Government efforts to ban Polystyrene(styrofoam, clear hinged containers, plates, utensils)) continue to grow.
More cities and counties are moving forward to enact regulations that ban polystyrene for foodservice packaging use. Polystyrene is seen as a significant pollutant at all life stages. The polluting process begins at the factory where the plastic beads are blown away from the manufacturing site and much of it ends up in the water drainage ultimately going into the ocean. When the product is made and sold, there are few end of life scenarios that do not include polllution and contamination. Government actions are typically heavy handed and usually leave exemptions for large businesses like fast food outlets.
I believe the consumer is the preferred engine of change towards a compostable waste stream. The education of the consumer should be the major avenue of change away from fossil material. Consumers balance cost versus benefits with every purchase. Consumer demand for alternative choices in foodservice packaging have been evolving towards sustainability for many years. In my 35 years of selling foodservice packaging I have seen the sustainability issue come around every 5-8 years. There are some changes that stick with each cycle of change. The paper hot cup had to be made to look like a styrofoam cup in order for the consumer to understand the difference in the application. The acceptance of the paper hot cup proves that if consumers recognize added value in the coffee drinking experience they will pay much more for the experience, up to 4 times as much cost for the cup.
Government should focus on educating the consumer. Let the consumer decide how to spend the money.
Products like SpudWare® and Ecotainers® serve to educate the consumer in multiple ways.
First they learn what the plastic they have been using is made of, fossil materials.
Second they learn that Bio-plastic alternatives exist now in a way they have never existed. Large waste streams can be filled with compostable material that can be disposed of in a variety of sustainable end of life scenarios.
Third they learn the importance of taking care of our own needs. This means utilizing feedstocks that exist domestically and are not currently used or valued. Whether they are in the form of wheat straw in Eastern Washington or the forest trimmings in Colorado these waste feedstocks hold great efficiencies that when realized result in a system of self sustainability.
This is just the beginning of the process. Do you think that there might be a curriculum about plastic in our education system. Plastic that is ubiquitous, yet when we first started presenting to colleges in 2006, 70% of American Consumers did not know what plastic was made from.
Now is a time for innovation. Foodservice packaging is evolving faster than it has since the introduction of fossil plastic and fast food. Feedstocks of vegetable starch, sugarcane bagasse, Ingeo corn plastic, bulrush and many other mediums are the solutions for the future. Learn and advocate for this new sustainable solution.
The potatote dilemma
I had an interesting conversation with Christine Sayre Goldstein regarding her company Potatote.
She is intent on bringing potato based plastic tshirt bags into the market. It is very difficult to make something really new like a potatote. But I do like the name. It is the effort of individuals that is the innovation driver. Doesn’t she know that since it doesn’t exist now, efforts to make it real are just tooo hard. Creativity and freedom. And the passion to see it through to the end result.