[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd53i9Gw3GE&w=472]
Packaging manufacturer, Vegware, has launched a new Scotland-wide collection scheme – “Close The Loop” – to boost food and compostable packaging recycling.
The compostable packaging manufacturer has launched ‘Close the Loop’ to businesses across Scotland, taking used Vegware (catering disposables) and food waste for industrial composting into high-grade horticultural compost.
Launched to mark Recycle Week and International Coffee Day, the scheme enables the recycling of all takeaway packaging, not just cups. Initial Close the Loop clients include the Glasgow Science Centre and independent Edinburgh cafes Union of Genius and Pumpkin Brown.
“Our Scottish customers are delighted to have a solution for composting their packaging that’s easy to adopt and manage, and gives them the confidence that their waste is going to the right place,” said Eilidh Brunton, Vegware’s group recycling consultant.
It says “Close the Loop” is a disruptive model, a waste service which is flexible and competitively priced. Clients choose any collection day and have no contract ties. By piggybacking onto existing collections and using trucks that are already on the road, Vegware says it is a carbon-friendly service.
Brunton added: “There are now some initiatives to separate out and recycle plastic-lined paper cups. That is a good start, but what about the lid, tea bag, stirrer, spoon and sandwich box? In reality, used takeaway packaging is a mix of materials contaminated with food, and goes to incineration or landfill. Our approach is simple: if it’s all made from plants, not plastic, and can be composted together with food waste, then there’s no sorting. All used takeaway items go together with food waste, and can be processed at industrial composting facilities around the UK in under 12 weeks. Catering waste can create high-grade horticultural compost, to feed the next generation of plants.”
Vegware has made a short animation for social media introducing Close the Loop and exploring why recycling goes beyond cups, which you can view above.