Praise from the UK: “Italy is an example for biocompostable packaging”

These were the words of the representative of the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) at a hearing of the UK Parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

The Italian approach to using compostable packaging was mentioned as a positive example by Jenny Grant of the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA), who spoke at a hearing of the UK Parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on plastic waste. Italy collects around 5 million tonnes of food waste per year with an average contamination rate of around 3%.
“Compostables are not the solution for all plastic packaging and non-packaging items, but certainly in applications where they help bring more food waste, beverage waste or plant waste to organics recycling facilities, it is going to help us massively reduce that contamination and its cost,” Grant told the Committee. Grant also mentioned the example of a number of companies that offer compostable items to cafés and restaurants, and then co-collect them with food waste and take them back for processing.
“The full range of compostable packaging materials should be properly recognised from the point of view of EPR (Extended Producer Liability), so the financial contributions made by the compostable packaging companies can be allocated to the collection and treatment of these materials,” she added.