Tag Archives: Plastic

Unilever Commits to 100% Recyclable Plastic by 2025

Global FMCG Giant Unilever Commits to 100% Recyclable Plastic by 2025 ensuring that all of its plastic packaging is fully reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.

Unilever Commits to 100% Recyclable Plastic by 2025

The move is also designed to encourage other FMCG firms to accelerate progress towards the circular economy.
According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), just 14% of the plastic packaging used globally makes its way to recycling plants, while 40% ends up in landfill and a third in fragile ecosystems. By 2050, it is estimated there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans.
To help transform global plastic packaging material flows, Unilever has committed to:

  • Ensure all of its plastic packaging is designed to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
  • Renew its membership of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation for another three years and endorse and support their New Plastics Economy initiative.
  • Publish the full “palette” of plastics materials used in its packaging by 2020 to help create a plastics protocol for the industry.
  • Invest in proving, and then sharing with the industry, a technical solution to recycle multi-layered sachets, particularly for coastal areas which are most at risk of plastics leaking into the ocean.

Unilever has already committed to reduce the weight of the packaging it uses this decade by one third by 2020, and increase its use of recycled plastic content in its packaging to at least 25% by 2025 against a 2015 baseline, both as part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.
In 2015, it achieved its commitment of sending zero non-hazardous waste to landfill across its manufacturing operations.
Paul Polman, Unilever chief executive, said: “To address the challenge of ocean plastic waste we need to work on systemic solutions – ones which stop plastics entering our waterways in the first place. We hope these commitments will encourage others in the industry to make collective progress towards ensuring that all of our plastic packaging is fully recyclable and recycled.
“We also need to work in partnership with governments and other stakeholders to support the development and scaling up of collection and reprocessing infrastructure which is so critical in the transition towards a circular economy. Ultimately, we want all of the industry’s plastic packaging to be fully circular.”
Ellen MacArthur added: “By committing to ambitious circular economy goals for plastic packaging, Unilever is contributing to tangible system change and sends a strong signal to the entire fast-moving consumer goods industry. Combining upstream measures on design and materials with post-use strategies demonstrates the system-wide approach that is required to turn the New Plastics Economy into reality.”

UK fails to recycle almost 50% of its plastic bottles

UK fails to recycle almost 50% of its plastic bottles.

UK fails to recycle almost 50% of its plastic bottlesUK fails to recycle almost 50% of its plastic bottles each year the average UK household uses 480 plastic bottles , but only recycles 270 of them – meaning nearly half (44%) are not put in the recycling.

This means that nationally, of the over 35 million plastic bottles being used every day in the UK, nearly 16 million plastic bottles aren’t being put out for recycling. New data from Recycle Now reveals the number of plastic bottles evading recycling could reach 29 billion over the four years up to the end of 2020.

If a year’s worth of the UK’s unrecycled plastic bottles were placed end to end, they’d reach around the world 31 times, covering  just over 780,000 miles.

Alice Harlock, from Recycle Now said: “The number of plastic bottles not being recycled is staggering and will increase further if we don’t take action.  Householders are often unsure if items are recyclable especially from the bathroom, bedroom and living room. An easy way to tell is, if an item is plastic and bottle shaped its recyclable.”

Commonly used items people might not know are recyclable include: empty bleach; shampoo; conditioner; bathroom cleaners and hand soap dispenser bottles.

In a bid to encourage people into taking action to recycle more plastic bottles, Recycle Now is calling on the UK public to open their eyes to all potential recycling opportunities in the home.

Harlock added: “We need to challenge ourselves when it comes to what we could be recycling. Every plastic bottle counts. We’re asking people to think more about what they can recycle every time they go to put something in the waste bin. If you’re having a shower and using up the last of the shampoo – don’t just think replace, think Recycle. When you run out of your favourite moisturiser in the morning – don’t just think replace, think Recycle.  If you’re not sure whether you can recycle plastic bottles at home check out our Recycling Locator.”

How to recycle plastic:

Nearly all local authorities in the UK collect recycling from the home, and recycling plastic bottles has never been easier.  To ensure consumers recycle at home, Recycle Now recommends:

  • Making sure plastic bottles are empty
  • Rinsing the bottles
  • Squashing the bottles to save space in the recycling bin (then put the lids back on)
  • If you’re on the go; pop your plastic bottle in a bag and recycle it when you get home rather than throwing it in a waste bin

TOP THREE PLASTIC RECYCLING MYTHS DEBUNKED

Keep your plastic lids 

Plastic bottles with plastic lids – water bottles, milk bottles, shampoo and bleach bottles can be squashed to save space in your recycling bin, and the lids can be put back on for recycling too.

What about bleach?

Some people assume bleach and kitchen cleaner bottles can’t be recycled because of their contents – but it’s easier than you think to safely recycle them. Ensure the bottle is empty and leave the lid on.

What’s the point of recycling plastics?

Using recycled materials in the manufacturing process uses considerably less energy than required for producing new products from scratch – 75% less in fact, meaning the impact on the environment is lowered.

Timber shortage closes price gap between plastic and wooden pallets

When plastic pallets vendor Goplasticpallets.com suggested that Timber shortage closes price gap between plastic and wooden pallets the UK’s Timber Packaging and Pallet Confederation (TIMCON) slammed the comments as “inaccurate” and “misleading”.

Timber shortage closes price gap

Timber shortage closes price gap. In the offending story Goplasticpallets.com said it had experienced a surge in demand for its plastic pallets, a fact it attributed to the timber shortages created by the storms that hit the UK earlier in the year and the construction sector recovery. Wooden pallets traditionally have the edge over plastic in terms of cost, but the release suggested the shortage had closed this pricing gap.
Stuart Hex, general secretary of TIMCON, responded in a statement: “To clarify, it has indeed been challenging to source timber for new pallets during the last two quarters and prices are increasing at present. However, the gap between the price of a timber pallet and a plastic pallet remains extremely large. Moreover, timber pallets are not in short supply – and to suggest otherwise is extremely misleading.
“The UK pallet manufacturing industry is well used to coping with the seasonal variations of the timber industry. Shortages have occurred in the past, and time and again we have demonstrated both the capacity and ingenuity to meet customer demand.
“These reports are inaccurate and also potentially damaging, not least to the more than 90 per cent of supply users which continue to use them because they are the best choice from the point of view of price, repairability, sustainability and environmental credentials.
The original release from Goplasticpallets.com also raised fears of an extension to the EC’s ISPM 15 regulations, to make the heat treatment of wooden packaging materials moving around member states compulsory, and that this was another reason not to bet on timber pallets. TIMCON responded by saying there were no plans in place to extend ISPM 15, and that in the event of such a development, the timber pallet industry would be well prepared. A spokesperson from Goplasticpallets.com noted that a TIMCON press release makes mention of “a possible extension of ISPM 15”.
Goplasticpallets.com issued further comments that appeared to raise additional concerns about wooden pallets, this time on the grounds of health and safety. The comments referenced a statement from the GMB, based on remarks made by an employee of Amazon who fell ill, suggesting a health risk resulting from insect contamination within wooden packaging materials.
A release from TIMCON responded to the story in strident fashion. Hex said: “These irresponsible comments are at best inaccurate; at worst they are deliberately designed to mislead. They are the latest in what appears to be an ongoing campaign of negative communications, created by the head of a single company that has a clear vested interest in causing damage to the wooden packaging and pallets business.
“The original statement made by GMB – and which Mr Hardisty is now referencing – was based on comments made by one worker at Amazon; these comments apparently remain unsubstantiated. GMB went on to cite a case of emerald ash borer in North America – which is an issue of great concern for the protection of forests; not, as they imply, harmful to human health and safety. There are in place significant international phytosanitary regulations to minimise the risk of pest infestation in packaging and these regulations are rigorously enforced in the UK by the Forestry Commission.
“On the subject of the protection of forests, the timber packaging and pallet industry is working closely and continually with plant health authorities across the world to protect the sustainable forests from where we source our raw material. GMB is clearly unaware of this work. We would be highly surprised if Mr Hardisty is also unaware of it, because we have previously corrected similar inaccurate statements he has made in the media on several occasions.
“The GMB’s original comments have the potential to cause serious damage to a UK industry that employs 8,000 direct and 30,000 indirect UK jobs. We are extremely disappointed that GMB has chosen to issue them without consultation with the appropriate trade association. We will be contacting the organisation directly to ensure they do not make further inaccurate statements.
“Meanwhile, Mr Hardisty’s reckless follow up has been reported widely and his comments are being seen and reported to us by our industry colleagues around the world. They have the potential to be hugely damaging to our industry.
“He implies that wooden pallets are less hygienic than plastic pallets; in fact, wood continues to be a living plant that has natural defences against microorganisms – whereas plastic does not. Research shows that microorganisms thrive more in crevices and surface abrasions, such as those small cuts and notches caused in plastic as it is used. Mould is certainly not endemic to wood – it can also grow on plastic and other materials. Wooden pallets can simply be pressure washed, if and when they need cleaning.
“In addition to the debate about the hygiene, there are also long-standing question marks about the safety and potential risk to the environment of using plastic pallets. These include: do plastic pallets contain harmful deca-bromine or other fire-retardants?; are there still plastic pallets in circulation that contain high levels of un-environmentally friendly heavy metals such as cadmium?; and what is the carbon footprint of a plastic pallet – compared with a timber pallet that locks in carbon from the atmosphere?
“A plastic pallet is made from petrochemicals, a finite and dwindling resource. Compare this to a wooden pallet, which is made from a natural material harvested from renewable and sustainable forests; as well as being reusable, repairable, recyclable, and, at the end of its life, biodegradable.
“Plastic pallets are a more expensive option than wooden pallets, in terms of both the environment and the price itself. This is why wood remains the material of choice for more than 90 per cent of pallets and packaging used around the world.”
In response to this retaliation from TIMCON, Jim Hardisty, managing director of Goplasticpallets.com, said: “This is an excessively aggressive response from TIMCON, which appears to have misconstrued the information presented in my comments on poor pallet hygiene.
“I stand by my original statement and would like to reiterate that the facts remain the same and are accurate. Wooden pallets are inherently more likely to harbour contaminants than plastic ones.
It is important to guard against anything that could compromise the safety and hygiene of goods, or which could have adverse effect on the health of those who are working in the storage and packaging industry. The use of plastic pallets provides a safe and viable alternative.”