GDES3003 – Green Design – Week 5 Blog task
Ref 1 – London Bio Packaging http://www.londonbiopackaging.com
A – 14 million
Q – How much waste to landfill were Olympics organisers expecting to have to go to landfill?
A – 8,500 tonnes
Q – How many pieces of packaging were needed for the games – and by supplying these what did LBF help the games achieve?
A – 120 million pieces, helped the 2012 games achieve zero waste to landfill by using their “closed loop” system. All packaging responsibly made and responsibly disposed of using recycling and compostable methods.
Q – How many stages are there in their closed loop system? – What happens at each stage? – Is this appropriate for this company? If yes then please explain why you think so.
A – 5 stages : 1 – Supply – Ensuring that all disposable packaging is recyclable or compostable. 2 – Dispose – Close loop composting process used to collect, recycle or compost waste. 3 – Collect – LBP arranges waste collection. 4 – Process – They ensure waste is taken to correct facility so that it can be composted or recycled. 5 – Re-use – The compost collected is then distributed and re-used for agriculture to help grow new crops.
Q – What are Bioplastics ?
A – These are plastics made from plants. The starch contained within the plant is processed to produce a polymer. Bio-plastics behave in a similar way to conventional plastics and are suitable for most packaging applications. However, unlike finite oil based plastics which take millions of years to form and hundreds of years to degrade, they are annually renewable and suitable for commercial compost (nature s way of recycling) within 12 weeks where facilities exist. The carbon footprint of Bio-plastic is therefore much lower than traditional petroleum based plastics.
Q – Look at the other materials LBP use. Could you order these in terms of most sustainable , explain why you ve ordered them like this on your post.
- Plant Starch – Plant Starch Material (PSM) is a flexible bio based packaging material which has not been refined into a bio-plastic. It is made from renewable crops.
- Bio Plastics – As with PSM these are made from plant starch, but require refinement and so whilst they reduce carbon footprint and greenhouse gasses when compared to traditional methods, they still require substantial energy to produce.
- Recycled Plastic – Reduces plastic going into landfill.
- Recycled Paper – As well as diverting waste from landfill, sustainable forest paper ensures that the forests from which the paper comes and managed so as not destroy the forest, to promote biodiversity and protect any indigenous peoples.
- Forest Wood – Reliant on above.
- Palm Leaf – I have put this towards the bottom as I don t believe it is as efficient or sustainable in volume as some of the above materials.
- Sugar Bagasse – I have put this as least sustainable as there is currently not adequateinformation on associated carbon emissions, although this this is a waste product, so it will by definition be saving carbon.
Q – What is PSM and what are it s key properties? Why is this useful?
A – Plant Starch Material (PSM) – A flexible bio based packaging material which has not been refined into a bio-plastic. It is made from renewable crops like corn or potatoes. PSM is heat resistant making it particularly suitable for hot food applications and ideal for bio disposable cutlery.
Q – What is sugar bagasse and how might it be turned into packaging?
A – The waste material produced once sugar cane has been harvested for the sugar syrup is called bagasse. This fibrous material is a renewable resource. There is not currently adequate information on the associated carbon emissions, but as this is a waste product, it will by definition be saving carbon as it replaces what would otherwise be a requirement for some virgin material manufacture.
Sugar bagasse is turned into packaging products from its raw form using a process of heating, pulping and then pressurised moulding. These are heat resistant and microwaveable making them ideal as hot food containers and best of all, naturally compostable.
Q – Pick one other material listed and explain what it is and what it s key properties and considerations are.
A – Recycled Plastic (rPET) – rPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate) is the most common plastic that is being recycled back into primary applications (i.e. bottles recycled back into bottles and not down-cycled into lesser products like park furniture). Recycled plastics reduce the amount of fossil fuel resources, have a lower carbon footprint than virgin plastics, divert material from landfill and can themselves be recycled.
Ref 2 – Wrap http://www.wrap.org.uk/
Q – Who are Wrap? Describe what they do in a paragraph.
A -Wrap are a charity and are effectively a middle man between governments, companies, communities & individuals who work to raise awareness and to bring about change with recycling and sustainable living practices for a brighter, cleaner future.
Q – What commercial sectors do they deal with and why ?
A -They work with hundreds of businesses and local authorities, trade associations and charities to deliver change. They claim to be experts in establishing the facts, getting the right people working collaboratively to agree common goals, then converting ideas into real action and delivery on the ground.
They drive change in the areas where they feel they can make the biggest difference:
Q -Do they deal with the idea of a circular economy? If yes how do they aim to tally with these ideas?
A – Yes they do. “A circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life.”
As well as creating new opportunities for growth, a more circular economy will:
- reduce waste
- drive greater resource productivity
- deliver a more competitive UK economy.
- position the UK to better address emerging resource security/scarcity issues in the future.
- help reduce the environmental impacts of our production and consumption in both the UK and abroad.
Q – What are Wrap s 3x key priority areas and what do they aim to do in these?
A – WRAP s vision is a world in which resources are used sustainably.
Their mission is to accelerate the move to a sustainable resource-efficient economy through:
- re-inventing how we design, produce and sell products,
- re-thinking how we use and consume products, and
- re-defining what is possible through re-use and recycling
Look at section 4 : Design for Re-Use, Recycling and Recovery.
Q – Describe 3 key considerations within design for re-use .
- Ensure that the packaging is designed for and is robust enough for re-use.
- Check that your business partners will also treat the packaging as re-usable and will return it as appropriate, or that collection arrangements are in place to enable private end-users to return it.
- Could you re-use transport packaging in-house, for example, as trays in which consumers can take plants away from a garden centre?
Q – Describe 3 key considerations within design for recycling .
- Try to design your packaging so that minimum product residues remain when the used packaging is collected for recycling.
- Construct your packaging so that the end-user can easily separate any components that should not go into the recycling process ( design for disassembly ).
- Try to avoid materials, combinations of materials or designs of packaging that might create problems in collecting, sorting or recycling.
Q – Describe how effective Metal, Glass, Paper and Board and Plastics are and which (in your eyes) of these may achieve the most effective award for recyclability.
A – I would say the most effective material is metal as it has a high recyclable content and can be re-used with no adverse affect on functional performance. Glass also has a high recyclable value, but as it is often coloured it can limit it s re-use. Paper and card often has to be thicker when recycled as it has less strength than virgin fibres. Plastics seldom contain recyclable materials due to safety, although this is slowly changing as technology improves.
FURTHER INFORMATION
I have contained links to the videos suggested by my lecturer to keep all research together in one place for convenience.
Coke and packaging
- Packaging used to provide exact measures, retain freshness/quality and ensure that the product is as good when it reaches you as it was when it left the factory.
- 5.5 million dumpster trucks worth or waste goes to landfill in the UK every year.
- Coke using over 30% less metal and plastic in the cans/bottles than 10 years ago.
- Glass bottle is now lighter and stronger than ever thanks to new technologies.
- Cuts in Co2 emissions equivalent to taking 1,000 cars a year off the roads.
- Thermostat detects people walking by vending machines to regulate busy times & when more or less energy is needed.
- Within 2-3 years Coca-Cola will be a zero waste to landfill company.
UPS Courier – Sustainable Packaging
Plastic wine container
Coke Plant Bottle
Local sustainable packager
7six creative 
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