{"id":2524,"date":"2015-11-05T18:38:39","date_gmt":"2015-11-05T18:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/?p=2524"},"modified":"2015-11-05T19:45:29","modified_gmt":"2015-11-05T19:45:29","slug":"are-sustainability-efforts-appeasing-the-myth-or-addressing-the-facts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/?p=2524","title":{"rendered":"Are sustainability efforts appeasing the myth or addressing the facts?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent blog on LinkedIn caught my eye, \u201c9 Take-Aways That Resonated From SPC Advance<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 It was about the recent SPC Advance Conference<\/a>, a GreenBlue<\/a> \/ <\/strong>Sustainable Packaging Coalition members only plus guests event.<\/p>\n

\u201cSPC Advance is an amazing opportunity to gather different members of industry, academia, and government together to share perspectives, knowledge, and insight into sustainability,\u201d said GreenBlue and Sustainable Packaging Coalition Executive Director, Nina Goodrich.<\/p>\n

Sounds good, right? The who\u2019s who of professionals, the decision makers on the environment, packaging and creating a more sustainable future\u2026 Then, you hear some of the feckless rhetoric that emerges from this brain trust and it leaves you wondering if this is just an exercise in futility.<\/p>\n

Kim Carswell of Target commented, \u201cBio polymers move packaging closer to petroleum independence as part of our move to a circular economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kathleen Sayler, Assistant Director of the EPA\u2019s Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery says that currently in the U.S. over 30% of edible food goes to waste resulting in significant social, economic and environmental costs, and it is estimated that Americans waste 141 trillion calories of food annually at a cost of over $161 billion dollars. Food production accounts for 50% of land use, 80% of freshwater consumption, and 10% of total energy use in the United States.<\/p>\n

These two need to get together for a come to Jesus moment.\u00a0 Land system change is a major environmental factor and our existing use in farming is already having perilous effects on our environment.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not be too quick to jump into corn, sugarcane or potatoes as something that\u2019s going to save the planet. \u00a0We should not waste food and our farming should be\u00a0to\u00a0feed people, not our insatiable appetite for plastic, it\u2019s not sustainable.\u00a0 It\u2019s a recipe for our economy and ecosystem to go down the circular drain.<\/p>\n

Walmart Senior Sustainability Manager, Ashley Hall, said that customers should not have to choose between products that they can afford and products that are better for them and the environment. She emphasized Walmart\u2019s focus on selling products in recyclable packaging, and stated that the company has made packaging made with recycled content a priority.<\/p>\n

There is no term more ambiguous than \u201crecyclable.\u201d\u00a0 Take a walk with me down Walmart\u2019s isles and I\u2019ll point out all the packaging that will not be recycled.\u00a0\u00a0 Heck, we can just visit one isle; you know the one that sells all the trash bags, tinfoil and plastic utensils and foamed plates?\u00a0 Next time, take a look at all the Great Value brand items, along with the other brands – none of it is being recycled.\u00a0 Don\u2019t even get me started on those crappy light-weighted plastic bags that have \u201cRecyclable\u201d on them \u2013 nonsense.\u00a0 We need to start basing our actions on facts and scientific data, instead of propagated myths.\u00a0 If you\u2019re going to make the claim, prove its happening.\u00a0 It\u2019s long overdue that we separate facts from fiction.\u00a0 \u201cRecyclable\u201d \u2013 theoretically, and that’s the problem.<\/p>\n

Kim Carswell, Group Manager at Target stated, \u201cPackaging is a gateway to our consumers.\u201d\u00a0 She continued saying that Target likes to give consumers alternative options for the products\u2019 and packaging\u2019s end-of-life instead of the materials having to go to landfill, and that Target is constantly asking how its designs influence end-of-life.<\/p>\n

Personally, I\u2019m not interested in trying to find a non-existent alternative option; I\u2019m not a garbage sorter.\u00a0 When I buy the product, I throw away the packaging. There is nothing more counterproductive in advancing our environmental position than the demonization of landfills. Landfills are not the problem; packaging simply needs to be designed for the most common disposal method. If that\u2019s a landfill, let\u2019s not keep making decisions on folklore and pretending this isn\u2019t happening.\u00a0\u00a0 Landfill Gas to Energy is the cleanest and most inexpensive alternative energy resource available; it\u2019s the byproduct of the biodegradation process that is coming from the natural breakdown of organic waste in this specific anaerobic environment.\u00a0 80% of all municipal solid waste goes to modern landfills that control or capture this natural gas.\u00a0 Perhaps it would make it easier on everyone if companies like Target took genuine accountability and made all their plastic packaging Landfill Biodegradable, because it\u2019s not getting recycled and I\u2019m not getting in my car and taking it to my local industrial composter 80 miles away.<\/p>\n

Amy Duquette, Sustainability Project Manager at HAVI Global Solutions, which represents the packaging department of McDonald\u2019s, said that packaging is the consumer\u2019s last experience with the brand, and that experience should be as positive as possible. Through mechanics such as the How2Recyle Label, brands can empower consumers to do the right thing, in this case recycle packaging.<\/p>\n

Regulations such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR<\/a>) are predicated on the brand\/producer doing the right thing, not the consumer.\u00a0 The experience being created isn\u2019t positive, it\u2019s downright misleading!\u00a0 Think of all the plastic applications used at McDonald\u2019s, the white cup, the lid, straw, utensil, packaging for utensil, condiments, all of it, IS NOT getting recycled.\u00a0 It\u2019s not happening, it does not exist, stop it.\u00a0\u00a0 EPR simply means producers will be held accountable for the post-consumer stage, not the consumer.\u00a0 It does not say you need to recreate a new disposal environment or champion one over the other.\u00a0 It starts with an easy question, where does all (minus the idiots who litter) the McDonald\u2019s plastic applications end-up?\u00a0 If you said a landfill, you\u2019re on the right track.\u00a0 Honesty is the best policy.\u00a0 Now what?\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0That’s the path to accountability.<\/p>\n

Al Metauro, President & CEO of Cascades Recovery, Inc. said, \u201cDoing the same things and expecting a different outcome is insanity.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s absolutely right; we\u2019ve been beating the same drum for a long time and it\u2019s not improving our situation.\u00a0 These Goliaths of industry need to understand where these plastics will be disposed of and implement solutions based on that environment and, as Laura Koss, Assistant Director of the Federal Trade Commission, points out:<\/p>\n