One does not have to look too far to find examples of social, environmental, and political issues in our communities. In the case of environmental concerns, the daily decisions we make play a big role in the future of our ecosystems, which we rely on for our own survival.
What do good decisions look like when most groceries come wrapped in plastic and your trip to your local shop has its own carbon footprint? Sticking to the three simple Rs – Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle – that are promoted for sustainable waste management is a great place to start. It is also helpful to think about where a product started, and where it will ultimately end up. This thought process applies to all sorts of products, from fresh produce, to clothing, to water consumption, and the so-called ‘scandalous’ water bottle.
We as consumers make choices in the grocery store which have the potential to have a variety of longer-term impacts. Choosing to buying locally produced products, or shopping with a rough meal plan for the week, can prevent you from buying excess food that might go bad whilst waiting to be eaten.
Plastic packaging plays a role in extending the shelf life of perishable foods, which presents us with a trade-off as the global concern around food waste grows due to environmental, economic, and food security considerations.
As our collective awareness around pollution grows, certain items become the norm. In recent years, plastic shopping bags have been phased out in many shops in favour of paper bags. It might therefore surprise you to know that plastic bags were developed as an alternative to paper bags to save paper, and trees. This is something to bear in mind when looking for eco-friendly alternatives.
When opting for sustainable packaging, be aware of the concept of greenwashing. This refers to a product claiming to be an eco-friendly alternative that does not have the facts to verify its claim.
For example, packaging water in cartons as opposed to PET plastic bottles offers little environmental benefit, considering the carbon footprint and the environmental impact. Typical cartons, known as liquid board packaging (LBP), consist of three layers: cardboard, plastic, and aluminium. The layering makes it complicated to recycle all three materials and usually only the cardboard is recycled.
The layered nature of cartons offers benefits for extending shelf life of perishable items such as milk, or fruit juice, but offers little benefit for water. If recycling is accessible to you, and there are established recycling streams with viable end-of-life products to absorb the recycled material, purchasing products in packaging that supports and is compatible with these streams is preferred.
The good news: Petco – South Africa’s longest-standing producer responsibility organisation – recently welcomed a new member, Tetra Pak, and is now actively building a sustainable value chain for these cartons. Since then, Petco has achieved 80% of the legislated recycling target for LBP.
To stimulate the collection of this packaging, the organisation grew the number of active buy-back centres in the value chain from seven to 32 and increased the price paid for LBP on the ground.
These recent developments are fully aligned with SST’s vision to support circularity within the packaging value chain, and we applaud Petco’s efforts.
For more information on food waste, read the 2021 CSIR report.
