As the war on waste continues and more importantly plastic waste, this is an exciting time to learn of a young inventor who has found a unique and possible solution to the environment’s plastic problems.
A 25-year-old Indonesian young inventor has been studying the solution to the problem of waste plastic, mainly plastic food packaging. This young creator has said that using seaweed instead of plastic could cut down significant amounts of plastic waste.
Plastic has only really existed for the last 65+ years, as of 2015 approximately 6.3bn tonnes of plastic waste has been generated, with 79% of this accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. In this time plastic has transformed our every day life and many industries from catering to engineering, advantageous because of its long-lasting nature. However, we are now discovering the damage this is having on the environment so problematic plastic waste has become a hot topic.
abm catering’s focus on environmental sustainability is something we are incredibly proud of; we work with our clients to implement initiatives and to introduce improvements on plastic waste reduction. Our packaging is biodegradable and has been developed from recycled materials and renewable plant resources; we have reduced the use of packaging wherever possible within our sites for both our own produce and our suppliers and our range of biodegradable packaging has enabled us to work in conjunction with our clients to implements our ‘zero waste’ initiative. As well as our sandwich / wrap packaging, other biodegradable products we promote using in our office and our units are wooden stirrers and paper straws.
Starting in our Head Office and developing across our client’s sites we have removed disposable plastic cups and takeaway coffee cups; we also have a strict Styrofoam ban. We know how important and critical it is to keep our environment a magnificent one and to educate children from a young age about the important of our environment; therefore, when we open a new secondary school service, every student and staff member in our Education units are given a free reusable sports water bottle. We have found this not only reduces the consumption of single use plastic, it also supports our healthy lifestyle messaging of staying hydrated! In our B&I and College sites we heavily discount our own reusable coffee cups, every time a customer makes use of their refillable cup they get money off their chosen hot drink; this has bought about a reduction in single use plastic within our sites and reduced our plastic waste.
Some of the products the 25-year old inventor has looked at so far for his seaweed alternative include soap packaging, sachets such as for tea bags and fast food packaging. This potential solution has the ability to be enormous and solve the plastic waste problem that has engulfed our environment; but is this a concrete solution?
We look forward to following the developments and to see where it goes. In the mean time our waste management systems and our ISO:14001 accreditation helps us to stay on top and become aware of our own ecological footprint.
