Rene Rose
(Feature Image: Kat Stanley Photography)
Plastic production has an impact on the environment. In Australia, the focus is on packaging. We do enough
From Positiv Pty Ltd Australia Director Rene Rose.
Government ministers are committed to ensuring that 100% of Australia's packaging is recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2025 or earlier. The 100% goal is achieved by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organization – an agreement between the Australian government, the government of states and territories and the packaging industry. This applies to companies in a supply chain that manufacture packaging or packaged products with annual sales of $ 5 million or more.
While we applaud these efforts – and recognize that Australia leads the indictment when compared to other large manufacturing companies like the United States – 2025 may already be too late.
The environment is losing its battle with single-use plastics, which is more terrifying when you consider that 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year. The plastic production was connected with:
- Over 99% of plastic is made from chemicals that come from fossil fuels.
- The chemicals added to plastic are absorbed by the human body, resulting in negative effects on health.
- Plastic waste that contains chemicals and is often ingested by marine animals can injure or poison wildlife.
- Disturbance of the habitat in the environment.
- Plastic buried deep in landfills can leach harmful chemicals that spread in groundwater.
Biodegradable plastic products seem like the obvious alternative to this devastating environmental impact, but many of these products are less environmentally friendly than they seem.
Other biodegradable plastic materials such as PLA and PHA are recyclable and industrially compostable. However, many recycling facilities do not support these plastics, and composting facilities remove them as they are considered normal plastic. These “biodegradable” plastics take up to five years to break down and can produce methane, a harmful greenhouse gas.
Could the solution be to replace plastic packaging with packaging made from naturally produced animal by-products?
The young founders of CARAPAC – a company that was founded on our own banks – are convinced of this. You have made a packaging material from the chitosan contained in crustacean skeletons as a truly biodegradable alternative to plastic food packaging.
CARAPAC products naturally degrade in the soil in just three to six weeks, provide the soil with plenty of nutrients and act as slow-release nitrogen fertilizers. This makes CARAPAC the only solution in the world for negative waste packaging. The packaging material also has antifungal properties to extend the shelf life of fresh products by four to six days longer than single-use plastic alternatives.
Given all these benefits, why hasn't this product been adopted by manufacturers across Australia? Because it is currently very expensive to manufacture – three times as much as conventional plastic packaging. These costs are in line with, if not cheaper than current biodegradable alternatives and cheaper than cardboard. Scaling up can make the cost even more competitive at 1.8-2 times the cost of plastic.
It does not have to stay that way. The 2025 Australian National Plastic Targets offer manufacturers the rare opportunity to replace harmful products and processes with a truly sustainable solution – not just one that meets the surface requirements.
As more manufacturers choose zero-waste solutions, the price can become more affordable simply through the laws of supply and demand.
We hope that sustainable manufacturing becomes a reality and not just a buzzword – our future depends on it.
About Rene Rose and Positiv
With a handful of experience in the advertising and marketing industry, Rene got a job as a marketing manager for a multinational transmission solutions company. It didn't seem like her dream job, but it became the love of her life. She worked her way up and founded her own company Positiv in 2015, which specializes in marketing for the manufacturing sector. Positively takes care of large multinational companies and local manufacturers.
positivltd.com
The article Saving the Planet one cup at a time first appeared in Retail World Magazine.
