Ecoware NZ

What are bioplastics? If you are still using PE-lined coffee cups or PET containers in your business, the article linked here defines bioplastics and explains the relationship between biodegradability and compostability and how the two are certified. We also take a deep dive into the three types of bioplastics: — Biobased (or partially biobased), durable (not biodegradable). For example, biobased polyethylene (PE), biobased polyethylene terephthalate (PET) — Biobased and biodegradable, compostable plastics. For example, polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanaoates (PHA), polybutylene succinate (BioPBS™) — Plastics based on fossil resources and biodegradable, such as PBAT   We also share why bioplastics represent a viable solution to the plastic pollution and current waste management problems we see today. We know it can be challenging to transition away from your current products, which is why we work with you to translate your existing packaging into a petrochemical-free solution. Email us at hello@ecoware.co.nz, and we will work with you to transition seamlessly. https://lnkd.in/gz5SpbBh #wastemanagement #circulareconomy #recycling #organicsrecycling

An excellent read discussing composting as a financially viable alternative to recycling which is becoming increasingly unviable. Key outtakes below: 💸 Fluctuating energy prices, shifting market demands, and currency instability are creating volatile conditions for the recycling industry. Maintaining consistent profitability has become challenging 📉 European businesses supplying recycled plastic materials from PET bottles now face a tough market. Higher energy market prices have forced price increases for recycled materials while virgin plastic resin prices continue to fall. Expect to see this trend globally 🚚 The cost of collecting and sorting recycling is also increasing (labour, fuel and compliance costs), impacting recycling profitability. We see this here where in 2022 → Composting is an underutilised climate risk mitigation solution ➤ Composting has the capacity to reduce methane emissions, a GHG 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2). You are also producing a material with an end market that reduces demand for synthetic fertilisers, which have negative environmental health impacts. Soil quality is also improved, enhancing carbon sequestration of soils. ➤ In-vessel composting will have energy costs, but static pile and windrow industrial composts rely on heat generated from the piled material and the introduction of oxygen for aerobic decomposition to take place with minimal intervention. ➤ While action has been taken to reform and unify recycling across the country without restricting the materials in the market, a lot of the food and beverage packaging is now unrecyclable since the bans have seen that packaging go from the blue bin to the red bin. ➤ Food scrap collections in South Australia, for example, include compostable food packaging. This has been possible as a result of extensive bans on lookalike petrochemical plastic products reducing contamination risk for composters. Supermarkets only stock certified compostable bags for produce, which then people can use for their benchtop bins, which have been shown to increase composting participation rates. What are your thoughts, as taxpayers? Why the intent focus on recycling. Who wanted a container return scheme? What would you like to see local government implement and direct public funds towards? https://lnkd.in/gQFnqgvp #composting #circulareconomy #wastemanagement

We spoke recently with Nathalia Gonzales, Reclaim | Serious About Recycling Sustainability Manager, who shares insights into the decision to expand Reclaim's organic collections with a new food organics recycling (composting) service for paper towels and certified compostable products. Gonzales noted how residential food waste collections had encouraged businesses to separate their waste, and there was now a greater level of ownership over waste generation. What are your perceptions of waste management in commercial settings? Are you seeing increased advocacy for waste management? Does your business serve in compostable packaging, or do you see a lot of it in your work bins? If you are based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, get in touch with Reclaim to discuss your collection options. If you are outside the service area or want to explore your collection options, email tracey@ecoware.co.nz. https://lnkd.in/eCKJgYSX #composting #wastemanagement #organicsrecycling #recycling

Earlier this month, the Ministry for the Environment | Manatū mō te Taiao released three reports on compostable packaging, 1] A guide for selecting compostable materials in Aotearoa, New Zealand, 2] Compost Products in Aotearoa, New Zealand and 3] Additives in Compostable Products. At the link below 🔗 we provide an overview of each paper (and links to download all three papers) and discuss how further regulation could accelerate the growth of compost infrastructure and value-creation opportunities as part of the circular economy. Key points and thoughts on paper findings include: Regulation—including further bans of fossil-fuel-based plastics to reduce confusion and contamination, PFAS, and mandatory certifications for products claiming to be compostable. Compost quality: Removing problematic materials will be key to providing composters with the confidence to accept compostable packaging. In addition, introducing a compost standard (like in Australia) that is not industry-developed will also help. Compost facilities—Infrastructure exists for compostable products. What is required is an increase in acceptance by composters, which can only be achieved through 1] mandatory product certification, 2] phasing out problematic non-certified and biodegradable fossil fuel-based plastics, 3] introducing compost standards to reduce facility risk and ensure correct processing, and finally, 4] developing an independent quality standard for compost products. Communication and certification—A lack of regulation is enabling greenwashing by the packaging industry and its customers. The government must act on recommendations made in 2019 to run public advertising campaigns to raise awareness on “plastic pollution, recycling, and biodegradable or compostable plastics.” https://lnkd.in/g9KecZ7s #compostableproducts #biodegradability #circulareconomy

Reclaim | Serious About Recycling is now offering for businesses or workspaces in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, a food waste collection service accepting paper towels and certified compostable packaging. We can still enjoy convenience, but we must align our systems with nature to ensure the products we use have a more temporary impact 🌎 Reclaim’s service is one example of an easily accessible system of recovery, transformation, and repurposing of resources that will ensure we can still grab lunch from the food hall but with reduced emissions and impact. Certified compostable packaging allows for the maximum recovery of food scraps. Unlike recycling, there is no rinsing; the container and the food are composted industrially—used as organic inputs to create compost. Our products and others, certified to globally accepted standards, are a circular solution. Our nutrient-based packaging, made from abundant and renewable plant materials, can be returned to the earth and used within the soil ecosystem, representing an infinite lifecycle. This is the future of convenience. Are you ready to join us? #foodwaste #compostablepackaging #organicsrecycling

Where composts are processed to meet or exceed the standard, the likelihood of residual material derived from compostable products is minimised or completely avoided. So when the composter does not compost to standard, then you see residual materials. In 2021, Scion and WasteMINZ undertook a practical study to investigate the degradation of different materials in industrial and home composting systems. The research was to determine whether packaging certified as compostable according to European Standard EN 13432 will break down in Aotearoa, New Zealand, composting facilities within the required period without detriment to the final compost product. Scion’s research revealed variability in disintegration across and even within sites. These key findings highlight why composters must adhere to the standards by which compostable products are certified: - While all the materials were technically compostable according to laboratory testing, the conditions at each facility significantly impacted their disintegration rates. - Factors such as time, temperature, mixing protocol, and shredding timings played a role, with moisture content emerging as a critical element. Between the packaging declaration to have all packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025, the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan and our transition to a circular economy by 2050, there is an urgency to find ways forward to ensure the end-of-life for compostable products if we are to achieve these targets. What are your thoughts? Start a conversation in the comments. You can read the full research paper at the link below: https://lnkd.in/gSrkBmCt #circulareconomy #composting #organicrecycling #recycling

The future of convenience is not plastic. It cannot be. Only 9% of plastics are successfully recycled, so more recyclable plastics and more recycling is not the solution. In the article linked below, we discuss how moving away from petrochemical plastics not only presents value creation opportunities for your business but is necessary. If you have yet to remove fossil fuels from your business, send us an email at hello@ecoware.co.nz. https://lnkd.in/gTzh5Diz #recycling #plasticpollution #wastemanagement

Officials want to ensure recycling sent overseas is reused—in a country with less infrastructure and ability to process this waste than we do. Malaysia does not want our waste. The Malaysian environmental campaigner Pua Lay Peng implied in comments to 1news that it is illegal recycling facilities accepting this waste. The question we should be asking ourselves is, are the recyclers that we, as tax-payers and rate-payers pay hundreds of millions of dollars each year paying these illegal recyclers to take our waste? If Aotearoa, New Zealand, has no viable end market for recyclable materials, how does Malaysia? And why would they pay for our waste, as the Waste and Recycling Industry Forum executive director Barney Irvine states? A 2022 Mfe consultation document on transforming recycling estimates the recycling rate at 28%. Producer responsibility is practically non-existent—lobbying pressure delaying product stewardship scheme An investigative series, “Waste is money”, produced by journalist Cécile Meier and published on BusinessDesk, found that 70% of cardboard and plastic recycling is shipped overseas, prompting readers to question how large sums of public money are spent. What are your thoughts? The Ministry for the Environment is estimating an investment of between $2b and $3b to achieve a circular economy. How should that money be spent? https://lnkd.in/gFUPCQGz. #plasticpollution #wastemanagement #recycling

Transitioning away from petrochemical plastics reduces business risk. As reported by Forbes, investors are failing to adequately price the social and environmental externalities associated with the plastic value chain, according to new research published by Planet Tracker.  Rising fossil-fuel costs, progressive plastic legislation and mandatory climate related disclosure commitments, in conjunction with reputational and legal risks, are the most prominent short-term risks investors should address with their investee companies, which are creating new opportunities for non-fossil fuel-based bioplastics. Disinvestment from fossil fuel plastics reduces the risk to business, from financial penalties on pollution and emissions to missed revenue opportunities from consumers looking for healthier, planet-positive alternatives. https://lnkd.in/gJ_bCqAS #plasticpollution #globalplastictreaty #riskmanagement

In a time of transition to a circular economy, the demand for sustainable strategy and investing in new materials is growing and expanding. In the article linked below, we share the company update from our PLA manufacturing partner, NatureWorks, who have attracted record financing to expand the production of their PLA product, Ingeo™. See the key takeaways below. 🌽 NatureWorks' new facility will open in 2025 with an annual capacity of 75,000 tonnes of Ingeo™️ to meet market demand across the Asia Pacific region. The sugarcane (PLA feedstock) will be sourced from farms within a 50-kilometre radius of the new factory. 📈 The bioplastics market size is roughly USD 10.94 billion, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 20.3% from 2024 to 2031, potentially reaching USD 39.89 billion by 2031 (CMInsights). 🌐 At present, bioplastics represent roughly 0.5% of the over 400 million tonnes of plastic produced annually, but the industry is rapidly growing. And PLA is leading this new wave of materials (European Bioplastics). ♻️ Public demand for circular economies, increasing awareness of plastics toxicity combined with the EU plastics strategy and investors recognising the financial risks associated with plastics are driving the shift towards renewable products—100% biomaterials, which are truly circular. 📑 According to Planet Tracker, 731 new plastic pollution policies came into effect between 2012 and 2022 (more are to follow). 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gKnfTFDW Is your business still using fossil fuel plastics? Get in touch by emailing us at hello@ecoware.co.nz to discuss how our certified compostable packaging can reduce your consumption of toxic fossil fuels.