you store food in reusable containers in the fridge to maintain freshness.
3) Dish up smaller portions: This results in up to 20% less food waste If you have leftovers, make sure you enjoy them, and don’t forget about them.
The reasons behind domestic food waste are complex. Many of us put our leftovers in the fridge, then forget about them. Fortunately, there are many ways to manage our fridge contents effectively and decrease food waste. These range from apps, to the humble Post-it note, or pen. Labelling leftovers reminds us when they went in – and when they need to be eaten by. Try and freeze meat, dairy and bread if they are close to spoiling – this will extend their life.
4) Buy directly from local suppliers: Our food systems and supply chains are incredibly complex. This complexity, as well as contracts which tend to favour larger suppliers, leads to high levels of food loss and waste. In contrast, buying directly from local suppliers results in less waste and keeps money in the local economy. It’s possible to buy almost anything – fruit, veg, bread, meat, dairy – directly from suppliers. Support a local business, eat quality food, and decrease waste.
Dairy products are high on the list of foods that are often wasted. gbellphotos/Shutterstock
5) Help out at your local food bank: Suppliers often have awkward quantities of fresh food that is damaged and can’t be sold. They are more than happy to get this to a local group that prepares meals or distributes extra food surplus directly to the public – and apps like Too Good To Go are helping restaurants in the UK to do this.
But logistical challenges – and costs – mean that this food often still goes to waste. Food banks often have an excess of tinned and processed food – and a limited amount of fresh food available for people who need it. Let your local redistribution hub know that you’re available to help pick up some spare food and transport it to a nearby redistribution centre.
Food waste is a complex problem that won’t be solved by individual actions alone. Supermarkets are rising to the challenge of shrinking their environmental footprint. But we all need to do what we can to decrease food loss and waste, at the household level and beyond.
When Rebecca Prince-Ruiz recalls how her eco-friendly movement Plastic Free July has progressed over the years, she can’t help but smile. What began in 2011 as 40 people committing to going plastic-free one month a year has gained momentum to 326 million people pledging to adopt this practice today.
“I’ve seen that uptick in interest every year,” says Ms Prince-Ruiz, who is based in Perth, Australia, and author of Plastic Free: The Inspiring Story of a Global Environmental Movement and Why It Matters.
“These days, people are taking a hard look at what they are doing in their lives and how they can seize an opportunity to be less wasteful,” she says.
Since 2000, the plastics industry has manufactured as much plastic as all the preceding years combined, a World Wildlife Fund report in 2019 found. “The production of virgin plastic has increased 200-fold since 1950, and has grown at a rate of 4% a year since 2000,” the report says.
This has spurred companies to replace single-use plastic with biodegradable and compostable packaging designed to dramatically reduce the toxic footprint plastics leave behind.
In March, Mars Wrigley and Danimer Scientific announced a new two-year partnership to develop compostable packaging for Skittles in the US, estimated to be on shelves by early 2022.
Mars Wrigley plans to have a compostable wrapper for Skittles by next year GETTY IMAGES
It involves a type of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) that will look and feel the same as plastic, but can be thrown into the compost where it will break down, unlike regular plastic that takes anywhere from 20 to 450 years to fully decompose.
Danimer Scientific’s polymer product is made from canola oil, and it acts similarly to wood, meaning it breaks down when bacteria interact with it. “PHA goes away naturally and is still a very strong material for all types of products,” says Stephen Croskrey, chief executive of Danimer Scientific, based in the US state of Georgia.
Alastair Child, Mars Wrigley vice-president for global sustainability, says: “Our vision is to support a circular economy where packaging never becomes waste and by 2025 we plan to reduce our virgin plastic use by 25% and for 100% of our plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable.”
Polymateria’s plastic biodegrades after three years POLYMATERIA
Hindering the widespread use of eco-friendly packaging such as PHA is the cost. It can be three to fives time as expensive to manufacture as regular plastic.
But that hasn’t stopped companies such as California-based Mango Materials and London-based Polymateria from dedicating their businesses to producing products that biodegrade over a shorter period of time.
For example, Polymateria’s Cycle+ plastic is biodegradable after three years and is still able to be recycled during its usable lifetime. Their clients range from East Africa businesses making bread bags to Extreme E, a new electric racing series that uses Polymateria products for cups and food packaging.
Consumers are demanding biodegradable plastics, says Niall Dunne, chief executive of Polymateria SUZANNE PLUNKETT
The plastics industry should wake up to the growing trend of alternative packaging, says Niall Dunne, chief executive of Polymateria. “We’ve seen how consumer pressure is saying to the big guys that they have to be on board [with reducing their plastic production] and to be more transparent and authentic in this important conversation,” Mr Dunne says.
Meg Sobkowicz, associate professor of plastics engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, says that kind of pressure has already worked to push the plastics industry to steer away from the toxic BPA ingredient that was commonly found in reusable plastic bottles. “I think we’re coming around to where public concern is pushing them to tip the scales in favour of environmentally friendly packaging, despite its costs.”
By David Silverberg
Technology of Business reporte
