Biodegradable and compostable plastics, or bioplastics, are growing in double digits. Production in Italy also increased considerably in 2018 (+21%) to 88,500 tons. Data from Assobioplastics’ annual report and some brief thoughts on the topic.
The future of single-use. Is single-use the future?
The bioplastics industry denounces Italy’s atavistic slowness in outlawing a number of single-use items made of non-biodegradable plastics. Europe itself-with theSingle Use Plastics ( SUP) Directive-has been careful not to introduce a comprehensive framework of binding measures and targets for member states.
Microplastics from traditional hydrocarbon-based materials, meanwhile, have officially become part of our diet. To an extent equivalent to one credit card a week, according to recent studies conducted by the Universities of Newcastle (Australia) and Victoria (Canada). Microplastics and nanoplastics circulate in the atmosphere-as well as in water and food-exposing humans and animals to health risks that are certainly not minor, if underestimated to date.
Single-use is undoubtedly the consumption paradigm to be reformed, in a circular economy logic whose first diktat is to avoid producing anything that is not indispensable. Nonetheless-while waiting for consumer behavior, as well as policy and supply chain operators, to evolve-the introduction of a requirement to use bioplastics instead of traditional plastics is a necessary step. With the dual purpose of reducing the use of nonrenewable sources and mitigating pollution of the seas.
Shoppers‘ experience
Italy was the first country in Europe to ban the use of lightweight plastic bags, in 2011. A simple operation, which in just a few years has drastically reduced the consumption of plastics for shopper production (-55%, from 200 thousand to 90 thousand tons/year). Then in 2017, measures were introduced to ensure the use of organic materials, certified as biodegradable and compostable, even for ultralight bags.
The production of bioplastics in Italy grew by an average of 11 percent year-on-year between 2011 and 2018, precisely because of the demand for bags. Which increased, in 2018, due to the extension of demand to ultralight bags. Despite the damage due to the circulation-still current and unpunished-of outlawed polyethylene (PE) shoppers falsely presented as ‘organic.’
Thus, an interconnected industrial supply chainhas developed, which interacts with organic waste collection and composting, but especially with agriculture. Which provides the biomass-such as mowing and processing waste-and is at the same time the recipient of both compost and bioswale for mulching. Production costs are still higher than those relative to hydrocarbon plastics because the technologies are relatively new, but evolving research will undoubtedly enable this critical issue to be overcome as well.
The theorems formulated by the chemical industry lobbies-that a material that would take away resources and compete with the food supply chain should not be considered sustainable-are certainly valid for biofuels, palm oil above all. But not also for bioplastics, since crops used to produce their raw materials accounted for 0.02 percent of the global agricultural area in 2017. And they are set to decline as research is now geared toward using plant wastes as the raw material for biopolymers.
Full-blown bioplastics, production in Italy
Assobioplastics’ balance sheet is encouraging. In 2018 there was almost double the average growth of previous years, with total sales of about 685 million euros (it was 370 in 2012). The number of enterprises has also grown, from 143 in 2012 to 252 in 2018, distributed as follows:
– producers of basic chemicals and intermediates (5),
– manufacturers and distributors of granules (20),
– first processors (162) and
– second transformation operators (65).
Biopolymer production , 88,500 tons in 2018, is in turn broken down as follows:
– disposable shopping bags, 61%,
– Ultralight bulk food bags, 19%,
– waste bags for organic fraction collection, agricultural and food service artifacts, food packaging and personal hygiene, 20% overall.
Food packaging made from bioplastics is another growing item. In recent years, for example, coffee capsules made of biopolymers have begun to find a place as an alternative to aluminum, polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Although this very mode of coffee consumption-which in Europe alone generates about 70,000 tons of waste each year, 11,000 of which goes to landfill (European Commission data)-is an emblem of the superfluity of single-use packaging. Which can congest, among other things, composting facilities.
Bioplastics, consumAtors, and the supply chain
Consumers are gradually gaining awareness of the socio-economic and environmental impact of their purchasing choices. Also thanks to the increasing availability of news, on independent news sites such as ours or through initiatives such as the EthicalCash-Mob (#votocolportfolio). They thus begin, consumAtors, to favor products that actually correspond to fair and sustainable supply chains in their entire life cycle. Including packaging.
A recent IPSOS survey of Italian consumers – presented at the meeting ‘The third moment of truth: Is sustainable packaging the new tsunami?‘ – demonstrates the effectiveness of ongoing information campaigns on the plastic problem:
– 50 percent of respondents consider the problem very serious,
– 46% believe the problem exists but is not serious, assuming it can be solved (26%) and is caused by inadequacies on the recycling front (20%),
– only 2 percent do not experience the issue as problematic and an infinitesimal
– 1% consider the debate to be unnecessary scaremongering.
Retail has taken a leading role in recent years in adapting its offerings to consumers’ growing ecological awareness. Indeed, which have been able to reward commitments and certifications of environmental sustainability, reduction of packaging and plastics, and resale of bulk goods (cleaning products, food and beverages). FMCG(Fast Moving Consumer Goods) processing industries, conversely, have so far shown little attention to these issues. And yet they would do well to take action, even on their own initiative.
‘Who is responsible for finding a solution to reduce the amount of material used in the packaging of products sold?’ When asked by Ipsos in the aforementioned survey, 39 percent of respondents said it is the ‘duty of the companies that produce’ as well as those that market consumer products. And nearly 50 percent of consumers express marked favor toward replacing traditional plastics with bioplastics.
Word to the wise
Dario Dongo and Marta Strinati
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
