Capturing and Processing Compostable Packaging - Behaviour Change Interventions and Infrastructure Considerations

可堆肥塑料包装在零售(实体和在线)和餐饮部门越来越普遍。它主要以餐饮服务器皿和袋子(托架和散装新鲜农产品的袋子)的形式出现，但越来越多地被用于新鲜农产品的软包装、小包装，如扭曲包装、酥脆的袋子和非包装应用，如咖啡豆。在这些形式中，可堆肥性为增加循环性提供了一个新的机会：将有机垃圾转移到堆肥，使受食品污染的不可回收包装能够(有机)回收，或者仅仅是一种解决方案，目前还不存在规模化的机械或其他回收途径。该项目将首次使用多学科方法，量化在三个已建立的英国供应系统模型中应用可堆肥塑料包装的环境和经济影响：在已建立的闭环系统中应用可堆肥塑料包装，在市政收集中与其他堆肥一起使用零售袋，在在线零售商的回收方案中使用灵活的生产包装。将收集行为洞察，并制定、测试和部署有针对性的消费者干预措施，以增加可堆肥塑料包装的有机回收，同时优化可堆肥塑料包装的潜力，帮助在适用的情况下回收有机废物。该项目将与英国领先的容器内堆肥运营商密切合作，首次全面使用旨在量化到达有机废物设施的包装和其他塑料的协议。此外，它还将确定最常见的不可堆肥塑料格式，然后将作为回收运动或重新设计的目标。在回收循环中，包装将在零售商的分散设施中进行堆肥。可堆肥的塑料包装将通过中央(市政)和分散的堆肥过程进行追踪，堆肥质量通过PAS100评估。对于没有既定路线进行有机回收的产品，如咖啡豆和小型包装，重要的是向消费者和堆肥商阐明其性能。选定的家庭将被提供产品，这些产品将通过城市有机废物系统追溯到最终的堆肥。此外，该项目将根据英国首个项目的经验提供开放获取的沟通工具。

Compostable plastic packaging is increasingly prevalent in both the retail (physical and online) and catering sectors. Predominantly it comes in the form of food service-ware and bags (carrier and those for loose fresh produce), but increasingly it is used for flexible packaging for fresh produce, small format such as twist wraps, crisp bags and non-packaging applications like coffee pods. In these formats, compostability presents a new opportunity for increasing circularity: for transferring organic waste to composting, to enable the (organic) recycling of the food contaminated unrecyclable packaging or simply a solution for which no mechanical or other recycling route exists at scale today.Using a multi-disciplinary approach, this project will for the first time, quantify the _environmental and economic_ impacts of applying compostable plastic packaging in a trio of established UK supply system models: food service ware in established closed loop systems, retail bags (repurposed as organic waste bags) alongside other compostables in a municipal collection and flexible produce packaging in an online retailer's take back scheme. Behavioural insights will be gathered, and targeted consumer interventions developed, tested then deployed to increase the organic recycling of compostable plastic packaging whilst optimising the potential for compostable plastic packaging in aiding the recovery of organic waste where applicable.Working closely with the UK's leading in-vessel composting operator, the project will deliver the first full-scale use of a protocol designed to quantify packaging and other plastics arriving at organic waste facilities. Further to providing a robust methodology for accounting for compostables into organic recycling processes, it will also identify the most common non-compostable plastic formats which can then be targeted for recycling campaigns or redesign. Within the take-back loop the packaging will be composted in the retailer's decentralised facility.The compostable plastic packaging will be traced through the centralised (municipal) and decentralised composting processes with compost quality to PAS100 assessed.For products which do not have an established route to organic recycling such as coffee pods and small format wrappings, it is important to clarify their performance with both the consumer and the composter. Selected households will be provided with products which will then be traced through the municipal organic waste system back to the final compost.Further to extensive reporting, the project will deliver open access communication tools based on the learnings from this UK first project.