Dispelling the Fake News

Polythene is still the most affordable and generally suitable solution for butchers in particular, in terms of foodgrade direct contact solutions and carrier bags which require a level of wet proofing.

There are various additives that can be added into polythene to speed up the degradation process but remember this only degrades the film to a powder and then the resource is lost forever.

Recycling is a more sensible solution and with most councils having household plastic recycling bins any HDPE or LDPE point of sale packaging or carrier bags can be recycled easily domestically.

Recycling is a far more environmentally sound solution than degradable polythene but this involves a better understanding by the public and a change in media with less hype and accurate information reporting to swing public perception (which is highly skewed).

No one will ever disagree that OVER packaging products is something to tackle, but to isolate one product and demonise it without facts is just fake news and jumping on the newest fad bandwagon without a more rounded fuller knowledge of all aspects of the issue. The issue tackled should be OVER packaging.

What about paper? The issue is that paper cannot and will never do the same job as polythene in terms of leak proofing produce between counter and home. The public perception is that paper is the green solution but it brings it's own demons in the form of energy consumption, transportation & storage costs and frankly is not a suitable product for direct contact with wet meats and fish, unless coated with polythene or wax (PE wax or paraffin, neither of which are particularly green). So what is the answer?

Many butchers are moving towards heavy duty bags for life, still made from polythene but with a long shelf life. Others love our nylon bags which are machine washable in any domestic washing machine at 40 degrees. They are small to store, folding into a pouch fixed by a zip, poppers or elastic.

The move is away from thin flimsy HD vest carriers at point of sale and definitely an increase in long life carrier bags which are sold not given away is clearly a winner for butchers who will see their carrier bag out and about in their local community, repeat advertising and money in the till from the sale.

The public are used to purchasing carrier bags now, therefore the stigma of pre 2014 is no more. The trick is to make the bag design creative and desirable which is ESC's forte.

For point of sale there's been a surge in pre-packaged items, such as vacuum pouches, pie boxes, sleeves and wedges. This allows butchers to pre-pack wet products that may leak in an attractive way and one that gels with those supermarket shoppers who expect a level of presentation in their produce.

We have been working hard in the industry to find eco- friendly solutions, using water or vegetable based inks, FSC paper & pulp, plant based coatings instead of polymer coatings to wet proof products.

As with all innovations, initially the outlay is high and therefore at this time only very large volume users will be able to secure pricing that is workable but as with all such things in business, as these roll out and become standard the pricing will fall to an affordable level for SMEs.

Kind regards
Carri Walker
Business manager
ESC Packaging
Tel. 01383 418610
www.eosc.co.uk