In part two of this two-part feature, Michael Dossor MAIP, group general manager, Result Group; Dr Carol Kilcullen-Lawrence, FAIP, CPP sustainability specialist, UPM Raflatac; Alan Adams MAIP, sustainability director APAC, Sealed Air; Professor Pierre Pienaar FAIP, CPP, education director – Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) and president – World Packaging Organisation (WPO); and Keith Chessell FAIP, APCO board member all bring different views to the discussion on COVID-19 and how it will affect the packaging industry.
One outcome from the current situation is the resurgence of single-use plastics. How can we manage this as an industry?
Michael Dossor: This is the most important question of all. There are ways to protect the product, while at the same time ensure materials will fit within APCO’s circular economy model and we have done it many times over at Result. The term single use package does need to be used as much as it is and with the correct solution, brand owners can put that claim on pack. The question is: will they? The consumer knowing there are recycling options has become as important as claims on the product itself in my opinion.
Carol Kilcullen-Lawrence: Single use plastic for food packaging is not likely to be replaced any time soon. So, its management is about providing suitable convenient recycling options – these will continue to evolve as Australia moves towards more local recycling as part of the APCO projects that steer us towards meeting the 2025 National Packaging Targets.
Alan Adams: Single-use plastics is a widely used term that is perhaps better used with the term ‘problematic’ as APCO recommends. As an industry, the needs for recovery and better use of resources in plastics at end of life has not changed, work is continuing to generate better outcomes. Sealed Air continues towards our pledge of being 100 per cent recyclable by 2025 and including 50 per cent recycled content. Recently, we launched plastic mailers with recycled content made from waste generated in our food packaging plants and waste from post-consumer streams. The resurgence of single-use plastics is more about increased understanding of safety, security, and the supply chain performance of high-performance plastics.
Pierre Pienaar: The same consumers, who have been demanding governments ban single-use bags and who have been leading the uptake in the keep-cup concept, are the ones shouting for shoppers to leave their reusable bags and keep-cups at home. It is called survival. WPO is hopeful, with the entire planet, that this pandemic will pass, and life will settle back into a pattern we enjoyed prior to the pandemic outbreak. I am hoping the resultant and overriding attitude in response to these forms of packaging will be a sense of how much the consumer has been directly responsible for our polluted planet to date.
Keith Chessell: Most states have in place or are working on implementing a single use plastic ban covering items such as lightweight plastic shopping bags, disposable plastic plates/bowls, cutlery, cups, stirrers and some other single-use food service items, expanded polystyrene food and beverage containers, plastic straws, heavier/boutique plastic bags and oxo-degradable plastics. Although attitudes may have changed through this COVID crisis, the phasing out of these items will certainly occur. The packaging and manufacturing industry need to get on board with the 2025 National Packaging Targets and become APCO members and utilise their resources (PREP recycling tool, Australasian Recycling Logo), the recently issued Sustainable Packaging Guidelines (SPGs) plus a ranging of packaging material guides. The industry has been on the back foot for far too long with Australian consumers with regards to plastic packaging. We have failed to defend and support the important role that packaging has in protecting, preserving, extending shelf life, reducing food spoilage and waste, providing important information on ingredients, nutrition, storage and recipes as well as the convenience that consumers require. The industry right now must ensure their packaging meets the sustainable packaging guidelines – recyclable or reusable, is working towards recycled content and has the ARL for the consumer’s disposal understanding.
There have been growing concerns that with the world in one form of lockdown or other consumers are no longer caring about the environment as much and are not recycling. There have also been many photos on the Internet showing all of the medical PPE being littered around the world. What should be done to ensure that we maintain the course for recycling globally?
Michael: The answer is simple. The industry has the capabilities to develop a packaging material of any type to fit the circular economy and be 100 per cent recycled, be made from recycled content but at the end of the day the consumer still has to put the packaging in the right bin or dispose of it correctly. I am pretty sure our Prime Minister said it best when people started panic buying toilet paper. “It is wrong, stop doing it, it is un-Australian”. The same applies for PPE littering.
Carol: Even though our short-term focus has necessarily shifted towards “physical distancing” we also have an opportunity now to think about what is truly important and there is definitely an emerging sense of community. The measures we are taking are for the benefit of everyone. So, when we switch back to our longer-term goals, I believe protection of our environment will still rank highly. The problem of medical equipment being littered is a difficult one. I have come across used gloves being left in a shopping trolley. Also, there are so many people wearing masks incorrectly. We need more government guidance about when PPE is actually recommended. Gloves are not a substitute for good hand hygiene and masks worn for too long harbour many germs.
Alan: The vast majority of consumer recycling is done at home and this service continues without interruption. In fact, with more time at home, less travel and less dining out and fast food consumption it is highly likely that traditional litter rates are dropping and recycling rates increasing. The improper disposal of Medical PPE is similar to other forms of littering; poor choices by individuals or organisations.
Pressure to deliver on 2025 recycling targets in Australia and globally remain in place. While changing behaviour is part education, there are always that small percentage that are inconsiderate of others and the environment. It is pleasing to see law enforcement taking action on those making poor choices including elevated and specific fines for littering PPE.
Pierre: Survival always remains our most essential need, hence the current medical PPE littering. I am of the opinion that this pandemic will ultimately bring the opposite effect. I am hoping that after this pandemic, and as a result of self-isolation, we may have greater appreciation for our cleaner planet and for our family, friends and neighbours. This pandemic is a leveller like no other we have seen in living history. We are dependent on our earth, on our family and our neighbours. Nobody is the centre of the universe. Hopefully it takes being alone to appreciate the need for us to work together.
Keith: There has been little said around the world about the disposal of medical PPE. The current littering pictures that are being circulated of PPE gloves and masks really don’t assist consumers’ perspectives about packaging, litter, ocean and planet contamination. Up until the COVID-19 impact, consumers were concerned for the environment, climate change, recycling and there was negativity towards plastic packaging. The improved understanding of packaging by consumers through the protection benefits during this COVID period will be quickly lost unless each industry addresses the environmental design requirements for their products and educates the consuming public for the reason/benefits their packaging provides to the food and beverage products.
How do you think packaging will be perceived after this is all over?
Michael: As an industry, if we keep doing the great work we have been undertaking, then packaging has an opportunity to have its recent perceptions changed at a consumer level. It is all about the consumer facing communication and education. We need to continue to showing and explain all of the great work that is being done within the packaging industry. Packaging has a role to play that is far greater than just protecting the product. Controlling and minimising food waste stands out and that is a bigger problem than the packaging itself, costing the country more in the longer term.
Carol: I hope the importance of packaging will be appreciated, particularly its role in preserving food. And as brands continue on a journey towards more sustainable packaging, we have a huge opportunity to take consumers with us on this journey.
Alan: The value and types of packaging will have changed. E-commerce and home delivery will remain, with higher adoption so efficient and effective protective packaging is needed. New packaging formats are accelerating like TempGuard, a recyclable fibre solution that extends the operating window for chilled food home delivery. Cooking at home rates have changed as new cooks are created so packaging making cooking and preparation accessible will be valued. We are seeing a spike in demand for ready meals in packaging like Simple Steps. Food safety, security of supply and damage protection will not be taken for granted.
Pierre: A realisation that it is every country’s culture that is directly responsible for how much pollution they are causing. It is not the fault of packaging. Japan’s culture is currently proving its saving grace in this pandemic. With a population two and three times that of Italy and Spain respectively, Japan’s hygiene culture of no handshaking (rather bowing), wearing of masks, respect of social distancing etc. has managed to keep its COVID-9 numbers relatively low. Japan’s culture too demands extravagant packaging of all goods, to the point of over packaging and single food item packaging. Packaging in Japan is considered a necessary luxury. They have almost a fetish with packaging for a number of cultural reasons. Re-use of items such as plastic chopsticks (as opposed to disposable wooden ones) and cloth napkins is unheard of. In response to this, however, they are among the world’s foremost recyclers. Over 70 per cent of Japan’s plastic is recycled. Lower than 20 per cent is sent to landfill in comparison with the US landfill figure of around 70 per cent of plastic. A culture shift may be required by many countries as they realise – after the pandemic – how much they were to blame for the Earth’s demise. The WPO through its member countries like the AIP, is intent on working with countries to educate consumers to manage pollution themselves rather than depend on a government to dictate behaviour.
Keith: As we look back on the COVID experience, I am sure as a packaging and manufacturing industry we will be able to see we have been thrown a ‘lifeline’ to restore in the consumer’s mind that packaging is not evil, it does serve a critical purpose and is an essential part of providing food safety and integrity to our consumer products.