Reusable Packaging News
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superior product protection and ventilation of reusable containers.
The Importance of Repeated Reuse
The fact that reusable packaging can be reused on multiple occasions is not in itself a compelling argument, however – an understanding well known by industry providers. The possibility of reuse is no more convincing than the argument that ocean plastic is recyclable. Recyclable plastic is still in the ocean, strangling turtles and being ingested by fish, as too many photos graphically display. The value of reusables, at risk of stating the obvious, is in their repeated reuse. Steps to ensure successful reuse and end of life recycling help differentiate reusable plastic pallets and containers from the supermarket plastic trash generation that is currently in the crosshairs of UK lawmakers. Successful asset management is crucial.
Plastic reusable packaging provides important contributions to sustainable, cost-effective supply chains. Pressure from the current plastic backlash should give providers and users pause to ensure that their plastic packaging is long lasting and well managed so that it stays in service and is not swept up in illicit back-alley grinding schemes or otherwise lost from useful service.
Through demonstrated successful reuse, the reusable packaging industry clearly distances itself from the current backlash. Given our current environmental concerns, reusable packaging is more important than ever. With plastic squarely in the glare of public scrutiny, we are afforded the opportunity to explain how reusable packaging is different than the disposable plastic currently dominating the headlines, and as such, promote its use in support of sustainability.
It’s not plastic that’s destroying the planet, it’s how we use it
It’s not plastic that’s destroying the planet, it’s how we use it
Steve Millward, General Manager at bakery equipment pooling company Bakers Basco, welcomes the UK Government’s £20m fund aimed at changing how we use and abuse plastic.
Editor’s note: Bakers Basco was set up by five of the UK’s leading plant bakers in 2006 to buy, manage and police the use of a standard basket for the delivery of bread to retailers and wholesalers. The company currently manages a pool of approximately four million Omega Baskets, which are used by bakers including Allied Bakeries, Fine Lady Bakeries, Frank Roberts & Sons, Hovis and Warburtons to deliver bread to their customers. Find out more at www.bakersbasco.co.uk.
By Steve Millward
Sam Gyimah, Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation in the UK Government, recently announced a new £20 million Plastics Research and Innovation Fund (PRIF) aimed at radically changing how we make and use plastic products.
Now, a lot of politicians, pundits and business people have jumped on the anti-plastic bandwagon in the last couple of years, and plastic has become ‘Public Enemy Number One’, being blamed for all the ills besetting the UK and the wider world.
TV news shows footage of mountains of plastic waste or giant islands of plastic tubs, bottles and coffee cups trapped forever in the South Pacific currents, a kind of Sargasso Sea of garbage.
for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation in the UK Government, recently announced a new £20 million Plastics Research and Innovation Fund (PRIF) aimed at radically changing how we make and use plastic products.
Now, a lot of politicians, pundits and business people have jumped on the anti-plastic bandwagon in the last couple of years, and plastic has become ‘Public Enemy Number One’, being blamed for all the ills besetting the UK and the wider world.
TV news shows footage of mountains of plastic waste or giant islands of plastic tubs, bottles and coffee cups trapped forever in the South Pacific currents, a kind of Sargasso Sea of garbage.
The problem, though, isn’t plastic itself – it’s how we use it. So it’s great that the UK Government has recognised that some kind of outright ban on plastic isn’t the solution – and when he was announcing the new fund, Sam Gyimah made that clear.
Instead, the fund will be supporting new technologies and new plastics that don’t harm the environment as much and – and this is for our industry the really crucial point – on “moving
from our current model of make, use and dispose to a new model where you use, you reuse and you recycle.”