Case For Support - Compostable plastics: unlocking existing barriers to systems change

2018年，《英国塑料公约》设定了一个目标，即到2025年，使所有塑料包装100%可回收、可重复使用或可堆肥，并消除所有不必要的一次性包装。将可降解塑料纳入目标是很重要的，原因有两个：首先，有一些物品，如食品包装，湿巾，茶包，咖啡荚，小袋，是高度食品污染的，不适合回收或再利用；其次，食物垃圾具有重要的环境重要性，可堆肥的衬垫在离家的路线上发挥着重要作用（政府目标是到2023年所有英国家庭）。但是有一个根本的问题。堆肥行业不仅在英国，而且在国际上都是塑料包装的“狂野西部”。这些材料在很大程度上是不受监管的，环保证书的说法往往被过度推销给公众。我们的公民科学研究表明，参与调查的84%的英国家庭报告说，他们更有可能选择标有“可生物降解”或“可堆肥”的产品，但他们对如何处理这些产品感到困惑。由于它们在公众和品牌中的受欢迎程度，这种材料开始取代PET等可回收塑料。欧洲塑料协会估计，到2023年，可生物降解塑料的全球市场将增长到130万吨，但如果可降解饮料瓶、薯片包装和巧克力包装开始生产，这一市场可能会更大。可重复使用或可回收产品的替代并不是唯一的问题，其他废物流的污染是另一个问题：可堆肥塑料目前与大多数食物垃圾处理系统不相容。因此，为可降解的茶包、湿巾、易拉罐衬垫、受食品污染的外带包装等设计一个可行且可持续的系统是至关重要的。目前存在的问题有：1。可堆肥塑料目前不受监管；虽然有自愿采用的认证标准，但这些标准并不能保证环境保护。英国没有专门的可堆肥塑料的收集和处理设施，没有这些设施，它们对环境的影响是很高的。目前还没有有效的技术解决方案来自动分离和分类可堆肥塑料，因此它们是塑料回收和食物垃圾收集系统中日益增长的污染物。人们普遍对它们是什么以及如何处理它们感到困惑，尤其是在家用可堆肥塑料的情况下。对可堆肥产品的混淆（以及错误地认为它们在任何条件下都会生物降解）可能导致环境污染加剧的风险越来越大，特别是在出口到其他没有废物收集基础设施的国家的饮料瓶的情况下。我们通过与行业合作伙伴的一系列会议共同创建了这个研究项目，这些合作伙伴已经同意成为行业联盟的一部分，包括威立雅、Paper Round、Deliveroo、Vegware、Nemi Teas、BBIA、REA、Xampla、Recycleye、Mamabamboo、Anerotech、Declan Mee Ltd和Closed Loop partners。该项目的商定目标是为英国和世界范围内使用可堆肥塑料的可持续系统解锁障碍。在这个项目中，我们将把对不同可堆肥产品的环境分析结果与我们在标签和自动检测方面的工作结合起来，考虑如何处理和工业堆肥这些产品，以创造一个可持续的系统。具体来说，我们将询问英国需要什么样的废物处理系统才能使这些产品具有可持续性，这样的系统如何运作，以及它如何在经济上可行。我们特别强调评估使用英国食物垃圾收集系统作为从家庭中收获可堆肥塑料的手段的可行性。

In 2018 the UK Plastics Pact set a target to make all plastic packaging 100% recyclable, reusable, or compostable, and to eliminate all unnecessary single-use packaging by 2025. Including compostable plastics in the target was important for two reasons: firstly, there are some items such as food packaging, wipes, tea bags, coffee pods, sachets, that being highly food contaminated are not to suited to recycling or reuse; secondly, food waste is of major environmental importance and compostable liners play an important role in the route out of the home (government target of all UK households by 2023). \But there is a fundamental problem. The compostables sector is the "wild west" of plastic packaging not just in the UK but also internationally. The materials are largely unregulated and the claims made of environmental credentials are often oversold to the public. Our citizen science research shows that 84% of UK households taking part reported that they are more likely to choose products that are marked as "biodegradable" or "compostable" but they are confused about how to dispose of them. Due to their popularity with the public and brands, the material is starting to displace recyclable plastics such as PET. Plastics Europe estimate the global market for biodegradable plastics is set to grow to 1.3 million tonnes in by 2023 but it could be much greater if compostable drinks bottle, crisp packets and chocolate wrappers start to be produced. The displacement of reusable or recycling products is not the only problem, contamination of other waste streams is another: compostable plastics are currently incompatible with most food waste processing systems. Thus it is it vital to design a workable and sustainable system for compostable tea bags, wipes, caddy liners, food contaminated to-go packaging, ect. The current problems are as follows:1. Compostable plastics are currently unregulated; while there are certification standards that can be adopted voluntarily, these do not guarantee environmental protection.2. There is no dedicated UK-wide collection and processing facilities for compostable plastics, without which their environmental impact is high.3. There is currently no working technical solution to the automatic separation and sorting of compostable plastics, thus they are a growing contaminant in the plastics recycling and food waste collection systems.4. There is widespread confusion about what they are and how to dispose of them especially in the case of home compostable plastics.5. There is a growing risk that the confusion around compostable products (and a mistaken belief that they will biodegrade in any conditions) may lead to increased environmental pollution especially in the case of drinks bottles exported to other countries with no waste collection infrastructure.We have co-created this research programme through a series of meetings with industry partners who have agreed to be part of the industry consortium Veolia, Paper Round, Deliveroo, Vegware, Nemi Teas, BBIA, REA, Xampla, Recycleye, Mamabamboo, Anerotech, Declan Mee Ltd and Closed Loop Partners. The agreed aim of this project is to unlock the barriers to a sustainable system for the use of compostable plastics in the UK and worldwide. In this project we will synthesise the results from our environmental analysis of different compostable products with our work on labelling and automatic detection to consider how the disposal and industrial composting of these products could create a sustainable system. Specifically we will ask what UK waste processing system needs to be in place for such products to be sustainable, how such a system might operate, and how it could be economically viable. We place special emphasis on assessing the feasibility of using a UK food waste collection system as the means to harvest compostable plastics from domestic households.