Vegware’s closed-loop composting program feeds Scottish fields

18 Mar 2020 --- In celebration of Global Recycling Day (18 March), plant-based compostable packaging specialist Vegware shared news of how it has helped Scottish clients boost recycling through a closed-loop composting collection service. The award-winning Close the Loop service collects used Vegware disposables and food waste from businesses across Scotland, taking it to industrial composting. In under 12 weeks, used Vegware turns into soil improver for Scottish fields, to feed the next generation of plants.

From its start in June 2017 to the end of 2019, Vegware’s Close the Loop composting collection service has composted the equivalent weight of 16.8 million disposable coffee cups, the supplier reports.

Vegware’s range of over 350 plant-based catering disposables offers the full solution to any site looking to join the circular economy. The supplier’s Waste Management Consultants work with the UK waste sector to provide composting collection services for clients. This includes its Close the Loop service that offers a zero-waste solution to Scottish businesses for catering disposables. 

“We believe that every foodservice business should have access to composting. With Vegware's Close the Loop service, our clients get peace of mind, knowing that their waste is being processed correctly. It’s a win-win,” explains Annalise Matthews, Vegware’s Waste Management Consultant.Vegware offers over 350 plant-based catering disposables.

Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh’s 5-star visitor center, is among the businesses already benefiting from the Scottish service. Within its first 5 months on the Close the Loop service, Dynamic Earth recycled an estimated 1.38 metric tons of used Vegware and food scraps.

“I was keen on Vegware from the start. The plant-based products were presented as a practical solution: the wide and versatile product range could support Dynamic Earth for the long-term,” comments Susan Paton, Dynamic Earth Café Manager.

In addition to their Close the Loop service, Vegware works with the waste sector to actively grow trade waste collection routes around the UK. Now, there are Vegware-approved trade composting collections for 70 percent of the populated areas within the UK, including Oxford, Cambridge, Reading, Guildford, Basingstoke, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, York, Nottingham, Shropshire, the Isle of Man, most of Northern Ireland and a pilot scheme in London.

Plant power boosts sales
The sales of the Edinburgh-based Vegware company have doubled in the last two years, with exports now accounting for a third of its sales. According to Vegware, this growth is due to the public’s continuing preference for plant-based alternatives to conventional plastics.

To keep up with product demand, Vegware Edinburgh headquarters has grown and expanded into the building next door: a 4,000 sq ft property on Edinburgh’s illustrious Melville Street, an avenue for business and development in the West End.

This space expansion joins their three warehouses, situated in mainland Europe, the UK and the US. These hubs service Vegware clients in 70 countries worldwide.

In other compostable packaging news, Tesco released its Packaging Preferred Materials & Formats Guidelines 2020 with one notable absentee from its preferred materials list: compostable and biodegradable packaging. Meanwhile, compostable packaging supplier Tipa declared “absolute support” in the UK government for compostables after 98 percent of MPs expressed support for them in a poll.

Also, the European Commission has adopted a new Circular Economy Action Plan through which it will develop a policy framework on the use of biodegradable or compostable plastics.

Edited by Joshua Poole