Closed Loop Partners and Rethink Plastic reports warn of “misleading” bio-based claims, call for single-use reevaluation

16 Dec 2020 --- Biodegradable and compostable alternatives to single-use plastic are widely regarded as appealing eco-solutions for increased circularity within the packaging supply chain.

However, new reports from Closed Loop Partners and Rethink Plastic have come to separate conclusions that terms such as “bio-based,” “bio-plastics” and “compostable” can be misleading, as they do not guarantee environmentally beneficial disposal post-use.

Instead of swapping out one packaging material for another, both organizations are calling for a massive rethink on single-use plastic packaging.

These reports arrive as global bioplastics production capacity is set to increase to by 36 percent by 2025, while the EU Single-Use Plastic Directive takes effect next year.

Meanwhile, global top-polluting F&B giants continue to focus predominantly on increasing single-use packaging recycling rates without full scale commitments to reusable packaging models.

“Far from being green”
In the past two decades, “bioplastics” have increasingly been promoted as a solution to many of the challenges caused by conventional plastics. 

Biopolymers and compostable alternatives need to be bolstered by reuse models that keep products in play for longer, says Closed Loop.However, bioplastics bring with them an equally problematic set of issues, representing a minefield of definitions, misrepresentations, greenwashing and hidden impacts, says the Rethink Plastic report.

“Far from being ‘green,’ most bioplastics are quite the opposite to what people expect: just like conventional plastics, they are actually made largely from fossil fuel and do not necessarily biodegrade in the environment,” the Rethink Plastic report reads.

The issue is green-sounding packaging terms can encourage consumers to justify littering, often falsely believing their purchased packaging will have at least a neutral effect on the environment.

Nearly 60 percent of respondents from a Germany-based Rethink Plastic survey thought all bioplastics were compostable, leading the organization to equate biodegradable claims on-pack with increased littering behavior.

The bioplastics trap
Similarly, Closed Loop’s report maintains that bio-based plastics and biopolymers are “not a silver bullet” to solve complex, global waste challenges.

Biopolymers represent one solution in the broader circular economy paradigm but need to be bolstered by reuse models and design practices that increase material recoverability.

“It is currently too easy for bioplastic manufacturers to push their products through misleading labels on single-use products such as ‘compostable’ cutlery, beverage cups and food containers,” says Frédérique Mongodin, senior marine litter policy officer at Seas At Risk, part of the Break Free From Plastic alliance.Biodegradable packaging needs industrial environments hotter than 50℃, lots of moisture and adequate microorganisms to biodegrade.

“This is against the spirit of the recent EU Single-Use Plastic Directive and should stop for greener alternatives to be promoted, such as durable and reusable products.”

What can we do?
Rethink Plastic posits four objectives to combat these issues at policy level:

• Prioritize material reduction and reuse over substitution of one single-use item with another, for example by setting sectoral reuse targets.
• Set strong criteria and conditions for the sourcing and use of bio-based and biodegradable plastics, fully acknowledging and taking into account all their externalities.
• Harmonize the definitions and strengthen consumer protection against greenwashing on plastic.
• Introduce clear and ambitious requirements into EU standards on industrial compostability, home compostability and biodegradability, for example, that reflect real-life conditions and do not adversely impact natural ecosystems.

Likewise, Closed Loop advocates for reduced fossil fuel extraction, continued alternative material innovation and investments in recovery infrastructure. To do so, diverse stakeholders will need to collaborate on a long-term basis.

Both reports call for stakeholders to rethink single-use packaging systems instead of swapping one packaging material for another.“We continue to research, explore and test, and invite you to join us on our collective journey toward a circular economy that eliminates waste and builds sustainable, inclusive systems for all,” says Kate Daly, head of the center for the circular economy at Closed Loop Partners. 

Setting clear definitions
According to Closed Loop’s report, “bio-based” means a material is biologically-derived from plants, from naturally-occurring structures or biologically produced from pathways such as microbial activity. 

“Biodegradable” means a material can be consumed by microbial activity (bacteria and/or fungi) into carbon dioxide, water vapor and microbial biomass. 

“Compostable” describes a material that biodegrades under specific conditions, in the specific time-frames needed by composters at their facilities (home or industrial) and does not release any harmful chemicals, toxic components or heavy metals into the environment or soil amendment being created.

By Anni Schleicher