Monthly Archives: May 2018

Supermarkets Sign the UK Plastics Pact

In a salutary move, British supermarkets and food companies have launched a new voluntary pledge to cut plastic packaging.

In a first response to the growing awareness and anxiety around the plastic epidemic, most of the UK’s largest supermarkets signed up to support the UK Plastics Pact – an industry-wide initiative which says it aims to transform packaging and reduce avoidable plastic waste.

‘Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose are among the 42 businesses so far supporting the new pledge, which includes an aspiration that by 2025 all plastic packaging can be reused, recycled or composted.’

As The Guardian reports, the government has been debating introducing sanctions to a sector which has traditionally born no responsibility for waste disposal, and has been largely unregulated. By signing the pledge, supermarkets get ahead of parliament, and can begin to create their own recycling and re-use paradigms.

Refillable and reusable solutions are the future, and a combination of bio-friendly and intelligent packaging has the potential to create a real alternative to single-use plastics.

UK supermarkets launch voluntary pledge to cut plastic packaging

UK supermarkets launch voluntary pledge to cut plastic packaging

Critics say retailers can pick and choose whether to sign up to Plastics Pact, a series of pledges that have no enforcement mechanism

Source: www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/26/uk-supermarkets-launch-voluntary-pledge-to-cut-plastic-packaging

Devouring Plastic

The last month has seen two innovative responses to the plastic crisis, both of which involve the ecologically sound consumption of plastic.

The first involves an edible plastic substitute which not only breaks down naturally, but can be consumed by the very sea creatures which are typically harmed by the non-soluble traditional plastics. Taken to trial with can holders and straws, but applicable across the packaging industry, this offers a paradigm shift and gives waste a purpose:

https://www.facebook.com/stateofthecarte/videos/969766616535871

r/Damnthatsinteresting – Honestly one of the best ideas

The second, the result of a lab experiment gone wrong, pioneers an enzyme which consumes plastic on a molecular level. ‘It all began when researchers took a closer look at the crystal structure of a recently discovered enzyme called PETase, which evolved naturally and was already known to break down and digest plastic … But their investigation had an unlikely result — they introduced a mutation to PETase. The result was a new type of enzyme that digests plastic more efficiently than the original’:

Lab ‘Accident’ Becomes Mutant Enzyme That Devours Plastic

Lab ‘Accident’ Becomes Mutant Enzyme That Devours Plastic

A new enzyme unintentionally produced by researchers has a voracious appetite for plastic.

Source: www.livescience.com/62328-plastic-eating-enzyme.html

 

Both of these solutions are in their earliest phases, but they promise exciting and real changes. Used in tandem with multiple use refillables and traditional recycling methods, these breakthroughs could offer a long term solution to the planet’s plastic build up.