Sacha Koolen Sander van der Meij

Imagine yourself holding 1,000 kilos (2,200 pounds) of plastic. You see, if we add up all the plastic ever made in the world and divvy it up, then that’s how much plastic you’ll get. Enjoy! 

And we also produce another 311 billion kilos (685 billion pounds) of new plastic every year. So it’s time to take reduce, reuse & recycle to the next level.

SMART STORIES

  3 min

PLASTIC BELONGS TO THE PAST

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“An avocado’s skin is compostable, why should our packaging be any different?” Israeli enterprise TIPA produces packaging based on avocado skin. Protective, degradable and natural. One of their clients is Snact in the UK. Snact produces a vegan snack from surplus fruit.

Every year, some 5 billion kilos (11 billion pounds) of plastic ends up in the oceans. UK enterprise Turtle bags was established with the aim of raising people’s awareness about all the synthetic waste in the oceans. Inspired by the fact that turtles often mistake plastic bags for their favourite food, jellyfish, the company decided to produce eco-friendly reusable bags as an alternative for plastic bags.

Green Home is a South African food packaging company that hates packaging. Green Home is also the country’s first packing enterprise to use only 100% compostable products. The waste Green Homes creates with its products is biodegradable waste, also known as green waste. It’s made from sugarcane, plant starch and/or wood. These materials biodegrade naturally. 

Loopstore is a circular delivery service. The start-up is based on the old concept of the milkman who used to pick up empty bottles for reuse. Not only can you order food from them, but also cosmetics. Your orders are delivered in reusable packaging. Once the products are finished, you collect the empty containers in a crate called the Loop Tote. This is then picked up at no additional expense and refilled. In 2019 Loopstore will be launching in New York and Paris. 

Ooho! is an idea from the Skipping Rocks Lab in London. It’s an edible water bottle. Or rather, a pod. The pod is made from Notpla (algae and seaweed) and is cheaper to produce than traditional PET bottles. An Ooho! also requires nine time less energy to produce than a plastic bottle. Participants in the 2019 London Marathon received these seaweed bags instead of plastic bottles. These pods are not only suited for containing water, but also liquids like freshly squeezed fruit juice, sport drinks and condiments.

The New Zealand movement Food in the Nude has declared war on the use of plastic in supermarkets. A no-plastic-bag policy had already been introduced for checkouts, but it was being undermined by all the plastic-wrapped fruit and vegetables still in the shops. Now the entire range of fresh products is being offered without packaging. Since Food in the Nude’s intervention, sales of some vegetables have climbed 300%.

Imagine yourself holding 1,000 kilos (2,200 pounds) of plastic. You see, if we add up all the plastic ever made in the world and divvy it up, then that’s how much plastic you’ll get. Enjoy! 

And we also produce another 311 billion kilos (685 billion pounds) of new plastic every year. So it’s time to take reduce, reuse & recycle to the next level.

Sacha Koolen Sander van der Meij

  3 min

Overview magazines

Food Inspiration Magazine is the online magazine for foodservice professionals in search of inspiration and innovation. With the magazine we collect, enrich and spread inspiration. The free subscription magazine is published eight times per year and is an abundant source of inspiration for food and hospitality professionals. Our readers can be found in the U.S., Northern Europe, Latin America and Asia.
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