Grace Binchy, Insight & Trends Specialist, Bord Bia - The Irish Food Board
“We are all plastic addicts”
To quote Sian Sutherland of A Plastic Planet “we only need to walk into any store to see our involuntary and total addiction to plastic”.
It’s hard to believe that plastic as we know it really only became prevalent six decades ago. Fast forward to today and plastics will outweigh fish in the ocean by 2050, according to the World Economic Forum.
The challenges facing us continue abound. These challenges have really accelerated our desire for more Responsible Living and have possibly made it one of the most dynamic trends in terms of impact on the food and drinks industry in recent times.
Given the vast number of changes we are seeing happening, this article will focus on some of the changes emerging that are designed to challenge this disposable culture we have created.
“Who owns waste?” The Terracylce Loop System
Recycling itself is deemed to be a challenged industry and some would argue is failing According to the Royal StatisicaL Society in the UK only 9% of all plastic ever made has been recycled with close to 79% going to landfill or remaining in the environment as litter.
This led Tom Szaky of Terracycle to think about recycling systems and who actually owns waste. He posed this question to some of the world’s biggest multinational at Davos in 2016. Asking the question as to whether waste and its disposal is the responsibility of the consumer or businesss – he believes that the best way to eliminate a single use culture is to encourage industry to retain ownership of their waste, counting it as a longer term asset on their balance sheet. The result is the creation of the loop system whereby consumers can send back their packaging to be cleaned and refilled and it is then returned to the consumer. Haagen Daz’s new ice cream vessel is an example of one product developed and being tested in the Loop System.
The intention of the system is to create more durable packaging that can have at least 100 uses. The model is currently being trialled and life cycle analysis testing is being conducted to test the viability and sustainability of the system but meanwhile Proctor and Gamble, Nestle, Unilever are some of the businesses that are exploring it.
Leasing models
Do we actually need to own things at all?
Ikea has just launched the first leasing trial to enable consumers lease their furniture. Launched in March, the idea is that you could lease something, hand it back and lease something else. Ikea can then refurbish where required and even sell furniture on, but the idea is to prolong the lifecycle of their products and hopefully to start building scalable subscription services.
The removal of packaging altogether
While not something that can be achieved for all foods, we are seeing some interesting things happen with retailers in particular really trying to champion new ways of packaging and indeed not packaging products. Waitrose recently launched their unpacked scheme where consumers can use their own containers to top up a range of products including wine, detergents and pastas. Crowd funding is being conducted for a new online grocery service Rise Mrkt in the States according to Fast Company, where all packaging will be plastic free and come in compostable packaging only. Where cities don’t offer composting the company will pay to send their packaging to the closet facility.
Refill systems are also emerging in public spaces and indeed old water fountains are having their moment once more. One new manifestation of this, just launched in Sneem in July is their own water refill station. This unit provides free filtered water for all and its aim is to reduce the amount of single use plastic waste being produced by encouraging people to refill their bottles.
Think before you buy
As consumers are becoming more conscientious, they are also being faciltated by technology such as the Giki App a UK sustainable shopping app which allows consumers to make thoughtful decisions around the environmental credentials of a product.
The circular economy is now.
According to Sian Sutherland there should be no such thing as waste. “True circularity for plastic is not about recycling. It’s a total rethink on how we go from our current model of take, make and waste to a new model of take make and never throw away”
Importantly too as she says we must not demonise plastic. It is an extraordinary material but it has become the “go to” for too many things.
Businesses need to stop and think before they simply rid themselves of plastic. Is the material being replaced with another material that can’t be recycled, can it be recycled in the market the product is being sold in?
While this is a time of challenge, it is also an exciting time in terms of innovation and change.
To read more on our Responsible Living trend and all our consumer lifestyle trends
Log on to https://www.bordbiaconsumerlifestyletrends.ie/trends/
Or to read our packaging prospects report