Plastic waste is a hot topic. For years there has been a discussion about plastic packaging and plastic soup: who is responsible?

According to the authorities, the responsibility for preventing the plastic soup  lies with the producers of plastic packaging and the waste processors. Pressure from the EU is increasing, resulting in a ban on single-use plastic products from 3 July 2021.

Sustainability is top priority

As a producer of plastic food containers, we take our responsibility very seriously and (fortunately) we are not alone in that! In March 2020, an interesting article was published by Analyse Nederland with the title “Sustainability is a top priority of the plastics industry”. This article basically explains the developments in the field of sustainability in more detail.

You can read in this article, that plastic is environmentally friendly and useful in many ways. It explains why plastic food packaging contributes to, among other things, the reduction of food waste.

Shared responsibility

The industry invests a lot of time and money in innovation and making plastic (food) packaging more sustainable, but does this solve the problem of the plastic soup? Yes and no.

Innovation and focus on improvement is crucial, but there is one thing the industry has no control over: the behavior of the end user. We all know the images of the litter after a random sunny weekend. Beaches and parks full of (plastic) waste, left behind by people who have no problem with their waste causing serious pollution. Packaging can be as sustainable as ever. But if the packaging is thrown away and ends up in nature, it is never good for the environment. Not even if it is biodegradable packaging! It is important that everyone in the chain takes his or her responsibility. This means the producers, the waste processors and the end users.

Pack-Store and sustainability

Sustainability has been an integral part of the business operations at Pack-Store for years. But what does that actually mean?

1. Our products are reusable

The plastic tubs and buckets are of such good quality that they can be reused many times over. Moreover our food-safe plastic packaging is suitable for freezer, microwave and dishwasher, making it multifunctional;

2. All products are 100% recyclable

We only use 100% recyclable polypropylene for the production of our platic food packaging. If you no longer use our products, they can be 100% recycled through regular plastic waste processing process!

3. Variety of Biobased food packaging

We continue to innovate in sustainability and this has resulted in, among other things, a nice range of Biobased tubs. The biobased raw material is based on ethanol that comes from residual waste from sugar cane production. Just like the polypropylene packaging, this Biobased packaging also meets the highest and most recent food safety standards.