As we are now enjoying the very best the UK summer has to offer, it can only mean that the festival season is well and truly underway. Recent festivals have included the Isle of Wight Festival as well as the ever popular Glastonbury Festival. For the first time in years neither of these festivals has managed to sell out all their tickets, however the relatively new (by comparison) Lattitude festival has proved to be more popular that ever. For the first time in it’s history this festival has truly adopted an ethical green mantra, marking a unique change of direction for UK festivals. Although this festival is only in its third year the organizes believe that conducting the festival catering and supplies in a green and ethical manner makes the festival highly appealing to the more ethical minded punter, and aligns with favorably with popular societal environmental trends.
Although the festival serves to highlight the need to place more emphasis on environmental concerns, it proves to be a highly varied and diverse festival, appealing to very broad demographic. Activities include poetry, comedy, music, as well as all sorts of variety acts to keep the revelers entertained. In my opinion this festival succeeds in bridging the divide between the hardcore environmentalist and the casual festival fan that just enjoys live music and great ale. The difference between these 2 parties could not be more pronounced. Whereas the environmentalist may be single minded in his approach to saving the world single handedly, the "average Joe" on the street often gives barely a passing thought to these concerns. The organizers basically seek to promote more of a middle-ground between the two groups, educating and enlightening the general populous to some of the unseen plights for which they are directly responsible. Promoting this ethical responsibility and encouraging more "green living" can only be seen as a step forward to cutting the waste and pollution problem that appears to be growing at an exponential rate.
The organizers attempted to tackle the waste problem in a number of different ways. For starters all revelers who opted to camp on-site were given a "Campers Waste Kit", which helped participants to separate their waste and waste materials. This tackles a huge problem of festivals, namely the contamination of waste materials. The contamination means that it is extremely difficult if not impossible to recycle or successfully compost the waste materials produced during the course of the event. By giving participants the facility to sort their own paper cups, plastic tumblers and catering supplies it means that there is a far greater chance of the organizers being able to collect properly sorted and reusable materials at the end of the event.
The Paper Cups used at events of this nature are a massive problem. This is partly due to the volume of cups used, and partly due to the way in which they are disposed of. By omitting recycling facilities from the sites festival goers have no way to dispose of their waste, so it either ends up contaminated with food waste or simple thrown on the ground. It is perfectly possibly to successfully recycle the paper cup, in fact if used correctly and with a bit of environmental responsibility it can be surprisingly green for a disposable one-use product. Once recycled it is not normally suitable for further use as a food product, as these normally requires virgin paper as a base product for hygiene reasons, however it can find its way into a range of other catering supplies. The life cycle of the humble paper cup can be almost infinite! The one exception to this rule is if the waste is recycled in such a way so as to remove any contaminants from the material, cleansing the raw product of any impurities. Although this is far more expensive to achieve, it does mean that the waste can then be approved for use with food related catering supplies under certain circumstances.
Another focus of the festival was the incentive to re-use the plastic glasses and disposable pint glasses provided by the organizers. Visitors were made to pay a small fee for their plastic glass at the start of the event, and encouraged to hold onto them and reuse the item for the whole event. The incentive in this case came in the form of a small rebate on the original price of the plastic glass. Visitors were actually seem leaving with the plastic tumblers from the event, having not disposed of the item at all. This greatly reduced the amount of waste produced at the festival and it was done in the simplest of ways. By adding perceived value to the Plastic Pint Glass visitors were discouraged from simply throwing it away, appealing to their financial minded side which naturally resists the temptation to dispose of something they have paid for.
Market traders and Burger van operators were also given similar incentives with their catering equipment and catering supplies. They were rewarded for the amount of material they successfully managed to recycle directly from their stall straight into their sorted waste. This includes plastic containers, food containers and other catering supplies associated with fast food. Again the incentives were only small; however the effect this had on people's attitude to waste was substantial.
The organizers also sought to elect "green representatives" at the event who were there to advise visitors on the best place to dispose of their waste, and to point them towards the recycling facilities on site. By promoting this style of green responsibility the direction of the festival pointed well and truly towards the renewable and reusable energy sources of the future.
The efforts also spread to the online arm of the marketing for the festival, with ticket holders encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas on the recycling, particularly on the reusable nature of the disposable pint glasses and plastic tumblers. This was simple another way of promoting increased concern for the environment in an accessible way that everyone can relate to.
Of course it would be hypocritical if the event staff themselves were drinking from disposable tumblers and pint glasses behind the scenes and simply throwing them away, so this same recycling belief has also been adopted by the very people who sought to implement it. Reusable Pint Glasses and Polycarbonate Pint Glasses were used extensively by the organizers to keep waste to an absolute minimum, even to the extent of having plastic champagne glasses at the board meetings!
It all goes to show that thinking green does not necessarily have to mean chaining yourself to a tree in the middle of winter. Attitudes such as the ones discussed here can be seen as a sure sign that times are changing and dealing with your waste paper and plastic Catering Supplies in an ethical and green manner does not have to mean canceling the festival or leaving visitors out of pocket come the end of the event.
Monday, 21 September 2009
Friday, 4 September 2009
Paper vs. Styrofoam vs. Plastic Cups
What is the most environmentally friendly way of drinking from a cup or mug? Reusable cups are usually the preferred method as long as the cups get used a lot. As for disposable cups, the main three choices are paper, styrofoam, and plastic. Plastic cups are the cheapest to purchase but they can’t be used for hot drinks.
Pricewise, plastic cups cost $11 for 1000. Styrofoam costs $25 for 1000. Paper cups cost $80-120 for 1000. 100% compostable paper cups costs around $100 for 1000 made from natural corn starch. These prices are taken from Office Max based on a company pricing research done by Joanne.
Paper is less expensive and is biodegradable. Paper production can cause almost twice as much CO2 emissions and energy consumption as creating plastic or styrofoam products. Some paper cups are also not recyclable if they have a wax coating on them. Producing paper cups can also take more material by weight to produce for proper insulation compared to styrofoam and plastic cups. In this study done by Rowan University, the question of whether paper, plastic, or styrofoam cups were environmentally friendly was researched.
Styrofoam cups can insulate very well but they can break into small pieces that can be bad for children and animals. Styrofoam is created from benzene and other chemicals that can be bad for you and contribute to smog and global warming. It is not biodegradable and contributes to landfill pileup because it never deteriorates. Started in the beginning of 2007 in the city of San Francisco, restaurants were recently required to switch out using styrofoam containers and any other forms of polystyrene because they were environmentally unfriendly. Oakland, Berkeley, Portland, Santa Monica, Santa Cruz, and Seattle are some other cities that have banned styrofoam containers.
Plastic cups seem to be the best environmentally friendly option as most plastic cups are recyclable. If it is not recyclable, it can still be grounded up and used as a filler for other products. Plastic is also a much lighter material so there is less transportation and fuel costs needed. Plastic cups are also the cheapest to produce.
As for comparing disposable pint glasses vs. reusable cups, you would ideally think that reusable cups or mugs would be more environmentally friendly, but it is based on how many times the cup gets used. The materials used in creating them are significantly more than created disposable cups and it also requires using electricity, water, and soap to wash the cup after every use. This article here compares the coffee mug debate comparing the materials polystyrene, ceramic, and stainless steel. The conclusion is that a ceramic mug has the lowest material intensity but only if it has been used at least 46 times. In this study done at the University of Victoria in 1994, a reusable cup is compared to disposable cups but takes into consideration the energy used by a dishwasher to wash the cup.
Here is my conclusion of what to use. Obviously at home, you should always use glass, steel, or ceramic cups and mugs. Glass is probably the best choice. For the office, bringing in your own steel or ceramics mug is the best choice. As far as general use disposal cups, using plastic cups is the best choice because it is the most environmentally friendly compared to styrofoam and paper. It is the cheapest to produce as well as to buy but it is only ideal for cold drinks. For hot drinks you would probably need styrofoam cups as well so a mixture of using both plastic and styrofoam is probably my recommendation.
Pricewise, plastic cups cost $11 for 1000. Styrofoam costs $25 for 1000. Paper cups cost $80-120 for 1000. 100% compostable paper cups costs around $100 for 1000 made from natural corn starch. These prices are taken from Office Max based on a company pricing research done by Joanne.
Paper is less expensive and is biodegradable. Paper production can cause almost twice as much CO2 emissions and energy consumption as creating plastic or styrofoam products. Some paper cups are also not recyclable if they have a wax coating on them. Producing paper cups can also take more material by weight to produce for proper insulation compared to styrofoam and plastic cups. In this study done by Rowan University, the question of whether paper, plastic, or styrofoam cups were environmentally friendly was researched.
Styrofoam cups can insulate very well but they can break into small pieces that can be bad for children and animals. Styrofoam is created from benzene and other chemicals that can be bad for you and contribute to smog and global warming. It is not biodegradable and contributes to landfill pileup because it never deteriorates. Started in the beginning of 2007 in the city of San Francisco, restaurants were recently required to switch out using styrofoam containers and any other forms of polystyrene because they were environmentally unfriendly. Oakland, Berkeley, Portland, Santa Monica, Santa Cruz, and Seattle are some other cities that have banned styrofoam containers.
Plastic cups seem to be the best environmentally friendly option as most plastic cups are recyclable. If it is not recyclable, it can still be grounded up and used as a filler for other products. Plastic is also a much lighter material so there is less transportation and fuel costs needed. Plastic cups are also the cheapest to produce.
As for comparing disposable pint glasses vs. reusable cups, you would ideally think that reusable cups or mugs would be more environmentally friendly, but it is based on how many times the cup gets used. The materials used in creating them are significantly more than created disposable cups and it also requires using electricity, water, and soap to wash the cup after every use. This article here compares the coffee mug debate comparing the materials polystyrene, ceramic, and stainless steel. The conclusion is that a ceramic mug has the lowest material intensity but only if it has been used at least 46 times. In this study done at the University of Victoria in 1994, a reusable cup is compared to disposable cups but takes into consideration the energy used by a dishwasher to wash the cup.
Here is my conclusion of what to use. Obviously at home, you should always use glass, steel, or ceramic cups and mugs. Glass is probably the best choice. For the office, bringing in your own steel or ceramics mug is the best choice. As far as general use disposal cups, using plastic cups is the best choice because it is the most environmentally friendly compared to styrofoam and paper. It is the cheapest to produce as well as to buy but it is only ideal for cold drinks. For hot drinks you would probably need styrofoam cups as well so a mixture of using both plastic and styrofoam is probably my recommendation.
Paper and Plastic Recycling Can Save the World
"Please recycle" is a common phrase in almost all labels of plastic and paper products in the market. Manufacturers of plastic and paper strongly encourage consumers to get involved in paper recycling, as well as plastic recycling. But for one to recycle plastics, one has a lot to understand first. You see, there is a certain process to follow in waste recycling especially plastic products.
Plastics are one of the most difficult to recycle and before the recycling process can begin, all plastic materials have to be sorted first according to the Resin Identification Code. This will serve a guide for recyclers.
There are almost 50 different main groups of plastics, each containing many different varieties. The Resin Identification Code system was introduced to make the sorting of recyclable products easier and more universal.
This is the Resin Identification Code used for plastic materials.
Name of Polymer Abbreviation Common Uses When Recycled PET / PETE Polyethylene terephthalate Polyester fibre, soft drink bottles HDPE High density polyethylene Bottles, plastic carrier bags, recycling bins PVC / V Polyvinyl chloride Pipe, fencing, non-food bottles LDPE Low density polyethylene Plastic bags, containers, dispensing bottles PP Polypropylene Auto parts, industrial fibre PS Polystyrene Coffee cups, toys, video cassettes OTHER Other Plastics Various
Sorting plastics is expensive and time-consuming but this is essential in the recycling process. Despite the challenges, more and more plastics are being recycled every year. The amount of plastics that are recycled has increased since 1990. According to American Plastics Council, almost 1,800 U.S. businesses reclaim post-consumer plastics. Still, with this number, the United States only recycled about five percent of the plastics produced domestically.
Plastics are first collected from curbside recycling bins and drop-off locations. From there, they go to a material recovery facility where they are sorted and sent to a reclamation facility. At the reclamation facility, the plastic is inspected and washed. Next it is chopped into small flakes. The flakes are then placed in a flotation tank and then dried in a tumbler. The dried flakes are then placed in a costly extruder where they are melted. The melted plastic is sifted through a screen to remove any contaminants and then it is formed into strands. Finally, the strands are chopped into pellets and sold to manufacturers to make new products. This starts a new life for the recycled plastics. As technology continues to evolve, the cost of the recycling plastic process gradually decreases and hopefully, the amount of recycled plastics will increase. At the same time, consumers have become more aware of the effect of plastic wastes on the planet so they are reducing the use of plastic bottles and bags before it is too late.
We ourselves do our share at home. Why not start separating your plastic items from other waste materials so that at least you have done a little help in saving our planet? It’s not a big task but entails discipline.
Plastics are one of the most difficult to recycle and before the recycling process can begin, all plastic materials have to be sorted first according to the Resin Identification Code. This will serve a guide for recyclers.
There are almost 50 different main groups of plastics, each containing many different varieties. The Resin Identification Code system was introduced to make the sorting of recyclable products easier and more universal.
This is the Resin Identification Code used for plastic materials.
Name of Polymer Abbreviation Common Uses When Recycled PET / PETE Polyethylene terephthalate Polyester fibre, soft drink bottles HDPE High density polyethylene Bottles, plastic carrier bags, recycling bins PVC / V Polyvinyl chloride Pipe, fencing, non-food bottles LDPE Low density polyethylene Plastic bags, containers, dispensing bottles PP Polypropylene Auto parts, industrial fibre PS Polystyrene Coffee cups, toys, video cassettes OTHER Other Plastics Various
Sorting plastics is expensive and time-consuming but this is essential in the recycling process. Despite the challenges, more and more plastics are being recycled every year. The amount of plastics that are recycled has increased since 1990. According to American Plastics Council, almost 1,800 U.S. businesses reclaim post-consumer plastics. Still, with this number, the United States only recycled about five percent of the plastics produced domestically.
Plastics are first collected from curbside recycling bins and drop-off locations. From there, they go to a material recovery facility where they are sorted and sent to a reclamation facility. At the reclamation facility, the plastic is inspected and washed. Next it is chopped into small flakes. The flakes are then placed in a flotation tank and then dried in a tumbler. The dried flakes are then placed in a costly extruder where they are melted. The melted plastic is sifted through a screen to remove any contaminants and then it is formed into strands. Finally, the strands are chopped into pellets and sold to manufacturers to make new products. This starts a new life for the recycled plastics. As technology continues to evolve, the cost of the recycling plastic process gradually decreases and hopefully, the amount of recycled plastics will increase. At the same time, consumers have become more aware of the effect of plastic wastes on the planet so they are reducing the use of plastic bottles and bags before it is too late.
We ourselves do our share at home. Why not start separating your plastic items from other waste materials so that at least you have done a little help in saving our planet? It’s not a big task but entails discipline.
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Pint Glasses of the Future
A safer British pint glass is being developed by an agency called Design Bridge in an effort to crack the big problem of glasses being used in violent assaults. On behalf of the Design and Technology Alliance Against Crime, the Design Council has tasked a team of specialist designers to create an alternative pint glass to reduce the number of injuries from the 87,000 violent incidents involving glassings each year, which costs an estimated 100 Million Pounds in NHS, police and court costs year on year.
The appointed designers, Design Bridge, will produce a number of safer drinking vessels prototypes, which will be launched in December this year. The object is to not only to make a safer pint tumbler, but to ensure they are attractive to industry, manufacturers and consumers. Working with producers and the licensed trade, Design Bridge will seek to develop more than one solution, which could be taken up by licensees.
The project is part of the "Design Out Crime" initiative from the Home Office's Design and Technology Alliance Against Crime and the Design Council. The design council are a group of experts from the world of industry, design and law enforcement whose mandate is to bring about innovation and encourage others to "think crime" at the first stages of product development.
Design Out Crime help to develop solutions to a wide range of crime-related issues, particularly those which affect young people by developing design-led ideas to minimise the harm from alcohol related crime (fights in clubs and pubs), in Schools (reducing bullying, fighting and petty theft), with new products utilising innovations in technology which help make consumer electronics more crime-proof and in business by minimising retail theft.
Jeremy Myerson, Helen Hamlyn Professor of Design, Royal College of the Arts and Alliance member said: "Alcohol related crime takes up valuable police and NHS resources and causes unnecessary misery to thousands of people. The outcomes of the Design Out Crime project have the potential to not only reduce alcohol related violence in the UK but to also help make our communities safer places".
Nick Verebelyi of the Design Bridge said: "Our challenge is to build upon research the Design Council have established to develop creative solutions that increase safety by reducing the opportunity for the vessel to be used as a weapon, whilst taking account of operational challenges, and providing opportunities for enhanced consumer appeal and brand image".
Home office Minister Alan Campbell said: "Innovative design has played an important role in driving down overall crime by a third since 1997 tackling a range of crimes including theft, fraud and burglary with innovative and practical solutions to real problems. This project will see those same skills applied to the dangerous and costly issue of alcohol-related crime and I am confident that it will lead to similar successes"(1).
Prior to the next generation pint glass brief was created, Innovation RCA conducted research to develop insights into the "glassing" problem and to identify solutions in designing safer drinking vessels. The research was used as material in workshops attended by some of the United Kingdoms best product designers, material scientists, branding experts and industry marketers. These specialists met with major breweries, PR agencies, pub chain operators and trade organisations to understand any concerns.
There were also interviews with police, surgeons and victims of alcohol related violence, while bar staff and customers were recorded talking about their observations of drinking from real pint glasses versus plastic glass.
The insights gained into alcohol related violence were complemented by testing of standard pint glasses and plastic pint tumblers by the Materials and Design Exchange (MADE).
The results were used to create the "Next Generation Pint Glass" brief to the design and technology experts, providing them with the essential background knowledge to develop real innovative solutions to reduce alcohol related violence in the United Kingdom.
References:
1. Turney, Ewan. Search on for safer pub pint glass (2009).
The appointed designers, Design Bridge, will produce a number of safer drinking vessels prototypes, which will be launched in December this year. The object is to not only to make a safer pint tumbler, but to ensure they are attractive to industry, manufacturers and consumers. Working with producers and the licensed trade, Design Bridge will seek to develop more than one solution, which could be taken up by licensees.
The project is part of the "Design Out Crime" initiative from the Home Office's Design and Technology Alliance Against Crime and the Design Council. The design council are a group of experts from the world of industry, design and law enforcement whose mandate is to bring about innovation and encourage others to "think crime" at the first stages of product development.
Design Out Crime help to develop solutions to a wide range of crime-related issues, particularly those which affect young people by developing design-led ideas to minimise the harm from alcohol related crime (fights in clubs and pubs), in Schools (reducing bullying, fighting and petty theft), with new products utilising innovations in technology which help make consumer electronics more crime-proof and in business by minimising retail theft.
Jeremy Myerson, Helen Hamlyn Professor of Design, Royal College of the Arts and Alliance member said: "Alcohol related crime takes up valuable police and NHS resources and causes unnecessary misery to thousands of people. The outcomes of the Design Out Crime project have the potential to not only reduce alcohol related violence in the UK but to also help make our communities safer places".
Nick Verebelyi of the Design Bridge said: "Our challenge is to build upon research the Design Council have established to develop creative solutions that increase safety by reducing the opportunity for the vessel to be used as a weapon, whilst taking account of operational challenges, and providing opportunities for enhanced consumer appeal and brand image".
Home office Minister Alan Campbell said: "Innovative design has played an important role in driving down overall crime by a third since 1997 tackling a range of crimes including theft, fraud and burglary with innovative and practical solutions to real problems. This project will see those same skills applied to the dangerous and costly issue of alcohol-related crime and I am confident that it will lead to similar successes"(1).
Prior to the next generation pint glass brief was created, Innovation RCA conducted research to develop insights into the "glassing" problem and to identify solutions in designing safer drinking vessels. The research was used as material in workshops attended by some of the United Kingdoms best product designers, material scientists, branding experts and industry marketers. These specialists met with major breweries, PR agencies, pub chain operators and trade organisations to understand any concerns.
There were also interviews with police, surgeons and victims of alcohol related violence, while bar staff and customers were recorded talking about their observations of drinking from real pint glasses versus plastic glass.
The insights gained into alcohol related violence were complemented by testing of standard pint glasses and plastic pint tumblers by the Materials and Design Exchange (MADE).
The results were used to create the "Next Generation Pint Glass" brief to the design and technology experts, providing them with the essential background knowledge to develop real innovative solutions to reduce alcohol related violence in the United Kingdom.
References:
1. Turney, Ewan. Search on for safer pub pint glass (2009).
Friday, 21 August 2009
Green Taxation?
Our government is saving us from the threat of "dangerous" disposable merchandise - with taxes!
Recently a law in France was passed to tax plastic cutlery to try to encourage consumers to buy more eco-friendly products, and Paris is planning to expand the measure to include several other items, the environment minister announced last week.
There are similar taxes on disposable products in Malta and closer to home in Ireland; the plastic carrier bag tax of 15 Eurocents per bag was introduced in 2002. In Britain we are starting to see a variety of stores charge for bags, or only offer "bags for life" at cash points or their Anya Hindmarch equivalents. Sainsburys have announced this week that they will not give carrier bags away at the tills and customers must request them.
There is apparently a law in some parts of Europe that states that companies serving food are required to lay a new table cloth (or serve food on a wipable table) after each meal. Restaurants in Spain use large amounts of disposable paper table cloths as this law would require the restaurants to either have an abundance of linen table covers or serve their meals on fast-food style wipable tables in order to meet their obligations. Not really the look most establishments would aim for (unless you run a KFC/Burger King et al).
In the UK we have some rules regarding disposable products which don't fit well with the apparent "green" policies of governments past and present. One such law is that recycled paper cannot be used to make items which come into direct contact with food. A sensible idea I think; you don't want to be eating your breakfast from a disposable plate which used to be bog roll. However many companies in UK, in order to be seen to be eco-friendly and 'doing their bit' are offering plates and Catering Supplies made from recycled material. But how you ask? Surely many people are falling ill from bum to mouth disease or something? Well no, what the companies are doing is laminating the top of the paper plates with plastic so the foodstuffs don't actually come into contact with the surface of the paper. Great idea?! No, bad idea. The product is now single use in the strongest sense of the word(s). These new plates cannot be recycled into anything and will need to go to landfill as the paper and plastic are fused together for all eternity.
Just because something is made from re-constituted material does not mean it is a "eco-friendly" product, attention to how the product is made and if the product can be recycled after use is most important. Every product Event Supplies sell can be recycled and many are made from recycled paper where the law allows, and they do let you know what the goods are made from. Beware of companies cashing in on the whole green hoopla at the moment with really not very environmentally sound products.
A common law and set of taxes for the whole of the EU may be the future with regard to disposable items such as paper plates, Paper Cups and Plastic Cups. One country taxing a particular disposable product heavily could mean governments in their quest to be seen to be doing the right thing will unwittingly close disposable manufacturing companies leaving thousands out of work.
I do wonder however, how the Government profiteering over anything disposable will save the world. People will simply pay more and we doubt all the money in the world can stop seas from rising and landfill sites from overflowing. Personally I like the plastic bag tax, this one works and fewer plastic bags are being used as a result and people still get their shopping home. Some items however, you cannot simply replace with products that are "for life". People need to be responsible for recycling; the onus should be on us at home and work.
Recently a law in France was passed to tax plastic cutlery to try to encourage consumers to buy more eco-friendly products, and Paris is planning to expand the measure to include several other items, the environment minister announced last week.
There are similar taxes on disposable products in Malta and closer to home in Ireland; the plastic carrier bag tax of 15 Eurocents per bag was introduced in 2002. In Britain we are starting to see a variety of stores charge for bags, or only offer "bags for life" at cash points or their Anya Hindmarch equivalents. Sainsburys have announced this week that they will not give carrier bags away at the tills and customers must request them.
There is apparently a law in some parts of Europe that states that companies serving food are required to lay a new table cloth (or serve food on a wipable table) after each meal. Restaurants in Spain use large amounts of disposable paper table cloths as this law would require the restaurants to either have an abundance of linen table covers or serve their meals on fast-food style wipable tables in order to meet their obligations. Not really the look most establishments would aim for (unless you run a KFC/Burger King et al).
In the UK we have some rules regarding disposable products which don't fit well with the apparent "green" policies of governments past and present. One such law is that recycled paper cannot be used to make items which come into direct contact with food. A sensible idea I think; you don't want to be eating your breakfast from a disposable plate which used to be bog roll. However many companies in UK, in order to be seen to be eco-friendly and 'doing their bit' are offering plates and Catering Supplies made from recycled material. But how you ask? Surely many people are falling ill from bum to mouth disease or something? Well no, what the companies are doing is laminating the top of the paper plates with plastic so the foodstuffs don't actually come into contact with the surface of the paper. Great idea?! No, bad idea. The product is now single use in the strongest sense of the word(s). These new plates cannot be recycled into anything and will need to go to landfill as the paper and plastic are fused together for all eternity.
Just because something is made from re-constituted material does not mean it is a "eco-friendly" product, attention to how the product is made and if the product can be recycled after use is most important. Every product Event Supplies sell can be recycled and many are made from recycled paper where the law allows, and they do let you know what the goods are made from. Beware of companies cashing in on the whole green hoopla at the moment with really not very environmentally sound products.
A common law and set of taxes for the whole of the EU may be the future with regard to disposable items such as paper plates, Paper Cups and Plastic Cups. One country taxing a particular disposable product heavily could mean governments in their quest to be seen to be doing the right thing will unwittingly close disposable manufacturing companies leaving thousands out of work.
I do wonder however, how the Government profiteering over anything disposable will save the world. People will simply pay more and we doubt all the money in the world can stop seas from rising and landfill sites from overflowing. Personally I like the plastic bag tax, this one works and fewer plastic bags are being used as a result and people still get their shopping home. Some items however, you cannot simply replace with products that are "for life". People need to be responsible for recycling; the onus should be on us at home and work.
Friday, 24 July 2009
Eco footprints stamping on good intentions
Shops large and small far and wide are pontificating to allabout how green they are and how many rainforests they are saving buy flogging their new "eco" products to us. Whole companies have sprung up dedicated solely to supplying us with green merchandise, telling us on how to live our lives, and by chance selling the eco products we must have in order to avoid destruction.
It is truly amazing just how many companies are singly handedly saving us from ourselves and our nasty consumerism, boo, hiss.
Trading on ones green concepts, particularly when there are none is pretty bad form methinks and I feel many shops are simply not thinking about the consequences of their actions when switching from one product to another, only caring about marketing themselves as a green, ethical company.
One of the most popular "eco" products to be marketed in this way are Poly Lactic Acid lined paper coffee cup offered by catering supplies firms, coffee chains and supermarkets.
Polylactide is a aliphatic polyester derived from "renewable resources" (I use the term loosely), such as corn starch (U.S.) or sugarcanes (rest of world). Although PLA has been around for a while, it has only been of commercial interest in recent years, in light of its biodegradability.
As well as being used to line the inside of paper cups instead of the plastic lining normally used PLA is in use in plastic cups, plastic cutlery, carrier bags, food packaging, all manner of catering disposables and even nappies.
These new "biodegradable" paper cups are now one of the most popular green products as we all try in our own little way to stop global warming.
One of the biggest problems associated with these new Poly Lactic Acid lined paper coffee cup being used at lots of stores and coffee chains all over the planet is that customers are thinking they will biodegrade in their trash when they need to be sent to composting facilities or put in your compost at home, planted individuallyand covered by nice warm compost. If these paper cups are simply trashed they decompose at the same rate as oil based plastic lined paper coffee cups, that is years and years
Unless individuals compost all their biodegradable cups at home (assuming they are aware they have been given one) there will now be two types of paper cups requiring sorting at waste reclamation centres whereas in the past all waste paper cups could be easily sent for recycling without having to separate them.
Moreover once these new paper cups find their way into normal recycling channels (and you cannot tell the difference) it will ruin the entire recycling batch as normal plastic lining on normal paper cups and the starch based natural lining on the biodegradable cups does not mix well. You get the oil on water scenario.
Most companies manufacturing, marketing or using these products also seem not to have thought about what was removed from the earth in order to grow crops to make this natural product. Like bio fuels fields once used for production of food is now being used for crops to grow alternatives to plastics and petrol. There are even reports of forests being felled in order to make space to grow the sugar cane plants. This contributes to increases in food prices, the result of which most will have noticed over the past 12 months. There will never be enough available space to fully change over from our dependence on plastics to enable us to move to growing this naturally produced alternative, everybody would starve.
On the subject of starving people one other factor to consider regarding these new  Poly Lactic Acid plastic products is that we have spent a long time giving subsidies to farmers in Africa to assist them create crops and stand on their own two feet. Many of the crops these farmers are harvesting are corn or sugarcane.
As we are now mass producing those same crops for Bio Fuel and alternatives to plastics, lowering the prices, plunging these people back into poverty.
There are alternatives that given a little more thought could do many of the jobs these companies hope to achieve through their use of Poly Lactic Acid lined or produced cups. Oxo-biodegradable Plastic (OBP's) for example are normal plastics such as polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene (PE) to which is added a mixture (d2w additive) that accelerates the decomposition of the chemical structure of the material.
Oxo-biodegradable Plasticswill degrade, then biodegrade, on land or at sea, in the light or the dark, in heat or cold, at a pre-determined rate, leaving no fragments, giving off no methane and leaving no harmful residues.
The resultant broken down products are then amenable to conversion by micro-organisms, for which these products are food and also into carbon dioxide and water; thereby returning otherwise intractable plastics to the ecosystem.
These Oxo-biodegradable Plastics can now have a shelf life, pre-determined when manufactured Utilising oxo-biodegradable plastics does not prevent them from being recycled.
Sadly there are many more stories like this, such as the major burger house that dropped its plastic coffee stirrers and switched to wooden stirrers in an effort at greening their company. Out of fear of lawsuits from customers for getting wooden splinters in customers mouths with their wood stirrers they insisted that they are covered with gelatin (like your prescription pills). Adding this extra process to the production of the stirrers costs a lot of energy, to the point where the natural product becomes more energy intensive than simply using plastic. Another classic greening was the banks saving acres of rainforest by using green bank accounts which use paperless statements, an idea I learned about from a paper flyer and noticed advertised on billboard advertisements.
Plastics are not "evil" as many would have you think, reducing our dependence on it is a good idea however we cannot just replace all plastic with a seemingly greener alternative without considering all the repercussions, and definitely not just to be seen to be greening your company
It is truly amazing just how many companies are singly handedly saving us from ourselves and our nasty consumerism, boo, hiss.
Trading on ones green concepts, particularly when there are none is pretty bad form methinks and I feel many shops are simply not thinking about the consequences of their actions when switching from one product to another, only caring about marketing themselves as a green, ethical company.
One of the most popular "eco" products to be marketed in this way are Poly Lactic Acid lined paper coffee cup offered by catering supplies firms, coffee chains and supermarkets.
Polylactide is a aliphatic polyester derived from "renewable resources" (I use the term loosely), such as corn starch (U.S.) or sugarcanes (rest of world). Although PLA has been around for a while, it has only been of commercial interest in recent years, in light of its biodegradability.
As well as being used to line the inside of paper cups instead of the plastic lining normally used PLA is in use in plastic cups, plastic cutlery, carrier bags, food packaging, all manner of catering disposables and even nappies.
These new "biodegradable" paper cups are now one of the most popular green products as we all try in our own little way to stop global warming.
One of the biggest problems associated with these new Poly Lactic Acid lined paper coffee cup being used at lots of stores and coffee chains all over the planet is that customers are thinking they will biodegrade in their trash when they need to be sent to composting facilities or put in your compost at home, planted individuallyand covered by nice warm compost. If these paper cups are simply trashed they decompose at the same rate as oil based plastic lined paper coffee cups, that is years and years
Unless individuals compost all their biodegradable cups at home (assuming they are aware they have been given one) there will now be two types of paper cups requiring sorting at waste reclamation centres whereas in the past all waste paper cups could be easily sent for recycling without having to separate them.
Moreover once these new paper cups find their way into normal recycling channels (and you cannot tell the difference) it will ruin the entire recycling batch as normal plastic lining on normal paper cups and the starch based natural lining on the biodegradable cups does not mix well. You get the oil on water scenario.
Most companies manufacturing, marketing or using these products also seem not to have thought about what was removed from the earth in order to grow crops to make this natural product. Like bio fuels fields once used for production of food is now being used for crops to grow alternatives to plastics and petrol. There are even reports of forests being felled in order to make space to grow the sugar cane plants. This contributes to increases in food prices, the result of which most will have noticed over the past 12 months. There will never be enough available space to fully change over from our dependence on plastics to enable us to move to growing this naturally produced alternative, everybody would starve.
On the subject of starving people one other factor to consider regarding these new  Poly Lactic Acid plastic products is that we have spent a long time giving subsidies to farmers in Africa to assist them create crops and stand on their own two feet. Many of the crops these farmers are harvesting are corn or sugarcane.
As we are now mass producing those same crops for Bio Fuel and alternatives to plastics, lowering the prices, plunging these people back into poverty.
There are alternatives that given a little more thought could do many of the jobs these companies hope to achieve through their use of Poly Lactic Acid lined or produced cups. Oxo-biodegradable Plastic (OBP's) for example are normal plastics such as polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene (PE) to which is added a mixture (d2w additive) that accelerates the decomposition of the chemical structure of the material.
Oxo-biodegradable Plasticswill degrade, then biodegrade, on land or at sea, in the light or the dark, in heat or cold, at a pre-determined rate, leaving no fragments, giving off no methane and leaving no harmful residues.
The resultant broken down products are then amenable to conversion by micro-organisms, for which these products are food and also into carbon dioxide and water; thereby returning otherwise intractable plastics to the ecosystem.
These Oxo-biodegradable Plastics can now have a shelf life, pre-determined when manufactured Utilising oxo-biodegradable plastics does not prevent them from being recycled.
Sadly there are many more stories like this, such as the major burger house that dropped its plastic coffee stirrers and switched to wooden stirrers in an effort at greening their company. Out of fear of lawsuits from customers for getting wooden splinters in customers mouths with their wood stirrers they insisted that they are covered with gelatin (like your prescription pills). Adding this extra process to the production of the stirrers costs a lot of energy, to the point where the natural product becomes more energy intensive than simply using plastic. Another classic greening was the banks saving acres of rainforest by using green bank accounts which use paperless statements, an idea I learned about from a paper flyer and noticed advertised on billboard advertisements.
Plastics are not "evil" as many would have you think, reducing our dependence on it is a good idea however we cannot just replace all plastic with a seemingly greener alternative without considering all the repercussions, and definitely not just to be seen to be greening your company
Recycled Paper Tableware
Can there be much difference in the quality of one disposable table cloth to another? Does the method in which one is manufactured have much bearing on its quality, sustainability or suitability?
The answer is maybe so.
There are numerous manufacturers of disposable table cloths, paper napkins and banquet rolls in the United Kingdom, but there only seems to be one which offers a product which is 100% recycled.
This paper table cloth is called Dispotex and is distributed by Dispo International and Event Supplies, both are catering supplies distributors in West Yorkshire.
The reason there is only one manufacturer which offers a 100% recycled paper table cloth is unclear, maybe it has to do with a confused understanding of our laws concerning recycled content in food packaging.
At the moment it is against the law for any disposable food container product which comes into direct contact with foodstuffs to have any recycled content, obviously one would not want something which was once toilet paper to then become something you put in your mouth! Most people don't eat their dinner directly from a tablecover, most still using crockery, therefore a disposable table cloth is the perfect type of catering disposable product to incorporate recycled paper (oddly you can find recycled paper serviettes available here, beware!)
With regard to the look and feel of the tablecloths most of the other manufacturers pin emboss their banquet paper to provide a basic pattern but the Dispotex product is damask steam embossed and looks more attractive. As the Tablecloth is steam embossed the paper is used to water and is more resistant to liquids should accidents occur.
The answer is maybe so.
There are numerous manufacturers of disposable table cloths, paper napkins and banquet rolls in the United Kingdom, but there only seems to be one which offers a product which is 100% recycled.
This paper table cloth is called Dispotex and is distributed by Dispo International and Event Supplies, both are catering supplies distributors in West Yorkshire.
The reason there is only one manufacturer which offers a 100% recycled paper table cloth is unclear, maybe it has to do with a confused understanding of our laws concerning recycled content in food packaging.
At the moment it is against the law for any disposable food container product which comes into direct contact with foodstuffs to have any recycled content, obviously one would not want something which was once toilet paper to then become something you put in your mouth! Most people don't eat their dinner directly from a tablecover, most still using crockery, therefore a disposable table cloth is the perfect type of catering disposable product to incorporate recycled paper (oddly you can find recycled paper serviettes available here, beware!)
With regard to the look and feel of the tablecloths most of the other manufacturers pin emboss their banquet paper to provide a basic pattern but the Dispotex product is damask steam embossed and looks more attractive. As the Tablecloth is steam embossed the paper is used to water and is more resistant to liquids should accidents occur.
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