Lion’s Lair – EcoPack Show 2010

James Woollard and Marcel Seal

An unnecessary waste

According to reports, the UK dumps more household waste into landfill than anyother EU state – including food waste that is fully degradable.

In the UK around 30 million tonnes of domestic refuse is produced each year. Source: WasteOnline - managed by Waste Watch, a UK environmental charity working to change the way people use the world's natural resources.

Containing on average about 38% organic content, such as vegetable peelings, tea bags and food scraps.

Resulting in some 11.5 million tonnes of wastegoing into landfill, that could be composted.

Changing attitudes

As a nation our polythene consumption has risen to extremely high levels over the lastfew decades. Shoppers in Britain are estimated to use up to 20 billion plastic carrier bags a year. Only 1 in every 200 bags is recycled and each takes about 100 years to degrade.

The public is now being actively encouraged to think about the environment. Shoppers are actively discouraged from unnecessary use of carrier bags. You now have to ask for bags at checkout. Charges for bags now apply in many shops.

The way forward

Years ahead of the UK, Benelux countries have already implemented compostingoperations as an alternative to landfill disposal. Aerobic and Anaerobic – compost processing plants Organic waste collections from houses or generic venues such as supermarkets Waste food and garden waste banks.

These countries don’t enjoy the luxury of weekly refuse collections. Due to the timescales involved between collections, householders have to deal

with organic waste themselves.

The use of fully compostable carrier and bin bags ensures that the vast majority oforganic household waste is recycled.

Current options

In the UK there are an increasing amount of bags claiming to be compostable, which are in fact oxy-degradable – a process that takes 2-3 years, but only if conditions are perfect.

Recycled polythene is a good option, assuming that the bags end up at a recycling centre – only 1 in 200 do, the rest still go to landfill.

The majority of bags are produced in the Far East – travelling thousands of miles to reach the UK.

All of these bags use oil-based polymers, a resource that is becoming scarcer and more expensive by the day.

We have the answer…

The genuine article

100% fully compostable starch bagsPolycomp is fully compostable in as little as 10-days.Polycomp is made using Mater-Bi™ bio-polymers.Polycomp degrades leaving only CO2, H2O and natural residue – compost.Polycomp has been certified as being fully biodegradable and compostableaccording to the European norm EN13432

Compost made from other materials that claim to be compostable, but DO NOT carrying this accreditation will not be fit for reuse.

Polycomp is made in France, by Europe’s leading manufacturer of compostable bags.

How it works

Instead of creating a visible litter trail, once discarded Polycomp bags simply return to nature.

See for yourself…

Plans for the future

As part of the UK’s changing attitude, UK councils have been tasked by theGovernment to supply each household with a 7 Litre food caddy and roll of freecompostable bags. We are already negotiating with the councils to supply them on a not-for-profit

basis, with the initial one off roll that will go to every household in the UK. We need a retail partner to work with us as the point of distribution for

replacement bags. Although the bags are available, the public’s awareness of them is incredibly low. We would print the initial bags with our retail partners details so that the public

know where they can purchase replacements. In Oxfordshire a new composting facility has been built that can create 20K

tonnes of compost a year.

Key Facts

How many councils are there in the UK?– 439

How many are yet to supply the roll of free bags?– At least 50%

How many tenders are we currently quoting for?– 2

How many bags do we predict will be used in the future?– Presume 50% take-up across the country = 26 billion bags

Do they have a limited shelf life?– 1 year

What is our production capacity?– Enough for the UK

Thank you for your time