What Are the Alternatives to Plastic Packaging?
Do you know that packaging is the biggest use of plastic globally? Astonishingly, 40% of all packaging produced is made from plastic and in the UK alone, this equals a mighty two million tonnes of trash each year, or 70% of our total plastic waste. Averagely, only 20% of plastic rubbish is recycled whilst billions of individual synthetic items flow straight into our oceans. Even just from these few short shocking statistics, we can see that plastic packaging poses a massive problem to our planet but what is the alternative?
There are so many innovators and design teams around the world working to reduce the level of plastic packaging we use by focussing on sustainable materials instead. One common example is bioplastics. These are made either wholly or in part from organic biomass as opposed to fossil fuel-based sources like oil. Often, starch and cellulose form the basis of these alternative materials which are derived from corn or sugarcane but some researchers have even experimented with banana peels, mango skins and potato cuttings. This material is used to create drinks bottles, films and food grade packaging. Often however, the problem is that these products still contain some conventional plastic, meaning they are not always biodegradable or compostable but it is so difficult for us as consumers to determine which products are more sustainable and which aren’t. While bioplastics are a great step in the right direction, they don’t solve our dilemma completely.
Mushrooms however, may be the key to unlocking a sustainable, single-use plastic free future. Mycelium is simply a fancy word for the roots of mushrooms and fungi which form a network of fine white filaments. When mycelium is combined with agricultural waste and forestry by-products, it sets to work as it would in the natural environment and breaks down these products. In the process of doing so, mycelium quickly creates a network of thread like filaments which can be moulded into shape by us. After seven to ten days, the substance grows massively in size and without the aid of sunlight, water or chemical additives, making this an extremely environmentally-friendly production line. Once the substance has grown to a sufficient size, heat treatment prevents the mycelium from working and mushroom mass is reshaped into usable products. As well as forming an alternative to plastic packaging, this mushroom mixture can also form a substitute for Styrofoam, insulation and even leather. The end result is durable, flame resistant and can be composted at home in around 40 days and when spread on your garden, adds valuable nutrients back into the soil. Fungi-based packaging really does seem to tick all the sustainability boxes and is expected to be so popular that grow your own kits are already available for use at home.
Yet mushrooms aren’t the only food item trying its best to take on plastic. Bagasse is the pulp leftovers which remain once the juice has been extracted from beets and sugarcane; essentially it is a by-product of sugarcane processing. This substance is sticky and malleable, making it easy to mould into a variety of shapes, perfect for the boxes used by takeaways or food delivery companies. As well as limiting the need for polystyrene in the catering industry, bagasse has even been used to create biodegradable and compostable disposable cutlery and tableware as pulp is transformed into plates.
In some countries where palm trees are abundant, palm leaves have also been used as a way to wrap fresh fruit and vegetables as well as bathroom products such as soap. When the large palm leaves naturally fall to the ground, they are collected, washed and dried in the sun before being moulded into plates, bowls and alternatives to Tupperware. The whole process requires little water and energy whilst no additional chemicals are added, meaning its production has a massively smaller environmental footprint than plastic packaging.
On the other side of the world, a small American brewery has gained fame after creating eco-friendly six pack rings to hold their beers in. Instead of plastic, the brewery has cleverly repurposed their unused by-products of wheat and barley remnants to create packaging which will not only degrade in the ocean but is even edible to marine creatures such as turtles! Despite being a small company, the business hopes to catch the eye of bigger players and persuade them to switch to plastic-free packaging too.
Another brilliant innovation focusses on using seaweed in place of plastic and there are multiple companies around the world working to make this a feasible reality. Within the UK alone, several forward-thinking innovators are supporting the industry of seaweed aquaculture in coastal areas so that the country can have their own sustainable and affordable production of seaweed which will be used to create plastic alternatives. Seaweed is biodegradable as well as renewable and it is an excellent carbon sequester, meaning that growing this plant can help us in our battle against climate change as well as our war on waste. Any seaweed which is left over can be used to improve soil quality on farms, making this material another sustainable star. Already, some seaweed-based products have been tested on a large scale. For example, the London marathon replaced 200,000 plastic water bottles with small edible seaweed pouches which were designed to hold the perfect amount of water needed to rehydrate. Runners could either eat the packaging or throw them away where they would biodegrade in no time. The water sachets were made by dipping frozen balls of water into an algae mixture that forms a membrane around the ice and once melted, the water is encased in a watertight seal. The idea worked well for events such as marathons and festivals but was soon discovered to be less practical in everyday life for a variety of reasons. Unperturbed, the same companies are now using their invention in a different way as they focus on replacing unrecyclable sauce sachets, an enormous source of plastic pollution, especially in the developing world.
Calcium carbonate, the same material that is found in eggshells, is already being used to create super strong yet biodegradable shopping bags whilst even stone is amazingly being used to form alternative plastic and paper products which are printable, recyclable and waterproof, replacing out-dated designs of zip lock bags, carrier bags and greaseproof wraps. It seems that so many companies really are leaving no stone unturned in their quest for sustainable solutions to our waste problem. In fact, many of these small innovators believe their products are competitively priced, all they need is for large brands to open their doors to change and trial their goods. This will allow ordinary people to have a real decision about whether we want to purchase environmentally-friendly products. By using our power as consumers, we really can wake up the big players by showing our support for sustainable alternatives to polluting plastic packaging. Would you be happy to try new products created from fungi, seaweed or corn-starch?
By Neve McCracken-Heywood