Packaged for the Future

Single-use plastics are rapidly becoming a planetary problem. They don’t go away. Sure, they break down into smaller and smaller particles with the capacity to cause bigger and bigger problems. There are five major plastic accumulation zones in the planet’s oceans, the largest being the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with an estimated area covering over 600,000 miles. For perspective, that’s twice the size of Texas.I realize that many customers shop at farmers markets because they understand the positive environmental impacts of a local food system—less food miles, farmers who believe in Earth-friendly agricultural practices be they regenerative, organic, grass-based, etc. Unfortunately, up to 2.41 million metric tons of plastics continue to enter the oceans via rivers every year with 74% happening during May through October. Ouch! That’s basically market season.Since the opening of Central Farm Markets, customers and vendors alike have been encouraged to reduce plastic usage, the number one way being to bring your own reusable market bags. More often I am also seeing customers ask for their purchases to be put into their own washable mesh produce bags thus alleviating the need for plastic.One of the requirements for prepared food vendors at Central Farm Markets is they must serve in compostable or recyclable containers. No poly foam containers are permitted as they are not biodegradable, lasting indefinitely. An estimated 30% of landfill waste is made up of these single-use containers.But what about recycling?Education and access to recycling services has grown significantly over the last forty years, however, there are very few materials recovery facilities that accept and recycle polystyrene containers (aka: #6 plastics). Exacerbating the issue with recycling these containers are food residues and adhesive labels rendering them non-recyclable.Want to know what else isn’t commonly accepted in curbside recycling? Plastic grocery bags. Municipalities have tried taxing them, banning them yet what do you do when faced with carrying multiple items and you don’t have reusable bag? Most grocery stores conveniently offer the option to purchase a reusable bag for a nominal fee. Similarly, most grocery stores also accept plastic grocery bags for specialized recycling.Although the recycling movement has matured over the last few decades to the point where we now have single-stream curbside recycling (no more separating and hauling to the recycling center once a month for most of us), the process continues to be dependent the local collection services and the price of oil.The global demand for recycled products crashed in 2017. When municipalities could sell a bale of mixed paper for $100/ton easily financing their recycling programs, they are now faced with having to pay upwards of $20/ton to dispose of it. Without expensive state-of-the-art recycling centers, many waste management companies are forced to put recyclable materials into landfills.In order the avoid this, the next step is composting.Composting, you might ask isn’t that like soil. Well, yes…eventually.Let’s use a cardboard pizza box as an example. It would be recyclable if it didn’t have grease and bits of melted cheese stuck to it. Most recycle centers do not accept food contaminated containers because of the overwhelming pests (rats, mice, flies, beetles, etc.) attracted to the food. However, that same greasy cardboard box is 100% compostable meaning that when tossed in a bin with other organic matter, aerated and kept moist, it will degrade back into basic organic matter.Recognizing the benefits of composting over recycling, innovative entrepreneurs have targeted the food industry manufacturing everything from hinged clamshell food containers made out of cellulose to grocery bags and clear cups made from plant starch (PLA). The Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) is a non-profit certification for compostable packaging currently listing over ten thousand products for commercial use.The BIG THING to keep in mind about compostable versus recyclable is they are not interchangeable. Please do not put compostable items in recycle bins. They will only end up in a landfill and sadly, most compostable items do not break down in a landfill environment due to the lack of oxygen.Even more confusing are cardboard containers with plastic film like milk cartons. Some composting centers will accept them while others do not. These will also fail to remediate in your backyard compost bin. Only fully compostable items can be labeled “compostable” because these items have been certified by a third party like Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI). You may have already noticed that some of your favorite vendors have changed their packaging. Heirloom Kitchen has already gone 100% compostable and is heading up the effort to assist fellow vendors in sourcing compostable packaging.Central Farm Markets is currently planning to place composting containers for single-use food containers at each of our market locations. Who knows, your ice cream, soup and drink containers just may become the soil in which your produce is grown.