{"id":23887,"date":"2020-10-27T08:57:06","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T07:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.specpage.com\/?p=23887"},"modified":"2020-10-27T08:58:48","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T07:58:48","slug":"plastic-series-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.specpage.com\/plastic-series-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainable Packaging, Part I: The problem with plastics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost all the food that consumers<\/a> buy \u2013 from produce to processed food \u2013 comes packaged, and quite a lot of the packaging is designed for single use. Plastics, which are used very often to encase food and beverage (F&B) products, have a lot to blame when it comes to recyclability, or lack thereof.<\/p>\n

Unlike what many consumers may think, a lot of plastics that are portrayed as recyclable (because they are separated into the respective recycle bins, after all) are many times not recycled once they hit the waste facilities.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, a lot of what people think about recycling is far from what actually occurs. So much so, that we have decided to create a series of blogs on this information in specific regards to the F&B industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This first blog addresses the problem with recycling: why plastics can\u2019t be recycled well; and introduces how F&B producers are proposing to fix it.<\/p>\n

The difficulties with recycling plastics<\/h2>\n

Misinformation at the consumer level<\/h3>\n

Right now, a major problem with plastic packaging is the fact that it is easy to throw away. Even when recycled \u201cproperly\u201d by consumers \u2013 or what we think is properly \u2013 plastics are still largely discarded.<\/p>\n

This means that a consumer may sort the plastic into the correct bin, but this plastic may have residual food waste on it, which means the package must be discarded at the sorting facility. So, if you haven\u2019t properly washed out the plastic container of honey, it\u2019s likely that it won\u2019t be recycled at all after it has left your home. The same can be said for the plastic package that still contains the wax paper where raw chicken was lying. Despite the consumer\u2019s good intentions, recycling does not always end up the way they assume it will.<\/p>\n

Plastic types<\/h3>\n

There are also discrepancies with plastic types, which determine whether or not they are recyclable. These two types are Thermoplastics and Thermoset plastics<\/a>:<\/p>\n