Reuters Events Sustainable Business’ Post

Compostable packaging, often made from plant-based materials like cornstarch, seems the perfect solution to our single-use woes. However, the reality is far more complex, writes Alex Robinson, CEO at Hubbub. The Big Plastic Count revealed UK households discard 1.7 billion pieces of plastic weekly, 83% related to food and drink. While compostables sound like a guilt-free fix, they only biodegrade under specific conditions while confusing labels and inconsistent disposal options mean they often end up in regular waste or recycling, creating more problems than solutions. There’s no silver bullet for our throwaway culture. We need a multi-faceted approach: reducing unnecessary packaging, prioritising reusables and supporting infrastructure for compostables where feasible. Markets like London's Mercato Metropolitano saved 190,000 single-use items by switching to returnable crockery. Hubbub, in partnership with The University of Sheffield and UK Research and Innovation, found that standardised labeling and consistent messaging are key to helping the public dispose of compostables correctly. #Sustainability #CompostablePackaging #Hubbub #UniversityOfSheffield #BigPlasticCount #UKRI #MercatoMetropolitano #PackagingRevolution #ReduceReuseRecycle #CircularEconomy #ZeroWaste Terry Slavin Liam Dowd https://lnkd.in/eDAcxwHE

Comment: Why compostable packaging can't absolve us of our single-use sins

Comment: Why compostable packaging can't absolve us of our single-use sins

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