PACKAGING MATERIALS & THE ENVIRONMENT

1. PACKAGING MATERIALS & THE ENVIRONMENT Apply Principles of Food Packaging

2. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS • REDUCE • RE-USE • RE-CYCLE • What is the difference?

3. THE THREE R’S REDUCE FOOD PACKAGING: • Use less, or smaller quantities of food packaging materials. • Reduce the layers of packaging used. • Provide access to natural forms of food supply – such as fresh food markets where consumers bring their own bags

4. RE-USE FOOD PACKAGING • The most direct way to recover packaging is by reusing it in its original form. • Reusable packaging has to be sturdier to withstand cleaning processes, increased transportation and handling. It may cost more to produce.

5. RECYLING • Recycling = the act of recovering used or abandoned materials and re-processing them to create a new product.

6. HOW TO REDUCE • Some products are over-packaged • Often packaging is over-sized; leads to both wastage and can be mis-leading • Avoid buying small containers eg. Buy one large bottle rather than 6 small ones.

7. HOW TO REDUCE • Choose products with less packaging. • Choose products with recyclable or reusable packaging. • Carry reusable shopping bags or boxes. • Encourage manufacturers to play their part – eg. “light-weighting” of PET • Use paper or glass – 100% recyclable

8. RE-USE Can you think of examples?

9. RE-USABLE PACKAGING • Use glass bottles and jars, plastic bags, aluminium foil and take away food containers over and over again before recycling or disposing of them. • Carry your lunch in a reusable container rather than disposable wrappings. • Buy food containers that are re-usable and you can buy refills for them.

10. RECYCLING

11. RE-CYCLING FOOD PACKAGING • The key to recycling is to ensure collected materials are used to make new products in a cost-effective and environmentally sound manner. • This saves finite resources, energy and water; we reduce litter and we reduce waste to landfill.

12. RECYCLING PACKAGING • http://www.visy.com.au/video.php?video=3&keepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=431&width=502

13. RECYCLING PACKAGING • Recycling activities also have an environmental impact, mainly in terms of energy consumption, because recyclables need to be transported, cleaned and reprocessed before they can be turned into new products.

14. RECYLING SYMBOLS • The recycling symbol or 'mobius loop' consists of three twisted chasing arrows in a triangle. No one 'owns' the mobius loop, however there are guidelines regarding its use.

15. THE RECYCLING PROCESS • http://www.visy.com.au/video.php?video=6&keepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=371&width=502

16. RECYLING SYMBOLS PLASTICS: There are a wide range of plastics used in packaging. To make sorting and thus recycling easier, the American Society of Plastics Industry developed a standard marking code to help consumers identify and sort the main types of plastic. • See handout for 7 symbols

17. Coca-cola’s plant based bottle • http://www.packagedesignmag.com/content/coca-cola-company-introduces-innovative-bottle-made-from-plant-based-plastic

18. RECYLING METAL CANS • 94% of households in Australia now have access to steel can recycling with 56% of steel cans being returned for recycling. • However, every year each Australian sends around 3.5 kilograms of steel cans to landfill - that's enough steel to make 40,000 fridges!

19. RECYLING METAL CANS • Recycling steel cans helps to protect our environment in three ways: 1. It saves precious natural resources       2. It saves energy       3. Reduces cans going to landfill • http://www.cansmart.org/downloads/steelcanstory_web.pdf

20. The National Packaging Covenant (NPC) • The Covenant is a voluntary initiative, by Government and Industry, to reduce the environmental effects of packaging on the environment.

21. The National Packaging Covenant (NPC) It is designed to: • minimise the environmental impacts arising from the disposal of used packaging, • conserve resources through better design and production processes and • facilitate the re-use and recycling of used packaging materials.

25. “FOOD MILES” • Put simply, 'food miles' is a measure of how far food travels – from paddock to plate – and is an indication of how environmentally-friendly it is.

26. “FOOD MILES” • Food freight – especially by air and road – consumes fuel and energy, and releases greenhouse pollution, affecting the global climate. • The lower the food miles the better choice the product is for the environment.