The Mediterranean is a sea of plastics and microplastics, as documented in ISPRA’s 9.10.9 report. And the ‘solutions‘ proposed by Big Food are false, far from addressing one of the primary causes of marine pollution. Food packaging, indeed. Greenpeace’s complaint, in the report ‘The Disposable Planet. Multinational corporations’ false solutions to the plastic pollution crisis‘, submitted 7.10.19.
Plastic, Greenpeace’s complaint to Big Food
Greenpeace denounces the agribusiness giants’ approach to the plastic pollution crisis. Alternative packaging materials-such as paper and bioplastics-and recycling are not enough, are themselves not sustainable, and cause additional problems that need to be addressed to protect the environment.
Instead, the solution is to be found in overcoming the ‘disposable’ model of consumption.
‘Large food and beverage companies must prioritize reduction by committing publicly and immediately to eliminating single-use plastics, starting with the types of packaging that are redundant and most problematic for recycling, and reducing the number of plastic packaging and containers placed on the market.
Invest in alternative delivery systems based on bulk and refill. Be transparent by publicly disclosing data on single-use plastic production, including the number of pieces, composition, and weight of plastic packaging‘. (Greenpeace, see footnote 1).
Paper, biodegradable materials and recycling, what doesn’t work
Just replacing plastics with alternative materials is not enough. The paper, according to Greenpeace, would have a high environmental impact because it comes from wood and forests. Bioplastics in turn would come from agricultural crops, according to the environmental NGO.
‘Biodegradable’ is itself a concept that lends itself to confusion, according to Greenpeace. Because some materials-although qualified as ‘biodegradable,’ technically speaking-require peculiar temperature and humidity conditions rarely found in nature. ‘In practice, if dispersed into the environment they can give rise to the same problems as traditional plastic products‘, the report reads.
Recycling in turn is a partial solution, since it is not necessarily actually adopted, when even the materials are prepared for it. As we ourselves have reported, in the emblematic case of coffee capsules.
‘For some plastics. truly recyclable such as Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and High Intensity Polyethylene (HDPE) recycling rates are still appallingly low. Only half of the PET sold is collected for recycling, and only 7 percent of the bottles collected for recycling are made into new bottles.
Much of plastic packaging is subject to ‘downcycling’. Instead of being used for new recycled plastic packaging, it is reprocessed for lower quality products that cannot be recycled. In addition, in recent years the amount of packaging composed of different materials (polybags) that are difficult, if not impossible, to recycle has increased‘.
Packaging and pollution, what solutions?
‘To solve the plastic pollutionproblem, large companies need to drastically reduce disposables by investing in product delivery systems that are based on reuse and refill and do not involve single-use packaging‘ (Giuseppe Ungherese, Greenpeace, pollution campaign manager).
Greenpeace’s approach is provocative, useful in stimulating a wide-ranging reflection on compulsive and unsustainable consumption patterns. A reflection with which one cannot but agree, keeping in mind the Lansink scale-better known as the ‘waste hierarchy’-that underlies the circular economy.
The system of reusing and refilling food packaging, moreover, has to deal with food safety requirements. Which can be easily guaranteed on some product categories-such as dry foods and plant-based beverages-but not on others.
The best packaging
‘The best packaging is what’s not there‘ (Stanislao Fabbrino, president and CEO of Fruttagel, at the
Green Retail Forum 2019
)
Reuse is undoubtedly the path to be favored and promoted. It is still possible on glass bottles for example. As well as for containers intended for refilling, which are used today mainly for detergents but could find new applications, with a minimum of creative innovation even by the retail sector in Italy. From legumes-strictly Italian -to pasta, all the better from Italian wheat. Down to beverages, such as fruit juices and mineral water, and condiments (oils and vinegars).
Refilling services could be offered at home, to save consumers from the burden and memory of carrying around containers to be filled. And their costs come offset, at least in part, by savings on the environmental impact of packaging. The costs of which, thanks to theSingle-Use Plastics ( SUPs) directive, fall partly on the producers themselves.
Recycling, moreover, cannot be neglected. Rather, it should be promoted through deposit systems with security to be mandated by law. These can, among other things, be automated thanks to special ‘collection stations’ to be placed at points of sale. So-called RVMs(reverse vending machines) have made it possible to achieve extraordinary results, to the point of intercepting 90 percent of PET waste in just two years in Lithuania for example. (2) And this is the only short-term solution to meet the plastic bottle collection targets set in the SUPs directive, 77 percent by 2025 and 90 percent by 2029.
Dario Dongo and Sabrina Bergamini
Notes
(1) Greenpeace (2019). The Disposable Planet. Multinational corporations’ false solutions to the plastic pollution crisis
(2) See in this regard the valuable articles by Silvia Ricci for the Association of Virtuous Municipalities, at https://comunivirtuosi.org/argomenti/approfondimenti/, https://comunivirtuosi.org/sistemi-deposito-le-bevande-fanno-bene-alleconomia-allambiente-alle-casse-comunali/
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Journalist. Consumption, rights, nutrition, social, environment. Head of Consumers Help. She collaborated with ResetDOC, Il Riformista, La Nuova Ecologia, IMGPress.
