WEBINAR Compostable Packaging in Italy Tony Breton Products - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

WEBINAR

Compostable Packaging in Italy

Tony Breton

Products conceived as solutions

Italian Biowaste Industry 2017

Collect on average 75 kg of food waste per inhabitant per year

UK comparator is ~15 kg

Composts (with or without digestion) ~6.6 MT of biowaste (>65% food) / year Employs 9,000 people Turnover €1.8 billion / year Incremental gate fees based on contamination Regular feedstock analyses Certification and labelling scheme for compost and compostable products including packaging

Policy

Policies since have been aimed at delivering infrastructures for bioecomony linked to clean organic waste whilst minimizing opportunity for consumer confusion 1997 - “wet” (food / biowaste) waste a priority (Dlgs 22/1997) 2006 - 2010 – 65% recycling target and requirement for food waste containers to either be compostable (EN13432) or reusable decree n. 2006/152 art 182 2011 – ban on all non-compostable lightweight carrier bags 2016 – ban on all non-compostable very lightweight bags (fruit and vegetable bags)

Bags must also have a minimum bio-based content (currently 50%, increasing to 60%) Bags must be charged for

2020 – world’s first EPR for compostables

Why it works

Systemic desire to drive circular bioeconomy through organic wastes Innovative organic recycling industry committed to sustainability Compostable products and packaging developed for relevant applications Retail and brand owner commitments Strong Associations: supply chain collaboration – mutalism 2017 confirmed data - ~60KT of compostable plastics sold into Italian market, recycling rate of 55-65%

Thank You

E: tony.breton@novamont.com; T:+44(0) 7876200934

Helen Bird | June 2020

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Targetted availability possible Creates additional benefit Established mechanical recycling Carrier bags Yes Yes Yes General packaging No No Yes Items likely to be received in food waste by default - tea bags, labels on fruit No Yes No Very small “fugitive” items, likely to be lost from recycling streams - Tamper-evident bands No Possibly No

Compostable Packaging: it’s role in the UK and the need for better supply chain alignment Emily Nichols

17th June 2020 CIWM webinar

• Liners and re-used carrier & fruit & veg bags
• Reduced yuk factor supports householder participation and

amounts of food waste presented for collection

• Less contamination inside the liners/bags
• IC plastic
• IC paper
• Other food contact applications where adequate technical

performance as packaging, food shelf life is preserved or extended, and

• the packaging material type is already separately collected for

dry/mechanical recycling or

• food residues are difficult to remove from the packaging
• Enables more efficient management of food and municipal

plant tissue waste streams (compostable sacks where bins not provided)

• Maximises amount of food and municipal plant tissue

waste biodegraded

• Less food contamination in dry / mechanical recyclable

waste streams, aiding their recycling rates

Compostable packaging & non- packaging items – applications and value

Accepted standards: EN 13432 – industrially compostable packaging

• Potentially toxic elements / heavy metals limits
• Disintegration – at least 90 % w/w < 2 mm within 12 weeks (≈ 3 months)
• Ecotoxicity – plant growth
• Biodegradation – plateaued curve of cumulative CO2 from test mix at least

90 % as much as plateaued curve of cumulative CO2 from control, within 6 months

• No negative effects on compost

EN 14995 – industrially compostable plastics, e.g. non-packaging plastics, mirrors EN 13432 Independently certified certification code and mark (logo), e.g.

@REAssociation Compostable packaging specifications

European Bioplastics via a TÜV certification

• rganisation

TÜV Austria

TÜV Rheinland (Din Certco)

Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd

Compostable plastic packaging in context UK experience with IC items

UK compostable plastic packaging market in context:

• 10 kt compostable plastic packaging placed on market in 2018*
• 226 times smaller than 2.26 MT plastic packaging waste arisings in 2017
• 104 times smaller than 1.04 MT plastic packaging wastes recovered / recycled in

2017

• 90 - 138 kt by 2025, depending on degree of market uptake*
• 138 kt = 69 times smaller than 9.52 MT food & drinks waste arisings in 2018

*Source: Ricardo Energy & Environment, https://bbia.org.uk/wp- content/uploads/2019/05/Plastics-in-the-Bioeconomy-report-1.pdf

UK facilities approved to treat food waste (May 2020):

• 112 AD facilities
• 46 composting facilities

Where household food waste goes to In-Vessel Composting IC liners or re-used IC carrier bags Vegware ‘closed loop’ food & compostable packaging waste: 22 IVC, 3 open windrow composting & 2 ‘suitably equipped’ AD facilities (June 2019) Various other compostable packaging items since early days of compostable packaging, including food + ICP from London Olympics 2012

@REAssociation

• REA conservative estimate of AD & composting industry plastic

contaminant removal & disposal costs per year: £7.26 M / year

• Wet-AD operator case study: £329 K / yr to remove and dispose of

plastic bags/liners and packaging (all types in the food waste streams), £156 per tonne removed & disposed

• Removal steps are not 100 % effective

@REAssociation

Reasons to reduce plastic contamination in food & municipal plant tissue wastes

Front-end screened out & washed plastics, prior to pressing

• More awareness of microplastics and regulators

planning / taking actions to protect terrestrial and aquatic environments

• Environment Agency Standard Rule and Bespoke

permits review (consulted 2019/2020):

• 5 year roadmap for reducing ‘plastic and other litter’ in delivered

biowaste…towards 0.5 w/w limit?

• certified industrially compostable items exempt from limit
• Rules applicable to waste-derived composts &

digestates placed on markets as products:

@REAssociation

Actions to reduce plastic contamination in food & municipal plant tissue wastes

• composts – limit for ≥ 2 mm

plastic pieces to be tightened by 50 %?

• digestates – plastic pieces ≥ 2

mm to become limited to 8 %

• f current ‘all contaminants’

limit?

@REAssociation

Resources & Waste Strategy for England: separate collection of food wastes from 2023

• Householders’ kitchen caddies & food bins:
• supplied with industrially compostable plastic or paper

liners by their local authority

• can re-use industrially compostable fruit & veg bags or

carrier bags instead of liners

• can choose to use no liner / bag
• Further consider:
• other suitable industrially compostable item formats in

specific food applications, beyond WRAP-recommended tea bags, fruit/veg stickers, coffee pods, ready meal trays (baked on food post-use)

• food bin capacity must be sufficient for all IC items

Opportunity: more efficient and cost-effective management

• f household

food waste stream

@REAssociation

Options for biodegrading this waste stream

(in no particular order):

1. ABPR-approved composting (e.g. IVC) 2. ABPR-approved dry-AD with following composting phase for dewatered solids 3. ABPR-approved wet-AD with pre-digestion autoclave step (high temperature & pressure) 4. Other ABPR-approved wet-AD: front-end remove bags, liners & other item types and send to ABPR-approved composting Requires waste stream contamination by non- compostable items to be acceptably low & preferably absent.

Household food waste in industrially compostable bags / liners plus

• ther industrially

compostable item types

• Clear labelling of industrially compostable items (and home

compostable ones)

• ‘Which bin?’ disposal guidance / instructions
• Sufficient funding for local authorities to guide / instruct /

educate householders

• Any claims made for items biodegradable in other natural or

managed environments are clear, the item meets an accepted standard and is independently certified (as soon as aligned certification schemes are available)

• Plastic packaging tax: if introduced, exempt compostable

plastics which have 30 % or more bio-based* content (items HMRC intends to tax include bin/caddie liners)

• Reform Packaging Producer Responsibility System so it

appropriately includes compostable packaging (e.g. carrier & fruit & veg

bags) and non-packaging items (e.g. caddie and food waste bin liners, tea bags)

• Further consider which packaging & non-packaging item

formats in which food packaging applications should be industrially compostable, for wastes from non-household sources

* Made from non-fossilised, living organisms, e.g. plants, algae

@REAssociation

Making it work

Food wastes from non-household sources

@REAssociation

E.g. Retail back-of-store food wastes:

• Industrially Compostable Packaging is not used for all food

contact items & there are technical barriers in some applications

• Feasible to have bins for food in ICP & separate bins for

food/drink in non-ICP packaging? If no: at composting & AD facilities need non-packaged food wastes in compostable bags / liners to be prepared separately from back-of-store food wastes

• New build facilities: plan for this
• Existing facilities:
• investigate scope for reconfiguration, installation of

more effective waste-prep machinery & permit conditions that enable longer storage of delivered waste (separation by timing of pre-treatment rather

than spatially?)

• provide guidance and financial resource for

implementing changes

Food wastes from non-household sources

@REAssociation

Thank you

emily@r-e-a.net

WEBINAR

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