Carlos de la Cruz, the Head of Regulatory Affairs for Nespresso Capsules criticised the industry for confusing consumers with too many eco-claims and argued that the packaging was the key to improvement. It not only protected the product and kept it fresh but could also be used to communicate with and educate the consumer. Communications had to be based on comprehensive life-cycle assessments of the food and its pack from farm to fork. Bioplastics made from foodcrops can improve the environment but crops do need fertilisers and pesticides. These are based on fossil carbon and have additional adverse impacts on the ecology per se. Irrigation if needed is a further negative impact in LCA terms. Furthermore, bioplastics food packs must protect the food from spoilage to the same extent as petro-polymers or the resulting extra wastage will easily nullify any benefits.
Examples of successful packaging using biopolymers where the benefits were explained on the packs included Purina One Beyond dog food, PLA twist wrap for sweets on Quality Street in the UK, Herta Sweet Ham using a 20% bio-sourced wrap in France, the Davy Milk carton bioplastic cap and “Vittel” water bottles using 30% biosourced PET in France.
The Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance had been formed this year and brought together companies such as Nestlé, P&G, Unilever, Coca Cola, Heinz, Nike and Ford among others. The next generation of bioplastics (Gen 3) would be derived from non-food sources such as wood, waste, drought resistant plants and algae. (Gen 1 was PLA, described as food-based and unsuitable for widespread use in packaging. Gen 2 were the “drop-in” polymers suitable for widespread use but expensive and made from sugar via ethanol.)
The Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance had been formed this year and brought together companies such as Nestlé, P&G, Unilever, Coca Cola, Heinz, Nike and Ford among others. The next generation of bioplastics (Gen 3) would be derived from non-food sources such as wood, waste, drought resistant plants and algae. (Gen 1 was PLA, described as food-based and unsuitable for widespread use in packaging. Gen 2 were the “drop-in” polymers suitable for widespread use but expensive and made from sugar via ethanol.)
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