Swapping plastic food packaging or cutlery for compostable alternatives and paper is a ‘false solution’ which is just as bad for the environment, Greenpeace warns
- Swapping plastic for wood or paper uses up valuable trees and wood supplies
- Meanwhile compostable plastics have been found ending up in incinerators
- Greenpeace said shops should be opting for genuinely reusable products
- Metal cutlery, refillable bags and containers and unpackaged foods are the ideal
Replacing single-use plastics with compostable alternatives or paper or wood is not the answer to environmental problems, Greenpeace has warned.
Companies including Marks & Spencer, Pret A Manger and Sainsbury’s have all launched initiatives to try and cut how much plastic they use.
But the campaign group branded these ‘false solutions’ and said it was ‘grotesque’ that using wood and paper wastes trees, while compostable materials often end up in general rubbish.
Instead, supermarkets and cafes should be trying to use fully reusable items like metal cutlery, refillable bags and unpackaged foods.
Greenpeace said companies introducing compostable plastic bags, such as the one pictured, from the Co-op, was as bad as carrying on with normal plastic bags because they so often end up in landfill or an incinerator
‘Companies swapping single-use plastic for other throwaway items need to think again,’ said Greenpeace’s Fiona Nicholls.
‘We can’t carry on using up land or chopping down forests to make cutlery, cups or packaging that gets used for a matter of moments, and could pollute our planet for hundreds of years to come. It’s grotesque.
‘Businesses like supermarkets and cafes must switch to a reuse and refill model.
‘That means metal cutlery, proper cups, water refill stations, and selling products in refillable packaging or none at all. It’s common sense.’
The three main culprits in the plastic-swap, which has been encouraged by customers becoming concerned about pollution in the oceans, are bioplastics, compostable plastics and paper, Greenpeace said.
Compostable plastic and paper bags have been brought in at supermarkets including Aldi, the Co-op, Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.
But an investigation earlier this year found that compostable plastics often end up in general rubbish in landfill or an incinerator.
This was because not enough places had the right facilities to be able to compost the rubbish, the investigation by environmental campaigner, Footprint, found.
Meanwhile, fast food and takeaway shops including McDonald’s and Pret A Manger have made switches intended to be better for the environment.
Pret A Manger is introducing compostable plastic cutlery to all its stores this year, but Greenpeace said companies should be focused on genuinely reusable options like metal cutlery
McDonald’s has swapped from plastic drinks straws to paper ones, but these can’t be recycled, Greenpeace said.
And Pret’s plans to introduce compostable plastic to all its outlets this year goes against what would be best for the environment.
Parliament’s Environmental and Rural Affairs Committee has recently recommended switching away from single-use packaging of any kind.
Its chairman, Neil Parish MP, said: ‘Fundamentally, substitution is not the answer, and we need to look at ways to cut down on single use packaging.’
HOW MUCH RECYCLING ENDS UP IN LANDFILL?
Every day, millions of us drop a plastic bottle or cardboard container into the recycling bin – and we feel we’re doing our bit for the environment.
But what we may not realise is that most plastic never gets recycled at all, often ending up in landfill or incineration depots instead.
Of 30 billion plastic bottles used by UK households each year, only 57 per cent are currently recycled, with half going to landfill, half go to waste.
Most plastic never gets recycled at all, often ending up in landfill or incineration depots instead. Around 700,000 plastic bottles a day end up as litter
Around 700,000 plastic bottles a day end up as litter.
This is largely due to plastic wrapping around bottles that are non-recyclable.
Every year, the UK throws away 2.5 billion ‘paper’ cups, amounting to 5,000 cups a minute.
Shockingly, less than 0.4 per cent of these are recycled.
Most cups are made from cardboard with a thin layer of plastic.
This has previously posed issues with recycling but can now be removed .
Five specialist recycling plants in the UK have the capacity to recycle all the cups used on our high-streets.
Ensuring the paper cups end up in these plants and are not discarded incorrectly is one of the biggest issues facing the recycling of the paper vessels.
