Traditionally, restaurants tend to supply their customers with ingredients sourced from around the world. This model of supply chain robs ingredients of freshness, as fruits and vegetables are traveling long distances prior to making it to the restaurant. Consequently, these foods are typically frozen and use harmful preservatives to preserve some sort of freshness.
On the other hand, farm-to-table sourcing ensures that food is sourced from local farmers to preserve freshness. At the heart of the farm-to-table philosophy lies sustainability. By thoroughly ensuring local sourcing, restaurants and consumers significantly reduce the carbon footprint associated with food transportation such as packaging and carbon emissions. Gone are the days of complex supply chains that lead to massive amounts of food waste. Farm-to-table establishments prioritize minimization of transportation emissions and supporting local farmers. This both reduces environmental harm but also promotes agricultural diversity and resilience within local farming.
Moreover, farm-to-table dining fosters a deeper connection with consumers. A recent study has shown that more than two-thirds of UK customers care about the sourcing of their food. This model enhances transparency with customers, allowing restaurants to build loyalty through consumer trust. Additionally, this philosophy is extremely beneficial for small-scale farmers and local agriculture, creating meaningful relationships between farmers and restaurants. By supporting local farming, consumers are contributing to the preservation of farming in the face of urbanization. The farm-to-table ethos promotes fair wages and labor practices, ensuring that the people who cultivate our food are treated with dignity and respect.
East Coast
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For your coffee shop to stand out, you can use various compostable coffee cups. To get you started perfectly, here are some of the best ways to make your coffee package stand out:
This is the most important part of the package. Whether you order to dine-in or takeout, you will serve coffee in a cup for your customer. When compared to other packaging such as takeaway food, this is the package that will be kept in the hand for the longest duration.
Whether consumers eat it or not, they most likely will buy a coffee. The coffee cup can be the best tool for advertisement. Coffee drinkers always have coffee on their hands wherever they go. So, if you design custom coffee cups for your coffee store, your customer will advertise your brand everywhere they go.
For your coffee store, compostable and recyclable custom coffee cups can be the best way to promote your coffee store. You can advertise that your coffee store is environmentally conscious and uses biodegradable bespoke coffee cups. Being eco-friendly will create a positive image for your coffee store to potential customers.
One of the most common packaging forms in the coffee business is the flat bottom SOS bag. It has a strong shelf presence and can stand up on its own for maximum effect with a bold or statement logo in your coffee store. It also stands out when you use a bag to prepare coffee to pour out on bespoke coffee cups for your customers. The top of the bag is frequently folded over or totally down into a brick form before being sealed. Packaging like this can attract customers to purchase a pack of coffee from your coffee store. Which will promote your store in their house or office.
Tree Free Bamboo paper cups are a great option to make custom coffee cups for your coffee store. This material of packaging is 100% biodegradable and made from bamboo. While you sell coffee, you can also make an impact on the climate change crisis.
Another great packaging option for your bespoke coffee cups can be reusable coffee cups for your loyal customers. If you sell reusable custom coffee cups to your returning customers, your customers will be using the cup to buy coffee from you every time. It is environmentally friendly and a great way to promote your coffee store to the world.
As we reach the end of the article, you can see that custom coffee is essential to promote your coffee store.
]]>Brand consistency necessitates the use of consistent delivery packaging. Consider it an extension of your brand. From ordering through the customer's physical experience, when they get the food in a custom food packaging; everything counts. This article will tell you why branded packaging is important
Great takeaway food packaging is just another marketing tool that can let you promote your food business effectively. Designing custom food packaging, whether it's branded sauce pots, greaseproof paper, takeout boxes, or paper bags, can ensure that your business is marketed as soon as clients leave your store.
This is an excellent approach to extending and improving your brand's identity beyond normal, unbranded packaging. Custom food packaging is a crucial part of keeping your brand's consistency and experience consistent. And, it can also help you build a stronger brand presence by functioning as an extension of your digital platforms.
This may help you not only increase interaction with your target audience but also establish your brand's trustworthiness and maintain a positive reputation throughout the client experience, making your cuisine more distinctive to you.
People have high expectations for customer service, so it's critical that your brand is delivering value in every engagement you have with them. This is when custom food packaging comes in handy for the food business. It adds layers to the unwrapping experience for customers, generating a sense of excitement. It also gives them a superior impression and makes them feel worthy.
Branded packaging was traditionally linked with premium companies, which is why it has an up market air to it. It's now available to companies at all stages, even the food business, allowing everyone to benefit from the premium impact.
Remember how exciting it was to unwrap gifts on your birthday as a kid? The unpacking experience is the grown-up version of this. Creating a custom food packaging that is unique to your store and sticks out from the crowd will give you a leg up on your competition.
Branded takeaway food packaging or merchandise acts as a mobile advertisement, promoting your food business to potential new customers unheard of your business. Investing in distinctive packaging might be the decisive factor in a customer's decision to select your fish and chip store over one they are unfamiliar with.
Although branded takeout packaging is crucial, the packaging is about much more than aesthetics. It is vital to find a supplier that will ensure quality packaging. It repeats your brand narrative, engages clients with your company, emphasizes your sustainable message, and directs traffic to your website, all of which will leave a lasting impact on your customers.
]]>Below you will find explanations for each of the packaging symbols and how you should dispose of them. If you own a cafe or restaurant, we recommend putting up this infographic to ensure items are disposed of properly.
Home compostable is the newest type of packaging to the market and is not yet governed by an EU standard as other packaging is. However, the home compostable approval, currently handed out by TUV Austria (formerly Vincotte), is based upon a few different EU standards.
The Home compostable label means that left in a garden compost heap, the item will degrade.
The testing criteria for this is as follows:
The product must biodegrade by at least 90% of its mass. The test is undertaken at temperatures between 20-30°C for a maximum of 12 months.*
How should I dispose of Home Compostable items?
Where you can, home compostable items should be disposed of into a home compost bin or heap. Although they can be composted commercially, composting at home reduces the emissions associated with kerbside collection and industrial composting.
Check your local council website to see if they do free or reduced price composting items. Some home compostable items may be recyclable.
Where can I get Home Compostable products?
Element Packaging supplies home compostable products to its customers, click here to find out more.
If you’d like to know which of your favourite food outlets use home compostable products, then click here.
Compostable products are governed by the EU regulation EN 13432. To meet these requirements the product must degrade when placed in an industrial composting facility.
So how does this differ to the Home Compostable above? Well home compostable was an item that was tested under 20 - 30 degree heat, something perfectly achievable in a home compost heap.
However, to achieve the compostable mark, the product must biodegrade by at least 90% of the product mass under a temperature of 58°C (+/- 2°C) within 6 months.*
How should I dispose of Compostable items?
Where you can, compostable products should be given to local authorities garden waste collection, this way it is taken for industrial compost. Should this not be available, the compostable cup should go into the general waste bin. From here, it can biodegrade at landfill. Compostable items should never go into the recycling bin.*
Where can I get Compostable products?
Element Packaging supplies Compostable products throughout the UK. Take a look at our range here.
Paper & cardboard is widely used, but can we always recycle? Some cardboard or paper items (such as cups), are often lined with a form of plastic. Because of this, we should pay attention to the symbols on the packaging. We explain the different symbols below:
FSC - The Forest Stewardship Council logo indicates that the wood used in the products comes from well managed forests independently certified in accordance with the rules of the FSC.
Symbol & Type |
Common Use |
Recyclable? |
Polyethylene Terephthalate |
PET is a type of plastic that you will often see on plastic bottles. |
Often recyclable - Check your local council guidelines. |
High-density polyethylene
|
This is another of the more common plastic. Often used for milk bottles as well as toys, kitchenware and cable insulation. | |
Polyvinyl chloride
|
Used for hard plastics such as window frames, doors and footwear. It is not recyclable. |
NOT Often recyclable - Check your local council guidelines.Recyclable |
Low Density Polyethylene
|
Commonly used for squeezy bottles and packaging films. | NOT Recyclable, often reusable. |
Polypropylene |
Often used for products such as bottle tops, food containers and packing tape. |
Often recyclable - Check your local council guidelines. |
Polystyrene
|
Often used for takeaway food and protective packaging. | NOT Recyclable |
Other
|
Other types of plastic undefined in previous groups. | Usually NOT Recyclable |
Symbol |
Description |
The Green Dot |
The Green dot does NOT indicate the product is recyclable This symbol is used widely throughout the EU but does NOT mean the product is recyclable. This indicated the producer has made a financial contribution toward the recycling and recovery of packaging in Europe. |
Recycling Symbol UK**
|
This symbol is placed on packaging when over 75% of local authorities recycle this packaging. You should, where possible, recycle items with this symbol. |
Rinse & Recycle Symbol **
|
The ‘Rinse & Recycle’ symbol indicates that you should rinse this product before recycling it. Should you not rinse the product, it could contaminate other items in the recycling and make them un-recyclable. |
Rinse | Lid on Symbol **
|
The ‘Rinse | Lid On’ symbol indicates that the items can be recycled, but should be rinsed first. It also stipulates that the lid should be left on the item so they can be recycled together. |
Recycle/Don’t Recycle Symbol**
|
This symbol is used on packaging when some parts may be recyclable and some aren’t. Certain items may have to be removed before recycling. |
Mobius Loop
|
The Mobius Loop is one of the most widely used recycling symbols.This indicates that an object is capable of being recycled. It does not mean that the object has been recycled or will be accepted in all recycling collection systems. Sometimes this symbol is used with a percentage figure in the middle to explain that the packaging contains % of recycled material. |
We all have a responsibility to reduce our consumption of non recyclable plastic, and where we can, use home compostable products. Compostable products are generally made from plants, so use less CO2 to produce.
Please make use of our infographics to help people understand how to dispose of their single use items.
The most common recycling symbol is the Mobius Loop. Although recycling symbols can vary depending on the area you live & the type of packaging. Read the recycling section of this article for more information.
There are many types of plastic that we use in our everyday lives. Plastic waste is in the spotlight at the moment due the damage it can cause to the environment. However, if we recycle our plastics properly, we could largely reduce this problem. Take a look at the 7 plastic recycling symbols above.
An item capable of being decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms and thereby avoiding pollution.
Compostable products are capable of disintegrating into natural elements like soil, leaving no toxicity. Composting may occur in a commercial composting facility or naturally.
Disintegration is the process of an object falling into small pieces, losing it’s cohesion or strength.
Sources:
* Association of organics recycling
** Recycle Now
**** Straight - The National Home Composting Framework
When most of us around the world went into lockdown early this year to combat the rising Covid-19 cases, what did the experience teach us? The pandemic has brought out the best in many of us. Is it possible that even as we examine our relationship with each other, we can extend this concern to our planet and become better stewards of it?
]]>With entertainment outlets, offices and schools closed, we were all suddenly thrust into an alternate universe. Aside from the physical and mental downside of the lockdown, we experienced clear blue skies, far away mountain peaks, and nature at our doorsteps. We saw a cleaner, healthier and ‘happier’ planet within weeks. A positive result that all the bold global climate actions and promises could not bring about after many years of futile efforts, thanks to selfishness and lack of foresight often endemic to human nature.
Did we see a silver lining in the all-consuming covid-19 cloud? What has the experience taught us? While the beneficial effect on our environment of the reduction in human activity cannot reduce or trivialise the anguish and suffering caused by the pandemic at the individual, family, social and national levels, can we make it a silver lining?.
While keeping ourselves and others save, how can we heal our planet from experiences and lessons learnt from the lockdown? With the lockdown and continuing restrictions on our movements, we have been forced to change our lifestyles and daily habits.
Many of us have learnt that working from home has many advantages. While ensuring that our work ethics and productivity do not get compromised, we save time and money by not having to travel to work; not to mention reducing emission and air pollution. We are also better able to manage our work balance and spend more time with the family.
With shops and entertainment closed, many of us have been forced to get back to the simpler way of living such as cooking simple and healthier home meals, walks, gardening, being creative in entertaining ourselves with games, watching home movies, etc.
The pandemic has brought out the best in many of us – looking after the less vulnerables, volunteering with shopping or even simply making time to call and talk to each other. Is it possible that even as we examine our relationship with each other, we can extend this concern to our planet and become better stewards of it?
We had more time for inner reflection and healing. Was this nature’s way of telling us to slow down, take stock and think about what’s essential in life? We went without many things during the lockdown. So the question is how important or essential are the many material things we surround ourselves with? Money in our bank accounts, shopping for things we don’t really need and expensive dining experiences? Perhaps the greatest healing taking place is within our hearts and how we might have impacted others’ lives and the memories we share.
Moving forward as we are still in the midst of the pandemic, we need to protect ourselves but at the same time being mindful of not adding any new pollutant that will harm the environment. With this in mind, aside from social distancing, washing hands, we can help by wearing face coverings that are environment friendly. Disposable masks that are becoming more and more prevalent contain plastics which pollute water and can harm wildlife who eat them or become tangled in them. In fact there has been a call for the government to do more to get people to switch from disposable masks to reusable coverings.
At Element we supply sustainable reusable protection masks. These masks are made from polyester, cotton or recycled OceanBalance fabrics, competitively priced and can be customised with artwork, company logo or icons. We believe in doing our bit to protect the environment as we protest ourselves
While the virus is not something to be taken lightly, we can indeed learn some lessons during this trying time, especially from mother earth itself and live mindfully and intentionally, in harmony with our planet.
]]>Benefits of owning an electric car
Drawbacks of owning an electric car
EV Policies across Europe
Europe’s automotive market is slowly getting charged. The benefit of EV policy is helping the climate, energy, and air quality impacts are significant and show what would be achievable if the EU would increase its pace of EV and infrastructure deployment. It reduces CO2 emissions and leads to less dependence on fossil oil-based fuels, along with air quality improvements, while at the same time creating new job opportunities in Europe
United Kingdom
The UK is one of the few governments that has a comprehensive strategy for electrification. The government’s Road to Zero Strategy addresses commercial cars, public transport, charging infrastructure and much more, also includes a proposal to end the sale of fossil-powered vehicles by 2040. There are over 16,000 public charging points across the UK, and the government has established a 400 million-pound fund to finance an expansion of the charging network.
Norway
Norway has become the world’s EV capital, the Norwegian Parliament has decided on a national goal that all new cars sold by 2025 should be zero-emission including electric or hydrogen. As of May 2018, there are 230,000 registered battery electric cars in Norway. Battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles together hold a nearly 50% market share. The Norwegian Parliament has decided on a goal that all new cars sold by 2025 should be zero (battery electric or hydrogen) emission vehicles. The Parliament will reach this goal with a strengthened green tax system, but not a ban.
France
The French government has set a goal of increasing EV sales fivefold by 2020. Paris plans to phase out legacy vehicles in the city by 2030 to decrease air pollution. The country has a range of incentives in place, including purchase subsidies of up to 6,000 euros for electric and hybrid vehicles, and a diesel scrappage plan that offers up to 4,000 euros for trading in an older diesel vehicle.
Spain
The government has implemented several incentive plans in the last year, the Alternative Mobility Support Plan was launched with a €20 million budget to encourage sales of alternative-fuel vehicles — the budget was used up in less than 24 hours. There are 5,906 electrified vehicles sold in Spain in the first half of 2018, nearly double the number registered in the first half of 2017. Also, Span has announced a plan to install 25,000 charging points by 2021.
Germany
As the home to the world’s largest automaker and some of the world’s most iconic luxury brands, the federal government is pushing, they set a goal of having one million electrified cars by 2020, but the auto industry has been bravely holding back the tide. There are around 100,000 plug-ins on German roads, just over half of them pure EVs.
References:
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The greater the number of different materials used in packaging, the harder it becomes to recycle that product. And yes, this is the case even for those products that claim to be ‘recyclable’. Of all the ‘recyclable’ products, the following are the five top recycling villains because of the variety of materials they are made from.
Plastics vs. Glass vs. Aluminium
There are four main categories of recyclable materials – paper, glass, aluminium and plastics. Plastic is where recycling gets most controversial. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s estimates, more than 90 percent reduction in greenhouse gases come from just a few materials - paper, cardboard and metals like the aluminium in soda cans.
The carbon-reduction benefits of plastics are less clear compared to other recyclable materials. Recycling one ton of metal or paper saves about three tons of carbon dioxide while recycling one ton of plastic saves only slightly more than one ton of carbon dioxide. Recycling glass requires three tons in order to get about one ton of greenhouse benefits. Recycling aluminium is the most profitable and environmentally sound. Making a can from recycled aluminium reduces its carbon footprint by up to 95%.
Glass
Glass bottles are 100 percent recyclable and an estimated 80 percent of recovered glass containers are made into new glass bottles. Once you toss your glass bottle in the recycling bin, manufacturers can have it back on the shelves in a month. Plus, using recycled glass when making new glass bottles reduces the manufacturer’s carbon footprint. Furnaces may run at lower temperatures when recycled glass is used because it is already melted down to the right consistency.
Aluminium
Like glass, aluminium cans are completely recyclable and are commonly recycled worldwide as part of municipal recycling programs. Aluminium cans can be recycled repeatedly with no limit.
Plastic
Plastic seems to be the worst recycling offender. Recycling plastics mitigates carbon impacts only to a limited extent. Each time plastic is manufactured, broken down, made into new products, CO2 is released, and the cycle goes on and on. While recycling is key to removing the plastic waste piling up in our landfills and oceans and virtually all plastics can be recycled, but many are not because the process is expensive, complicated and the resulting product is of lower quality than what was put in.
Since plastic recycling mitigates carbon impacts only to a limited extent, prevention of plastic waste should be the preferred method of waste reduction for businesses in food and beverage service.
Plastic (recyclable or recycled) is BAD because you have to dig for fossil fuels to make it and at the end of its lifespan (after being recycled for 5 to 7 times) it stays on Earth!
Compostable, home compostable and biodegradable food packaging such as Element Packaging by default have zero plastic therefore lesser carbon impact.
Even if these products go into our modern landfill, they do not have long term harming effects like plastic does.
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We are inundated with the ubiquitous disposables especially foodware and packaging and because of their everlasting negative impact on our environment, suppliers, users and takeaways get questioned all the time about their sustainability. It’s a great question and there are no simple answers.
The various disposal methods include incineration, recycling and the landfill; and they all have their pros and cons. So which is the least harmful method to the environment given the current situation? The answer to this complex question lies not only in the type of disposal method but the type of waste.
]]>The various disposal methods include incineration, recycling and the landfill; and they all have their pros and cons. So which is the least harmful method to the environment given the current situation? The answer to this complex question lies not only in the type of disposal method but the type of waste.
Landfills
Landfill is the second most used waste treatment in the UK, with 24.4% (52.3 million tonnes) of waste disposed of at landfill in 2016. The downside of landfills, if not properly regulated to expedite biodegradation and composting, is the production of greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide from decomposing organic waste. More seriously, waste such as the infamous plastic and petroleum- packaging materials that do not decompose, can remain in the landfill for 100’s of years. They never fully biodegrade and persist as litter breaking up into pieces and find their way into our waterway and the ocean, harming marine and us too.
However, landfills have come a long way and are nowadays constructed and operated to stricter standards in order to reduce adverse health and environmental effects. A good/modern landfill site with a good soil lining and good leachate management systems may result in minimal negative environmental, social and economic impact for some types of waste compared to other waste management options.
The worries with landfills are that they are running out of capacity and recycling and waste-to-energy (incineration) are complementary to achieving lower landfill rates.
Incineration
The UK already has more than 30 rubbish incinerators and there are plans to build more. For communities short on landfill space, “waste-to-energy” incineration sounds like a bulletproof solution. Waste that cannot be recycled, especially petroleum-based and plastic films that have a high calorific content and are in effect “freeze-dried fuel” can be burnt to generate electricity.
However, caution in building more plants lies in the predictions that there will be nothing for them to burn, as happened in the Netherlands and Germany. Furthermore, environmentalists sound alarms at the carbon emissions and release of greenhouse gases from the burning. No doubt state-of the art plants do filter out the toxins, but even the best plants do not filter out all toxics.
It is a matter of weighing burning against the worse of the two evils – plastics that do not currently biodegrade under any circumstances and lie festering in the landfill for years on. On the other hand, a Study done in 1995 found that recycling most material saves on the average three to five more energy than does burning them for electricity.
Recycling
One of the original goals of the recycling movement was to avert a supposed crisis as the nation’s landfills were running out of space. But because more and more materials types have been added to the recyclable list, the process has become more complex and expensive than expected.
The most common problem with recycling is that we do not really understand our waste! What is and is not recyclable! Furthermore recycling systems and labels are non standardised and difficult to understand. Recycling information is confusing and at times conflicting and hence incorrect recycling behaviour is common. If the recyclable waste does not get into the right bin, it ends up in the landfill!
The chief benefit of recycling is no doubt the reduction of carbon emissions and the greenhouse gases as we reduce the need to manufacture new products, hence less mining, drilling and logging. But, if recycling means high usage of energy and resources and hence a net environment cost, then it is only a partial solution. Furthermore, many of the products that we think are ‘recycled’ are actually ‘downcycled’. For example a plastic milk carton can never be recycled into another carton but made into a lower-quality item like plastic lumber; which can’t be recycled again! And each recycling process releases more CO2.
Sustainable Packaging
Whether disposing waste in landfills, burning it or recycling it, all disposal methods have their limitations and are but partial current solutions to sustainability.
Which is the least harmful to our planet?
- Costly incinerators that save less energy than recycling?
- Landfills waste that biodegrades, or plastic that remains in the environment?
- Plastic recyclables that might not be recycled or are ‘down-cycled’ and use more energy and resources or organic recycling with compostable and biodegradable waste?
How can foodware and packaging that is single use and contains an internal plastic lining possibly be considered eco-friendly? What do we do in the meantime?
The answer to this complex question lies not only in the type of disposal method but the type of waste we produce.
All attempts should of course be made to reduce waste, reuse and recycle. But the reality is that we will end up with some waste. Not all can be recycled and half of our waste ends up in the landfill. And of the waste that ends in the landfill, the least harmful waste is one that biodegrades.
Compostable and Biodegradable Packaging
Eco-friendly packaging is packaging that, over time, reduces its environmental footprint. A packaging that is not only made from renewable energy, but one that can be disposed off safely and effectively by being recycled into a harmless non-toxic humus by-product completely to provide resource for subsequent generations and not land in the landfill or ocean for years and years on. These are packaging made from plant-based materials, such as polyActide (or PLA) products made from corn or potato starch, bagasse products made from residual sugar cane fibre (a waste product of sugar production), etc.
One major benefit of using sustainable packaging made from renewable materials such as bio-plastics is that they help us wean ourselves off fossil fuel based plastics. In addition bio-plastics create 75% less carbon emissions than the conventional plastic. So even if bio-plastic does end up in landfill, less emissions have been created along the way. They do not leach BPA or other chemicals into the ground and ground water when they degrade. And, they will certainly break down a lot quicker than Polystyrene, and when they do, the end result will be what they were made from - plant matter.
Biodegradable packaging can be disposed of in landfills for speedy decomposition. Compostable packaging, especially bio-plastics need commercial composting facilities, as it requires a certain level of heat and moisture. And with increasing improvements in commercial composting opportunities, it is still definitely a better alternative than oil based plastics.
Element packaging offers a full range of eco-friendly food packaging that is home compostable, compostable and biodegradable and made from bagasse, cornstarch, paper, card, PLA, bamboo fibre and wood.
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In summary: a truly closed loop system for all packaging materials.
]]>In summary: a truly closed loop system for all packaging materials.
Terms like ‘eco-friendly’ ‘green’ and even ‘natural’ has been bandied around quite a bit with no regulated and defined standards to test such claims. ‘Biodegradable’ and ‘Compostable’ are other such terms and most products, especially disposables that claim to be so but are destined for the landfill will not biodegrade or decompost even in our lifetime!
Technically all materials are biodegradable or compostable, but a traditional plastic water bottle will take 450 years to decompose. Something labelled as biodegradable can make its claim though a technicality in the very definition (saying that anything is biodegradable if you wait long enough isn’t a lie after all). This idea makes it difficult for users to know exactly how much they are helping the environment and how ‘green’ the product really is.
Both a biodegradable and compostable material will breakdown and decompose overtime. The issue here is how long the decomposition takes and the by-product that is left behind. This is very much dependent on the composition of the material and the environment in which the decomposition occurs.
Biodegradation occurs when microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and algae convert materials into biomass, carbon dioxide and water. The main material is non petroleum based in nature and usually made from plant or animal sources. Examples are paper, vegetable scraps and some forms of plastics made from ingredients such as corn starch. Decomposition can take place from as short as a day to as long as a year. Biodegradation can take place in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. By definition, most chemicals are biodegradable because they’re capable of being broken down by the action of living things, such as microorganisms. Current international guidelines stipulates that the entire package should be completely broken down and returned to nature within a “reasonably short period of time”
Composting process is similar to the biodegradation process, except that the biodegradation process is carried out in a composting facility, where conditions (water, humidity, temperature, and lighting) are optimally tuned to bring about a speedy biodegradation.
In both processes, both biodegradable and compostable materials will ‘disappear’ after some time and the non-toxic by-product become fertilizers known as humus (very dark soil) which can be used to boost the growth potential of another plant.
Compostability and biodegradability are not based on the feedstock of the product. It’s literally based on the chemical signature that is, the way the plastics are put together. The final product and any inks or labels used, need to be tested and certified using international standards in their own right as being biodegradable. And consumers express greater confidence in conformance with standards that are independently assessed by a third party, i.e. a certification body.
Be mindful of the following issues and environmental challenges:
Several companies are greenwashing their so called oxo or hydro degradable product using this unethical method of adding very little additives and hoping to gain a premium on their otherwise ordinary everyday plastic material. Upon burial of these products, toxic wastes are produced and these can do further damage to the environment.
A lot of plastics labelled biodegradable, like shopping bags, will only break down in temperatures of 50C and that is not the ocean. They are also not buoyant, so they’re going to sink, and hence not exposed to UV and break down.
To confuse matters further, many bioplastics are made to look like real plastics and end up in the recycling bin where they cause problems for the plastic recycling process.
What can you do as customers to judge the viability of a biodegradable product claim:
Packaging, especially food packaging is common place and necessary as it does serve an important function of protecting and maintaining the value of the product as well as playing an important role in its distribution. But packaging technology must not only play these important functions, it must keep an eye on energy and material costs and be mindful of any environmental impact such as pollution and disposal of municipal solid waste that is, aim to be sustainable.
The truth of the matter is that currently, 39% of all plastics produced are for packaging. One of the worst culprits is plastic food packaging and cutlery. These single use items lines the beaches and cover the ocean's surface. Most cannot be recycled due to the type of plastic they are made out of. Melinda Watson, the founder of Raw Foundation said, “A staggering 72% of plastic packaging is not recovered at all: 40% is ladled, and 32% leaks out the collection system.”
However, simply removing plastic from food packaging is not as sustainable as one might think. Plastic packaging has its uses as it is more flexible and lighter than alternatives such as glass and card. This reduces transportation costs and the carbon emissions that come with them. Furthermore, it has the potential to preserve food and prevent its wastage. More than 50% of food waste takes place in households and nearly 20% is wasted during processing.
Plastic packaging may be a necessary evil to reduce this high level of waste in both areas. But with the plastic pollution escalating there is increasing interest and demand for sustainable packaging. We need to think of ways of not only reducing and reusing plastics wherever possible, but also of sourcing for more renewable materials for our packaging.
Packaging technology has come a long way in using plant-based materials. One of the latest works is a substance called MycoComposite, a mushroom base material production by Ecovative mycelium technology design of technology in 2010. Completely natural and biodegradable, it can grow in a controlled environment in a week and takes 30 days to decompose; and if kept dry, can be reused. Using mushrooms inherent growth power, the manufacturing process, packaging can be manufactured with minimal energy use. The manufacturing process begins by mixing fungus sprouts, or mycelia, with seedlings or other residues from agriculture. Mycelet consists of a network of wire-like cells that act as a natural adhesive. Without the need for light, water or chemical additives, the mycelium grows by and around the residues to the desired packaging form. After one week, growth is stopped by a drying and heat treatment process. The result is a fully natural composite material that has similar material properties like synthetic foam plastics such as Styrofoam, without the inherent toxicity of Styrofoam to man and the planet. MycoComposite is also proven to have polystyrene insulation and fire resistance properties.
However, ‘the mushroom’ only got the spotlight when the furniture giant Ikea announced that it will replace Styrofoam packaging with MycoComposite for all its products.
Element Packaging Ltd offers food packaging made from plant-based materials without compromising strength and durability. Element is a uniquely compostable brand which has both character and conscience, and in fashionable and vibrant urban colours.
Element packaging offers a full range of products that are home compostable, compostable and biodegradable and made from bagasse, cornstarch, paper, card, PLA, bamboo fiber and wood. The home compostable range has a lining that can degrade in 30 degrees celcius, thus making it home compostable and it does not need to go into an industrial composting facility.
]]>A study in 2013 found that 97% of climate scientists agree that climate change is occurring and greenhouse gas emissions are the main cause. The 2015 Paris agreement endeavour to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 in order to mitigate the 1.5 to 2 degree rise in global temperature to zero by 2050. Unfortunately political will has not been strong enough so far to initiate a massive policy shift away from fossil fuels and toward sustainable forms of energy.
But suddenly we see clear skies as air pollution levels have decreased and wildlife returning to walkways and beaches! Why? We are in a lockdown
British wildlife has been liberated and enjoying the new depopulated beaches and forest tracks. There are more sparrowhawks, stoats and deer on these once heavily populated areas; and moles are daring to come out from their underground habitats to hunt for worms. When we move aside, nature moves in. But will we give them a shock when we move back and encroach upon their habitats?
Another accidental positive benefit, albeit a temporary one, is that the skies are clearer and air pollution has decreased. The sudden reduction in global economic activities resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic have led to carbon emission cuts that all efforts to do so far have not achieved - 18% in China between February and March and between 40% to 60% over the recent weeks in Europe.
Sadly, the above is a temporary positive glitch, be it in the air pollution and carbon emissions levels or the return to natural wildlife environments. The question is what happens when the global lockdown is lifted and life returns to ‘normal’ by our definition?
Wildlife be shocked and retreat once again. Carbon emissions will return to its real levels and the planet will resume its march towards global warming.
Studies have shown that global warming is likely to be the greatest cause of species extinctions this century. This destruction of habitat and biodiversity has created the conditions for new viruses and diseases such as Covid-19 that has led to the current global lockdown and profound health and economic impact. Is this nature’s payback time? One wonders!
We are facing an existential threat and action is necessary. Perhaps more than extreme weather events such as droughts, wildfires, heat waves, melting Arctic ice and flooding , the increasing threat of pandemics will convince the public to put more pressure on policymakers to act urgently to curb carbon emissions and address this issue of climate change before it’s too late.
Aside from climate change, the other environmental two issues facing Britons in 2019 were dealing with waste and over packaging of goods.
When we talk about waste, the elephant in the room is PLASTIC. By the year 2050, the world’s oceans will contain more plastic waste than fish – ton for ton.
We need to make sure we dispose of our packaging carefully for collection for recycling or other treatment. We must also be mindful of the fact that recycling has its limits. Resources such as energy, water and other costs are involved to collect, sort and clean the waste. Recycling should only be an option when it saves more resources than it uses. If you have to use single-use packaging, make sure it’s compostable. Statistics have shown that recycling can only decrease the environmental footprint of plastic by a tiny amount.
The waste problem has also been laid at the door of packaging. We need packaging, but this should be kept to a minimum and sustainable. There are many ways of showing support for sustainability through packaging:
There is increasing demand for sustainable packaging from regulators as well as consumers. Consumers are more aware of what biodegradable and recyclable packaging is and what is simply ‘green washing’. Packaging needs to be genuinely produced in a sustainable way. Element Packaging advocates the use of eco-friendly and refillable containers. Element packaging is home compostable, compostable and biodegradable that does not leave nasty footprints unlike plastic packaging.
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Calculate your plastic on-the-go footprint
In the last blog we talked about the urgent need to be socially responsible in order to combat COVD-19. Similarly, we have another contagion which we have nursed and encourage all these years and which is causing great and lasting undesirable impact and harm to our planet to combat – plastics!
Since we use plastics in almost every part of our lives, we may not be ready to break up with plastic altogether, but there is some low-hanging fruit that can make a big difference in reducing the amount of disposable plastic in our lives.
]]>In the last blog we talked about the urgent need to be socially responsible in order to combat COVD-19. Similarly, we have another contagion which we have nursed and encourage all these years and which is causing great and lasting undesirable impact and harm to our planet to combat – plastics!
Since the introduction of the first polyethylene bag in the 1960’s, the human reliance on the single-use plastic has grown. We have made 8.3bn tons of plastics since then and plastics are having an everlasting devastating effect on the environment. Not only does around eight million tons of plastic enter our oceans every year, but they break down into smaller pieces with particles of micro-plastics eventually finding their way into the food chain.
Since we use plastics in almost every part of our lives, we may not be ready to break up with plastic altogether, but there is some low-hanging fruit that can make a big difference in reducing the amount of disposable plastic in our lives.
Here are some super easy ways to get started.
Packaging
At Budget 2020, the UK Government announced plans to implement a £200 per tonne tax on plastic packaging which does not contain at least 30% recycled plastic. This will apply to plastic packaging which has been manufactured in or imported into the UK.
The purpose of the tax is to encourage the use of recyclable plastics. Although recycling can help reduce the amount of garbage that ends up in landfills, waterways and ecosystems, only a few types of plastics can be recycled by most municipal governments. The fraction about 9% that does get recycled still requires a lot of energy and water which just isn’t a good proposition when it comes to single-use items.
We can reduce our use of surplus or one-off-use disposable plastic items:
In the Kitchen
Small things that we take for granted and don’t even notice can have significant impact either way – to make the situation worse or to improve it!
In the Bathroom
We are better at reducing, reusing and recycling in the kitchen rather than the bathroom. Go plastic-free in the bathroom as much as you can.
Switch to:
Have fun plucking these low-hanging fruits on the reducing plastics tree and make a difference.
]]>This blog is meant to collate all the salient facts that have been disseminated so far about this health crisis.
]]>The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:
Do not go to your GP, pharmacy or hospital but stay at home and use the 111 online coronavirus service for advice.
Check the NHS website if you have symptoms and on what to do.
We need to look after ourselves in order to be able to look after our loved ones and the community at large. For about 80% of us, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness. But we need to protect our less vulnerable. People above 60 years of age and those with underlying medical conditions, regardless of the age.
The safest premise that we should work on is that none of us know who can infect us. This is because if one person is infected, he/she will not know until 14 days later. Meanwhile, he/she can easily infect 10 people in a day depending on his/her activity. The 10 people, thinking they are healthy can infect another 100 people and so on...
Given the very limited testing kits and NHS resources, we have three ready tools at hand to stop the spread of COVID-19
Washing Hands
Washing our hands for 20 seconds properly interrupts the spread of germs. Rinse your hands with clean running water, then turn off the tap (to save water) and apply soap to your hands working up a lather. Make sure you apply the lather by rubbing the front and back of your hands, between your fingers and under your fingernails. Then wash your hands with water. The temperature of the water does not matter, though warm water is more comfortable and will encourage you to wash your hands more often and properly.
Keeping washing your hands at intervals and especially when you come back from a trip to the supermarket or pharmacy, before doing kitchen chores and eating. If you need to cough, do it in a tissue and bin it straight away. DO NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE.
Self Isolation
If you are displaying the symptoms, then you need to isolate yourself for 7 days. If you are living with a family, then everyone needs to be in self-isolation for 14 days.
If you are living alone:
If you are living with a family
Make being good contagious. If you are ok, find out if anyone in your neighbourhood needs help and support and do so without compromising yours and their health safety.
Social distancing
This in effect means physical distancing, i.e. keeping a safe distance of at least two metres from anyone else except your immediate family when making the necessary trips outside the house. You can still keep in touch with friends and extended family though the phone and social media. Keep in touch without touching! No handshakes, hugs or kisses.
UK is in lockdown from Monday 23 March 2020. This means you will only be allowed to leave your home for the following very limited purposes:
A few other quirky issues and myths
Wearing masks
Masks are in short supply and the NHS staffs need them more than you and me. If you are not showing symptoms, then wearing a mask is unnecessary. In fact with a mask on you are more likely to touch your face! The mask is more to protect others from your respiratory droplets if you think you might be infected and really need to make an essential trip out of the house. If you think you may be infected, you should actually not be going out at all!
Panic buying
We have heard reports of panic buying and the empty shelves in the supermarkets despite being told repeatedly that there is no supply shortage. Why the panic buying, especially for toilet paper? It is a perceived scarcity and panic buying is contagious. It is our herd mentality. But we need to stop it as we are severely disadvantaging the vulnerable who cannot fight for stuff and the overworked NHS staff from getting their necessary daily supplies. All we need is a two weeks supply at any one time in case of having to self-isolate.
Myths
There are many of these floating around to stop being infected:
Don’t fall prey to misinformation; go to the following websites for your information and updates on COVID-19:
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/
While we are totally absorbed by COVID-19, a contagion that is literally causing us to stop in our tracks because of the harm it can do to us and our loved ones, we must not forget another contagion we have nursed and encourage all these years and which is causing great and lasting undesirable impact and harm to our planet – plastics! As all eateries, restaurants and hotels are closed, most of them are turning to takeaways to sustain their business. Whilst practicing self –isolation and social distancing we can still take a break from cooking by ordering takeaways. But please ensure that we support takeaways that use eco-friendly food ware. Let’s not forget our diseased planet.
Element packaging offers a full range of fully accredited eco-friendly products food ware that are home compostable, compostable and biodegradable and made from bagasse, cornstarch, paper, card, PLA, bamboo fiber and wood.
Now is the test to be better than ourselves for each one of us as well as our leaders. Let’s rise to it.
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Whilst we cannot understate the importance of human slavery, which is what My Freedom Day 2020 is about, we could also examine our ‘slavery’ to other negative things such as plastics and plastic packaging!
When we choose between the plastic and eco-friendly packaging are we exercising positive or negative freedom in our choices?
]]>What does freedom mean to you?
Whilst we cannot understate the importance of human slavery, which is what My Freedom Day is about, we could also examine our ‘slavery’ to other negative things such as plastics and plastic packaging!
When we choose between the plastic and eco-friendly packaging are we exercising positive or negative freedom in our choices?
Try warping your head around these profound freedom ‘sayings’:
Do you agree and subscribe to any of the above?
Even in our modern times, freedom can mean things many of us take for granted:
To us at Element Packaging UK, freedom means having the freedom to choose – fantastic! But it does not end there. Our choices can have consequences that often have far-reaching effects.
Hence freedom to Element Packaging UK means having the freedom to choose to live in harmony with the environment in a sustainable manner. And this is evidenced by our compostable and biodegradable carbon friendly foodware made from plant-based materials whose primary ingredients are from renewable resources.
Positive vs. Negative Freedom (Charles Taylor)
Positive freedom is the freedom to choose, control and decided one’s own life and destiny – to act instead of being acted upon. Taylor calls positive freedom an “exercise concept” of freedom because it involves discriminating between all possible opportunities, and exercising the options that are most in line with your real will and what you truly want in life. You are your own master.
Negative Freedom
Negative freedom is freedom from external interference that prevents you from doing what you want, when you want to do it. Taylor calls negative freedom an “opportunity concept” of freedom because it gives you access to a range of desirable opportunities, regardless of whether you decide to take advantage of those opportunities or not. You are slave to no man.
Plastic vs. Eco-friendly Disposables
Let’s look at one everyday common pervasive choice we make – choosing between plastic packaging and eco-friendly sustainable ones. We can choose either as there are no restrictions and both are available in the marketplace. But are we exercising positive or negative freedom in our choices?
More often than not we gravitate towards using plastic foodware instead of eco-friendly ones. This is negative freedom. No doubt there are no laws to prevent us from using plastics but it would mean contributing to plastic waste in our environment. It is our habits and nonchalance towards sustainability that drives our choice and in the long run we face far-reaching negative impact.
On the other hand, knowing the harmful impact of plastics and choosing to reduce or altogether avoid using plastics, we are exercising positive freedom as we consciously make choices that will protect our environment and ultimately impact us in a positive way.
]]>Cuddle together to share body warmth; shower together to save water; plant a tree together and write love pledges on a sticker at the base; coo sweet nothings over a home cooked organic meal while sipping organic wine in the glow of bees wax candles!
]]>Cuddle together to share body warmth; shower together to save water; plant a tree together and write love pledges on a sticker at the base; coo sweet nothings over a home cooked organic meal while sipping organic wine in the glow of bees wax candles!
But what about the traditional cards, flowers and chocolates?
Valentine’s Day is here again and it is estimated that one billion Valentine’s Day cards will be sent worldwide, 36 million boxes of chocolates and countless pesticide-sprayed flowers will be given! Its impact as with every commercialised celebration will be big whether it is a day we take the opportunity to express love and appreciation or a day dedicated to consumerism and senseless spending on over-priced heart-shaped boxes of carbon-footprint-heavy chocolates.
In expressing our love to those who are dear and important to us, we forgot the one very important relationship we have with the Planet. Let’s include our Planet in the list of ‘person’ we need to show our love and care for, and go for an eco-friendly Valentine ’s Day.
Here are some Green Gift ideas for this Valentine’s Day
If you still believe in giving cards, flowers and chocolates.......
But giving a card is not the only way to express love and appreciation. In fact buying one and send it off does not take much effort. However, a hand-written letter (something that we seem to have lost in this high-tech and fast society) or a poem or long list of the things you love about the person will be more appreciated as it shows that you took time and effort to express your love.
Just keep "green" in mind when surrounded by all that red. Choose potted plants and organic or local flowers whenever possible. Or take time and effort to create origami roses from recycled material. You will be much appreciated after labouring over small pieces of papers for someone special.
Opt for fair-trade and organic chocolates. Or make your own heart-shaped fudge or organic red velvet cupcakes. What more, spend a romantic evening or family bonding time making these together.
Aside from the traditional cards, flowers and chocolates, here are many other types of gifts and ways to show love and appreciation.
If you have the time and energy, there are many ideas and instructional websites to help you create your own pampering gifts such as, all-natural fragrance from essential oils; bath bombs; bath soaps from honey, olive, lavender, coconut and peppermint; and green tea and sugar scrubs.
If your idea of celebrating the day is going out, choose a local restaurant specializing in organic or locally grown food. Otherwise, an even more eco-romantic option would be to cook a meal with locally grown organic ingredients, serve organic wine and set the mood with soy or bees wax earth-friendly candles.
For someone who
Since gifts of time are hard to wrap, you can write out your offer on a gift certificate or coupon, as in, “This coupon is good for one free night of babysitting.”
Enjoy the day and the opportunities it provides with a clear conscience.
]]>There has been continuing and accelerated calls globally for action to reign in mankind activities resulting in disastrous environmental effects. Public concern about the environment has soared to record levels in the UK since the visit of Greta Thunberg to parliament and the Extinction Rebellion protests in April 2019.
The environment is now cited by people as the third most pressing issue facing the nation in tracking data from the polling company YouGov that began in 2010. Environment was ranked after Brexit and health, but is ahead of the economy, crime and immigration
Each and everyone one of us have and are still adding one drop at a time to this vast ocean of environmental disaster! One drop, every small action which seams inconsequential really, do slowly add up. Given the serious, widespread and long-lasting effects of our actions on the planet, any discussion on eco issues necessitates looking at not just 2020 but beyond.
According to data published by IPSOS, the top three environmental issues facing Britons in 2019 were
Dealing With Waste
When we talk about waste, the elephant in the room is PLASTIC. By the year 2050, the world’s oceans will contain more plastic waste than fish – ton for ton. This speaks volumes of the food and beverage industry for the painful repercussions of plastic packaging production.
Perhaps this mass production of plastic waste wouldn’t be so detrimental to our safety and environment if it didn’t take 700 years for a single bottle to begin decomposing. The combination of our waste production with the time needed for decomposition has led to the creation and growth of the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”—an area of the Pacific Ocean composed of plastic waste and measured at the size of Texas. While addressing these problems can be done individually, by including practices such as bringing your own reusable bags to grocery stores or requesting that your coffee cup is served without a plastic lid, advocating environment friendly food packaging, the food and beverage industry leaders must take responsibility in ensuring that their production models are mindful of an ever-lasting footprint on the environment and, subsequently, the global population.
Climate Change
While 97 percent of climate scientists agree that climate change is occurring and greenhouse gas emissions are the main cause, political will has not been strong enough so far to initiate a massive policy shift away from fossil fuels and toward sustainable forms of energy. 2019 was the hottest decade. Perhaps more extreme weather events such as droughts, wildfires, heat waves, melting Arctic ice and flooding will convince the public to put more pressure on policymakers to act urgently to curb carbon emissions and address this issue before it’s too late.
Cutting carbon emissions need to be done not only from cars, factories and power plants but also from the way the world produces food and manages land if we are to reach the target of zero by 2050. Not only have our food production methods caused climate change, this potent causal relationship also means climate change itself has threatened the world’s food supply.
In 2015, most countries signed the Paris accord that aims to keep global warming “well under” 2C – and to do all they can to limit this temperature increase to 1.5C. UK is the first G7 country to enshrine a new commitment to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 into law. However, the government’s approach is still incremental, based on making green-tinged tweaks to business hoping that we will somehow creep towards our target of net-zero.
To achieve the 1.5C limit, countries have to increase their commitments five-fold, starting NOW, according to the UNEP Emissions Gap report released for Madrid.
Overpackaging of Goods
The waste problem has been laid at the door of packaging but at the same time packaging, especially food packaging, has also been viewed as playing a crucial functional role. It is true that food packaging serves a fundamental functional role. It preserves the food product by protecting it and extending its shelf life on their journey from production to consumption. Thus it prevents waste and also enables food to be kept fresher for longer at home with re-sealable packs, dispensing systems.
We need packaging, but this should be kept to a minimum and sustainable. Element packaging advocates the use of eco-friendly and refillable containers. Element packaging is home compostable, compostable and biodegradable that does not leave nasty footprints unlike plastic packaging. There is increasing demand for sustainable packaging from regulators as well as consumers. Consumers are more aware of what biodegradable and recyclable packaging is and what is simply ‘greenwashing’. Packaging needs to be genuinely produced in a sustainable way.
There are many ways of showing support for sustainability through packaging:
Moving forward.....
Be environmentally conscious. Forego the plastic baggies, skip the beef and harness the sun to light up your life.
Imagine....
Remember, each and everyone one of us have and are still adding one drop at a time to this vast ocean of environmental disaster! One drop, every small action which seams inconsequential really but do slowly add up.
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‘New Year Resolution - Think Green’ – often repeated mantra.
But hey! no harm in repeating something that will benefit all of us. And these very doable green resolutions that we will find easy to stick to and we will not slip into our old convenient eco-unfriendly ways. Remember, big things often have small beginnings and so let’s go waste-free at the individual level and do our bit to support the UN resolution to stop plastic from entering the ocean. So for the eco-slackers, here are some easy Green New Year resolutions. These simple resolutions will help you save money, cut your carbon footprints and decrease your home waste.
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Christmas Tree
Real Christmas Trees are more eco-friendly as the fake ones produce more Co2 due to its manufacturing, transportation and not to mention disposal. And if you did use a real Christmas tree, continue your effort at being environmentally friendly by disposing of it in the following ways:
Turkey
Any leftovers should be consumed within two days and if you think you have ordered a turkey way above your need, then you should put whatever you cannot consume within two days in the freezer. Debone and chop them into small pieces, wrap them properly and put into a sealed container, ready for use later.
To use your leftovers within the two days;
Christmas Cards
Christmas cards come with defined motifs and shapes, making it easy to recycle them for other uses:
Jumpers
Come Christmas and we all head to the stores to get jumpers for the whole family to get ourselves into the festive mood. At best, we use these jumpers twice as we outgrow them in size or fashion. What a waste!
Turn them into the following:
Hats, gloves, scarves, throws or even dog jumper! Your pet will be eternally grateful to you in these cold winter months.
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In this festive season of giving and sharing, let’s spare a thought for our long-suffering planet. Let’s reduce the environmental impact of a season that can easily descend into waste, debt and stress with a few quick and easy changes to the celebrations.
]]>In this festive season of giving and sharing, let’s spare a thought for our long-suffering planet. Let’s reduce the environmental impact of a season that can easily descend into waste, debt and stress with a few quick and easy changes to the celebrations.
Here are some tips for a ‘Green Christmas’:
1. Gift-giving - shift the gift-centric nature of Christmas celebrations without eliminating the tradition of exchanging presents altogether.
4. Christmas Cards - No doubt store-bought cards are rich, elegant and expensive but a waste of a huge amount of natural resources for a throw-away item. Home-made cards may not be professional looking but are personal, just as appreciated and making them can be a fun activity - resources include last year calendar with large colourful images on heavy paper, children’s’ artwork.
5. Food – waste not and want not! Recent figures suggest the UK chucks out the equivalent of two million turkeys, five million Christmas puddings and a truly shocking 74 million mince pies.
6. Christmas Lighting and Decoration.
Reduce the size of your outdoor lighting display. A smaller presentation of lights can still be attractive and more appropriate in the 'season of giving'. Saving electricity is also a way of giving, since conserving resources benefits everyone.
7. Heating - Turn down thethermostat by one degree. What with a house full of people and the oven on full pelt, your house will be warmer than usual. Plus, you'll not only save carbon and money but it's a good excuse to don your most outrageous Christmas jumper.
9. Hosting a party? Using reusable will definitely be more eco-friendly. But you do not want to spend your Christmas in front of the sink, use 100 percent biodegradable and compostable party ware such as Cornware. Not only is Cornware a friend of the planet, it is of high quality, leach-proof, non-toxic, freezable and microwaveable tableware and comes in beautiful party colours at a low cost.
Have a Merry Green Christmas, from us at Element UK.
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Element Paper Straws
Why fight the straw?
Traditional Straws are made of polypropylene, a petroleum based plastic known for its cheap and easy to produce nature. Polypropylene has a high melting point making it suitable for its use with hot food and resists acids and bases. This plastic is characterized by its long carbon chain, that reacts with oxygen and UV rays. The plastic breaks down and leaches toxins and microplastics into the soil and ocean.
While the best solution to the straw epidemic may be to completely eliminate them from our lives, we must realize that there are situations where that may not be an option. If we must use a straw then we might as well do it in the most eco friendly way possible. Current eco friendly solutions to the problem of straw pollution include bioplastics and paper alternatives. Although all these options are better than the current polypropylene based straw, each have their benefits and limitations.
Bioplastics
Bioplastics are plastics that are biomass based not petroleum based. Biomass such as cornstarch and bio oils creates a biodegradable product that can have the same thermal and physical properties as polypropylene. The main difference between bioplastics and regular plastic is the end of its life. While petroleum based straws do “disappear” they do so over hundreds of years. And over those hundreds of years they break down into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic. These microplastics find their way into the food chain with fish digesting and absorbing the plastic chemicals that are results of these straws. With bioplastics this outcome can be avoided. With faster breakdown times in controlled decomposition, bioplastics can be discarded alongside food waste to be biodegraded in months. Helping to avoid the great pacific garbage patch, and leave the fish healthier and the planet happier.
Paper
An even better alternative to bioplastics are uncoated paper straws. They use no petroleum to make and decompose even faster than bioplastic straws. Along with the rate at which they decompose, they do not affect the organic nature of the compost. While bioplastics can decompose into soil under controlled conditions, paper straws freely decompose into nature. If a straw accidentally makes its way out of the cycle of disposal and slips off into your neighborhood park, you can rest easy knowing it will only be there a few weeks before it melts away.
Which is better?
Although the time of use for a straw is dismissible, the impact it has on the environment after that use cannot be ignored. Both the bioplastic and the paper straws are better than the petroleum based straw in regards to the effect on the environment, but what straw is the top contender? Bioplastic straws are made of a plastic and organic blend, making it easier for the straw to break down over time. Paper is made of 100% organic material that simply transfers back into the environment in which it came. If you are looking to completely rid your straw of all guilt but compromise some rigidity, the paper straw is your best bet. If you want to sacrifice some green aspects of your straw while maintaining a rigid, durable nature, then bioplastics are your answer.
Paper Straws by Element
Looking for an eco friendly straw? Try Element paper straws! Element straws are made with FSC certified paper. They are 100% compostable, 100% customizable and a great way to make your money work a little greener.
]]>Here are some simple takeaways:
The groundswell for sustainability is coming from all direction, be it the authorities, investors, customers or the general public. And any businessman worth his salt will know that it’s serious business when the government is pumping money for energy efficient measures and renewable. In addition, not only do customers want healthier and simpler meals whether dining in or having takeaways, they want to know the source of the food, and any green practices by the business when communicated well will put them on your side.
Some practical advice:
Sustainability is no longer just a moral decision. It’s a business decision. Let’s face it employing environmentally sound policies for your business is not an option but quite crucial if you do not want to lose your competitive edge.
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A bowl of nuts ready with a nutcracker is very much part of Christmas festivity and deco in any home. Aside from promoting family togetherness, the action of cracking a nut and enjoying it comes with many health benefits too.
All nuts have an inherent health benefit as they high in:
Be mindful though to limit your consumption as they are high in calories. One handful can easily provide you with up to one third of your recommended daily intake of fat.
Get your bowl of walnuts, brazil nuts, hazel nuts, cashew nuts, almonds, pistachios and peanuts ready on your coffee table this festive season and enjoy the following health benefits:
The health benefits of nuts have been substantiated by studies that have shown that people who eat at least 20g of nuts a day have a lower risk of heart disease, cancer and other diseases. A study led by researchers from Imperial College London and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, published in the journal BMC Medicine, revealed that 20g a day - equivalent to a handful - can cut people's risk of coronary heart disease by nearly 30 percent, their risk of cancer by 15 percent, and their risk of premature death by 22 percent.
]]>Of all the waste disposal methods, recycling is regarded as the most effective current method. Recycling serves to transform waste into products of their own genre through industrial processing. It is environmentally friendly to reuse the wastes instead of adding them to nature.
However, recycling technologies are complex and costly. The recycling operations themselves are not environmentally friendly.
What about composting and biodegrading?
]]>Waste disposal has been a matter of concern for decades and the problem has been compounded by the humongous waste we are dealing with due to population growth and industrialisation. The main issue is grappling with expeditious and safe waste disposal. And of all the waste produced, the non-biodegradable and toxic wastes can cause potential irreparable damage to the environment and human health if not strategically disposed of. The four existing methods of waste disposal are sanitary landfill, incineration, recycling and composting. Though some advancement is being made in waste disposal methods, they are still not adequate.
Of all the waste disposal methods, recycling is regarded as the most effective current method. Recycling serves to transform waste into products of their own genre through industrial processing. It is environmentally friendly to reuse the wastes instead of adding them to nature.
However, recycling technologies are complex and costly. The recycling operations themselves are not environmentally friendly as they involve transporting, washing, sorting, chopping/shredding/re-melting, etc. Furthermore, the prices for recyclable materials have plummeted because of lower oil prices and reduced overseas demand.
There are four main categories of recyclable materials – paper, glass, aluminium and plastics.
Recycling aluminium is relatively straightforward, profitable and environmentally sound. Making a can from recycled aluminium reduces its carbon footprint by up to 95%. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that more than 90 percent reduction in greenhouse gases come from just a few materials - paper, cardboard and metals like the aluminium in soda cans. Recycling one ton of metal or paper saves about three tons of carbon dioxide while recycling one ton of plastic saves only slightly more than one ton of carbon dioxide. Looks like we can accomplish more by sorting paper and aluminium cans than by worrying about yogurt containers and half-eaten dinners!
But with plastic, it is not that simple. Plastic is where recycling gets most controversial. While virtually all plastics can be recycled, many aren’t because the process is expensive, complicated and the resulting product is of lower quality than what you put in. The carbon-reduction benefits are also less clear. According to a 2017 Science Advances paper entitled Production, of the 8.3bn tonnes of virgin plastic produced worldwide, only 9% has been recycled.
Recyclable/recycled plastic releases A LOT more CO2. You make the plastic (co2 released), you break down the plastic (co2 released), you make it into a new product (co2 released), you break it down again (co2 released) and the cycle goes on and on.
If recycling means high usage of energy and resources and hence a net environment cost, then it is only a partial solution. Furthermore, many of the products that we think are ‘recycled’ are actually ‘downcycled’. For example a plastic milk carton can never be recycled into another carton but made into a lower-quality item like plastic lumber, which can’t be recycled again.
What about composting and biodegrading?
Most compostable certified food packing is only good for compostability in a commercial composting facility. The issue begins with PLA items. PLA is a plant based plastic, and is used to make cutlery, clear cups and clear deli containers. It requires a certain level of heat to start the composting process and in most home composts, this level of heat is not achieved.
Element Packaging carries not only compostable and biodegradable food packaging but a range that can be home compostable. Element Packaging by default has zero plastic therefore lesser carbon impact. Even if these products go into landfill, they do not have long term harming effects like plastic does.
To help in ensuring that its compostable certified packaging lands in the right place, Element has partnered with First Mile. First Mile collects Element’s biodegradable, compostable and home compostable food packaging waste from individual end users, helps sort it out and sends it to a composting facility. This diverts the waste from the landfill and promotes the use of environmentally friendly packaging
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as pointed out by the Environment Minister Michael Gove.
Are you aware that:
Why Plastics?
Plastic production increased markedly over the last 60 years as plastic is inexpensive, lightweight, durable and can be readily moulded into a variety of products for a wide range of applications. Around 4 per cent of world oil and gas production, a non-renewable resource, is used as feedstock for plastics and a further 3–4% is expended to provide energy for their manufactureRecycling is the only current sustainable option available to reduce this negative environmental impact of accumulation of plastic mountains in landfills and our oceans.
BUT plastic recycling is neither easy nor currently sustainable!
Plastic recycling has been around since the 1970s. How then did we land up with the plastic tide?
Check these facts:
Furthermore, most of us are clueless as to what household waste can be recycled. We do not really understand our waste! There are many materials that we do not know if they count as recyclable or not. If the recyclable waste does not get into the right bin, it will end up in the landfill! Bottles that have the wrong type of plastic, or a tiny bit of drink residue, are likely to be rejected as well.
Switch to Sustainable Alternatives
Just as plastics straws, drink stirrers and cotton swabs could be banned in England under plans proposed by the UK government to reduce plastic waste and protect the world's oceans, we should move over to biodegradable/compostable packaging, such as Element tableware which is made from corn starch and 100% biodegradable.
Biodegradable packaging is a simple sustainable solution as it need not be recycled and hence eliminates the chance of landing in the wrong recycling bin and facility (note: most recyclable foodware becomes contaminated once it has food scrapping).
Element tableware can instead be disposed off as eco-friendly food waste to biodegrade under the right environment within 120 days. When micro-organism ingests and digests the starch aspect of the product, the polypropylene (PP) content in origo that is assimilated with the corn is fully broken down into compost after 90 days even if it lands in the landfill and produces a non-toxic humus waste that can be used as fertilizers.
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To us at Element UK, freedom means having the freedom to choose...
Try warping your head around these profound freedom ‘sayings’:
Do you agree and subscribe to any of the above?
Even in our modern times, freedom can mean things many of us take for granted:
To us at Element UK, freedom means having the freedom to choose – fantastic! But it does not end there. Our choices can have consequences that often have far-reaching effects.
Hence freedom to Element UK means having the freedom to choose to live in harmony with the environment in a sustainable manner. And this is evidenced by our 100% biodegradable carbon friendly tableware made from Origo, whose primary ingredient is from renewable resources.
Positive vs. Negative Freedom (Charles Taylor)
Positive freedom is the freedom to choose, control and decided one’s own life and destiny – to act instead of being acted upon. Taylor calls positive freedom an “exercise concept” of freedom because it involves discriminating between all possible opportunities, and exercising the options that are most in line with your real will and what you truly want in life. You are your own master.
Negative Freedom
Negative freedom is freedom from external interference that prevents you from doing what you want, when you want to do it. Taylor calls negative freedom an “opportunity concept” of freedom because it gives you access to a range of desirable opportunities, regardless of whether you decide to take advantage of those opportunities or not. You are slave to no man.
Plastic vs. Eco-friendly Disposables
Let’s look at one everyday common pervasive choice we make – choosing between plastic disposables and eco-friendly sustainable ones. We can choose either as there are no restrictions and both is available in the marketplace. But are we exercising positive or negative freedom in our choices?
More often than not we gravitate towards using plastic disposables instead of eco-friendly ones. This is negative freedom. No doubt there are no laws to prevent us from using plastics but it would mean contributing to plastic waste in our environment. It is our habits and nonchalance towards sustainability that drives our choice and in the long run we face far-reaching negative impact.
On the other hand, knowing the harmful impact of plastics and choosing to reduce or altogether avoid using plastics, we are exercising positive freedom as we consciously make choices that will protect our environment and ultimately impact us in a positive way.
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What has carbon emissions got to do with a cashew tree growing in Africa?
Plenty! That one single cashew tree stores carbon and thus removes megatons of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Plants use carbon during photosynthesis and molecules of carbon to create their physical structures. It’s estimated that the average dry weight of a tree is about 50% carbon. All living things are made of carbon but trees are carbon storages for their long life-span.
Do you know that a single large tree inhales 20.3 kgs of CO2 in a year and exhales enough oxygen for a family of four for a year?
Trees for the Future, through its Forest Gardens Program have planted millions of trees across Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda and each forest garden has managed to store an average of 62.8 metric tons of carbon.
Aside from the important co-benefit of carbon storage, the Forest Gardens are improving and changing lives by planting fast-growing, soil rebuilding fruit trees that promote the long-term health of the land. They provide income and nutrition, forage and fuel-wood for families and communities to help break the cycle of generational poverty as illustrated in this...
Ousmane Willane’ Story
Ousmane Willane is 50 years old and he lives in the village of Keur Lay Lobe, Senegal. There are nine people in his family alone. His uncle died and Ousmane is now taking care of his uncle’s family as well. So, there are a total of 25 mouths to feed in the household every day. Ousmane went from being a peanut farmer with few options to a forest gardener. Now he grows jujube, cashews, mangoes and wide variety of citrus trees. He has two Forest Gardens under development, one on the small plot of land just behind his family compound. That is where he has the highest value of vegetables and fruit trees. His second Forest Garden covers a two-acre plot. Four years ago, that land was totally bare. Last year he made $1,100 from the same field that struggled to produce $400 in peanuts in previous years. In addition to gardens of beans and hot peppers that grow among the trees, he also grows small plots of peanuts, millet and maize. And with the proceeds of his Forest Garden, he was able to purchase 1 horse, 2 new sheep and a horse cart to transfer products to market.
As a responsible business, and like Trees for the Future, Element UK advocates for a reduction in the global carbon footprint, both by providing eco-friendly products and supporting eco-friendly initiatives.
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The ordinary single use plastic drinking straw, inevitably. You put your lips to it without even noticing it, use it for about twenty minutes and discard it - without a thought for where it will land!
An unfortunate Costa Rican sea turtle was found with one blocking its airways!
How can one innocent inconspicuous plastic stick do so much lasting damage? This single use plastic tube has the shortest lifespan but remains on earth forever.
It is estimated that the US uses 500 million plastic straws a day and these number of straws if connected could go around the circumference of the earth two and half times!
SAVE THE PLANET ONE SIP AT A TIME
But before we go into the problem of the plastic straw, let’s see how we came to its prolific use in the first place.
The Origin of the Humble Plastic Straw
The first straw could well be the reeds used by the Mesopotamians to drink water and the Chinese to drink wine, 7000 years ago. The Egyptians used straws as a filtering mechanism to avoid drinking in insects. In the west, the practice of using straws began in 1888 and its use gained pace due to the fear of the spread of contagious diseases such as polio and tuberculosis from contaminated glassware.
In mid 20th century, though the spread of disease became less of a concern, the introduction of fast food such as McDonald brought with it disposable food packaging and more straws. In the 1960s a major innovation took place when plastics began replacing paper and straws became oil-based single use items.
Today, straws are so much a part of our everyday life that we drink using them by default and without a second thought.
The Problem with Plastic Straws
Aside from ending in a sea animal’s unlikely body parts, this thin plastic tube which is made from polypropylene and polystyrene DOES NOT biodegrade EVER.
The Solution.....
It is easy to pass the buck - consumers blame businesses, businesses put the onus on the demands of the consumers - and we all quietly carry on with our ingrained harmful habits. Both businesses and individuals need to change their attitude and behaviour.
We are seeing more and more calls to reduce the use of plastic straws in campaigns such as ‘The Last Straw’ and ‘Refuse the straw’
In fact, some restaurants and pub chains in the UK have taken action on this.
Bar One Currently all 56 Bar One outlets serve 4.7 million straws a year. The chain will stop offering them with many drinks and through its campaign ‘strawsuck’ it is urging other pubs to stop offering straws. Other two food outlets, Harvester and Brown, also from the Whole Mitchell& Butler group, could follow suit.
Wetherspoon has stopped serving straws in drinks and from 2018 the pub chain will use only biodegradable paper straws. The pub chain announcement came in the wake of the growing pace of the campaign ‘Refuse the Straw’ which aims to stop pub chains and restaurants handing out the plastic straws.
What can consumers and businesses?
SAVE THE PLANET ONE SIP AND ONE BITE AT A TIME. SWITCH TO BIODGRADABLE FOOD PACKAGING!
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- landfill waste that biodegrades, or plastic;
- biodegradable waste in the landfill or even recyclables?
Read on to assess if biodegradable waste in landfills is even better than recycling.
About half of our waste lands in the landfill though the amount has been declining steadily since 2007 as a result of UK and European directives that urged an increase in recycling and other means of disposal. But because there still remain many types of materials that cannot be recycled or disposed of in any other way, landfill still remains an important part of disposal system.
Waste in the landfill does result in the production of biogas, especially when anaerobic bacteria decompose organic waste. The biogas comprises mainly methane and carbon dioxide. Methane is more potent as greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide as it is 28 to 36 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere over a 100-year period.
All attempts should of course be made to reduce waste, reuse and recycle. But the reality is that we will end up with some waste and not all can be recycled.
Recycling has its own problems and of the waste that ends in the landfill, the lesser of the two evils is the one that biodegrades.
Recycling:
Obviously an impossible goal! Given the myriad of waste materials and their numerous chemical compositions, recycling has its own problems, some of which are:
Landfills are plagued by bigger problems than biogas production.
Waste that does not decompose – namely the infamous plastic and petroleum- packaging materials that can remain in the landfill for 100’s of years. They never fully biodegrade and persist as litter breaking up into pieces and find their way into our waterways and the ocean. They harm marine life both mechanically and chemically – choking and clogging their digestive systems and when these plastic feeding fish find their way to our dinner table, they harm us too.
Modern Landfills and Biodegradable waste
Landfills are nowadays constructed and operated to stricter standards in order to reduce adverse environmental effects. The amount of waste, especially hazardous waste is reduced and all efforts are made to recover value from the waste.
In some modern landfills, the conditions (water, humidity, temperature, and lighting) are optimally tuned to bring about a speedy biodegradation.
Element 100% biodegradable tableware will biodegrade under the right environment within 120 days, producing a non-toxic humus waste that can be used as fertilizers.
Methane emissions – the upside
In some landfills, the decomposition process will result in biogases, notably methane which is both hazardous as well as valuable. The EU Landfill Directive requires all new landfill sites from 2002 to capture the methane produced.
A recent study by the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford has found that the largest factor in the mitigation of methane from landfill is through methane capture, rather than diversion or recycling, due to the quantities of waste already in landfill sites. For the past two decades, technology has made advancements in monitoring and measurement techniques, controlling the movement of the gas for safety and health reasons and most importantly for capturing the gas for use. Improved landfill caps on new landfill sites resulted in a 61% reduction in methane emissions from landfill between 1990 and 2002. In addition, systems have been developed not only to control, but also to capture, landfill gas, involving the use of a network of pipes, wells, fans and/or vacuums to provide a favourable migration route to a common end point. Once collected, the gas is either disposed of by flaring or recovered for its energy value. The energy recovered is classified as a renewable energy source under the Renewables Obligation and so any electricity generated is eligible for ROCs.
In fact, about 40% of Britain’s methane emissions come from landfill sites and with careful management, UK’s electricity supply is increasingly coming from these recovered biogases (source: https://www.businesswaste.co.uk/facts-about-landfill/)
Methane gas recovery and electricity generation plant at a landfill site in Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire, England
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Considering the front end and the back end of the production of packaging.
We often focus on waste management and disposal of single-use and disposable of packaging. We are not wrong in doing so as we do need to manage our waste and consider the type of product (sustainable or non sustainable) as well as the method of disposal.
But in this obsession with the disposal and waste management, that is the back end; we forget the equally important front end stage; that is the production of such packaging. We forget how the manufacturing of the packaging can have more of an impact on the environment than even its disposal.
To fully understand the packaging’s environmental benefits and determine if it is eco-friendly, we need to consider its holistic environmental footprint. It is definitely not enough to look at only the back end of the process but to consider and understand its complete lifecycle A product’s lifecycle includes all elements of production (the front end) and all elements of disposal (the back end) - including raw materials sourced, and manufactured into component parts, assembled, distributed, used, and sometimes re-used before finally being disposed of. Every stage has an impact on the environment.
When we consider the environmental impact of the front end, some important things we need to look at are the:
Comparison between Element 100% biodegradable tableware made from Origo and some of our common packaging material.
Independent Accreditation of Biodegradability
Element biodegradability meets industry certification including OK Biobased by Vincotte and ASTM D6400 and D6866. (In Europe the most important certification schemes for compliance to EN 13432 are the DIN-CERTCO (Germany), the Belgian OK-Compost label of VINÇOTTE and the Italian COMPOSTABILE – CIC schemes).
Note: Though Bagasse products are made from renewable sources of material and use less energy, Co2 and water than Polystyrene and even paper, they use more water in their production than Element products.
Life Cycle Carbon equivalent emissions for materials, prior to forming into food ware products. Comparison between Origo and typical plastics used in food ware products.
MATERIAL | PROCESS | GWP (kgCO2/kg)
|
Relative Impact to Origo |
Origo, granulate | Flaked to pellets, prepared for moulding | 0.95 | 0
|
LLDPE (Linear Low density polyethylene), granulate
|
Resin form, ready for extruding
|
1.82 | 1.9 x
|
HDPE (High density polyethylene), granulate | Resin form, ready for extruding
|
1.92 | 2.0 x
|
Polypropylene, granulate | Flaked to pellets, prepared for moulding | 1.96 | 2.1 x
|
LDPE (Low density polyethylene), granulate | Resin form, ready for extruding
|
2.07 | 2.2 x
|
PET (Polyethylene terephthalate), granulate, bottle grade
|
Flaked to pellets, prepared for moulding
|
2.87 | 3.0 x
|
Polystyrene, granulate | Flaked to pellets, prepared for moulding | 3.45 | 3.6 x |
Data from the Ecoinvent Centre which holds the world’s leading database with consistent and transparent, up-to-date Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data.
It can be seen that Origo has ONLY 28% the impact of polystyrene, 48% the impact of polypropylene, 33% the impact of PET, 45% the impact of LDPE, 49% of HDPE, 52% of LLDPE. This is in the production of granulate only.
Element Tableware:
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Do you know that 53 cases of 10-inch Cornware 100% biodegradable plates save enough CO2 as electricity to power the average UK home for one whole year?
There is substantial evidence that climate change is man-made and to mitigate this, majority of countries have put in place plans to reduce the levels of ‘greenhouse gases’ being released into the atmosphere. These gases, especially carbon dioxide have been responsible for global warming. So reducing CO2 emissions will definitely go a long way to helping the environment.
To reduce CO2 emissions, we need to first measure our carbon footprints. It can be calculated for a product, service, person or even a country, and is used to understand the impact human activity is having on the earth’s climate. The standard unit of measurement for carbon footprints is carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e). And though CO2e combines the measurement of six types of greenhouse gasses, namely carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), perfluorocarbons (PFC), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), carbon dioxide is the most important greenhouse gas.
For a business to be carbon friendly, it needs to first know which activities within its operations and value chain generate CO2 emissions in order to measure its corporate carbon footprint. There are always many options available in the production processes, energy usage, transportation modes, supply chain, packaging and even marketing, for a business to consider and choose more sustainable choices.
In fact, in the UK large corporations have to include full information about their carbon emissions in their annual reports.
Element UK is eco-friendly business as evident from its carbon friendly 100% biodegradable tableware.
Here are some facts about Element products’ carbon footprints.
A food could use 3 times the number of Element tableware as opposed to equivalent plastic products and still have a smaller carbon footprint.
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