Around 125,000 tonnes of plastic packaging will be discarded this Christmas, with most unrecycled and much of it ending up as litter, while global plastic waste rises to more than 25 million tonnes.
Now recycling company Symphony Environmental, is calling on manufacturers and brands to cut the environmental impact of festive plastic packaging as seasonal waste surges.
“Christmas and the festive season should be a time of joy, rather than one of environmental harm,” says Symphony Environmental CEO Michael Laurier.
He argues that while “plastic is often the best material for packaging, in both economic and environmental terms” companies must now make conscious choices about the type of plastic they use.
Laurier highlights Symphony’s d2w masterbatch technology as one route to reduce long lasting plastic litter. “The problem with plastic litter is that it creates microplastics and lies or floats around for decades, but both these problems can be solved by manufacturing the plastic products with a d2w masterbatch at little or no extra cost,” he says.
According to the company this additive enables conventional plastics to biodegrade automatically in the open environment without leaving persistent microplastics, offering a lower impact option where littering and leakage still occur.
Symphony stresses this is not a substitute for better behaviour and recycling – but a practical tool while systems and habits catch up.
“One day people will stop dropping litter, and will send all their plastic for recycling, but we can’t wait until then,” Laurier says.
Time for greener Christmas plastic packaging appeared first on Energy Live News.