Blog: Thoughts on Plastic within the Food Packaging Industry

Aegg trepanned tulip pot in PET

Barely a day goes by without a new article appearing in the press on how we need to reflect on our use of plastic. 

Nick Parker, Aegg’s Marketing Director, gives his thoughts...
 
As a player in the plastic industry we need to be active in this debate, whilst keeping level heads. Plastic is a miracle material (it is responsible for saving and extending lives) though it is also true that we need to give more thought to how we use it. At Aegg we have launched a never-ending strategic process that we have termed ‘mindful packaging’. As a supplier of products that spend some of their lives on retailer shelves, one of the key issues that we have to grapple with is the plethora of different plastic strategies. Where once we could plan for large volumes of the same product made in the same material going into all high street multiples, we now have to cater for differing materials being phased out, or adopted, by different retailers in different timeframes. And furthermore, what is stated as a strategic goal now, may not be delivered within the timeframe given. It was noted that, at the plastics seminar at the Packaging Innovations show in March, the Iceland spokesperson admitted, in the same sentence, that their no plastic policy for own label foods by 2023 is unswerving now, but may need to be compromised nearer the time. Furthermore, he also admitted that the material solutions were not obvious ones: card would shorten food life, glass was energy intensive and there was no proof that biodegradable plastics did not break down into problematic micro particles.