How 'greener' Plastic Packaging Became An issue — And the way To fix It

Cut back, Reuse and Rethink is a CBC News sequence about recycling. We're exploring why our communities are at a turning point and how we are able to recycle better. You could be a part of the conversation by joining our Fb group. Not so long ago, just about all baby food came in jars, pet meals got here in cans and bins, and frozen vegetables and trail mix came in baggage — and you possibly can recycle that packaging. Now these products are sometimes offered in handy, resealable plastic pouches that generally cannot go in the recycling bin. The story of the standup pouch, as it's known as, exhibits how innovation in packaging can typically come with some massive environmental challenges.

40.Sixty five billion in 2022, in line with the advertising and marketing agency Stratistics MRC — there are individuals engaged on solutions. British Columbia lately launched a pilot program to gather standup pouches and other versatile plastic packaging, like chip baggage, at grocery shops and other places to allow them to work out how to best recycle them. And a few manufacturers, together with a Canadian company, have recently come out with biodegradable and recyclable variations. The recyclable pouches can theoretically be dropped off at supermarkets throughout the nation.

But those efforts themselves also show that discovering methods to recycle new types of packaging is more durable than it appears to be like. Layfield Versatile Packaging, a Canadian company that makes standup plastic pouches at its factory in Richmond, B.C., mainly sells its products for medical uses, akin to blood bags, as well as for food and shopper packaging.

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According to company president Mark Rose, there are good causes — together with environmental ones — why pouches have come to exchange so many aluminum cans, glass jars, and exhausting plastic containers. For one thing, they're lighter and use less materials, saving energy and costs on manufacturing and transportation. Other advantages come up from the very fact they're made by layering different kinds of plastics, each with distinctive benefits. Rose, whose father started the company. At Layfield's factory, huge sheets of polyester feed via a printer that covers them in crisp images of vibrant-eyed dogs and text with the branding, components and nutritional info.

Polyester holds the ink well and retains oxygen out, so the pet food stays fresher. Subsequent, these sheets reel by means of a machine that laminates them to polyethylene, which retains out moisture. A third, metal-coated plastic layer keeps out light that may otherwise pace up spoilage. The result's a handy, resealable package deal that keeps food contemporary, decreasing food waste that may itself cause greenhouse fuel emissions, Rose stated.

And the packaging is interesting and inflexible sufficient to face up on a shelf — helping to market the product. As a result of it's manufactured from layers of different materials, it is not recyclable. Rose mentioned. Nor is melting it down going to assist, for the reason that completely different plastics have completely completely different melting temperatures. Small quantities of some specific standup pouches are at present being recycled: They're collected via manufacturer-funded programs and changed into plastic lumber by an organization referred to as TerraCycle.

However what needs to be finished with the rest is a rising challenge, given the recognition of the pouches. Whereas Rose is convinced that plastic pouches are still more environmentally friendly than other sorts of packaging, he has spent years making an attempt to develop versions which can be greener to dispose — partly at the request of shoppers. This spring, his firm launched two kinds of recyclable pouches: Every incorporates only one form of plastic — both polyethylene or polypropylene. Similar recyclable pouches have previously been put on the market by different corporations, together with Dow Chemical, Accredo Packaging and Amcor Flexibles, which are using them to package deal Seventh Technology and Methodology dishwasher detergent.