Researching brands:
For research purposes; I have decided to investigate compostable branding as one category of food packaging, so that I could show as an example in my final piece. The brand will tick the box for ‘compostable packaging’ when the shopper wears the virtual reality glasses.
Compostable packaging brands:
No Evil (pictured) – vegetarian food brand that uses compostable packaging, using plant based inks and no labels/stickers. I especially like how the brand evolved to create biodegradable packaging as they originally used paper and stickers and realised how the package wasn’t suitable.
Don Maslow’s compostable coffee packaging (pictured) – realised they needed coffee packaging to be airtight, blocking out UV rays and oxygen to keep the coffee beans fresh. They have discovered packaging that has been tested for durability, whilst remaining compostable – including the zipper and valve!
Waitrose compostable ready meal packaging (pictured) – Saving 158 tonnes of black plastic (black plastic packaging is coloured using carbon black pigments which do not enable the pack to be easily sorted by the systems widely used in plastics recycling). As a result, black plastic packaging can commonly end up as residue and disposed of in landfill. The new cream-coloured containers, which are fibre based and similar in texture to cardboard, are now certified home compostable for the first time. Their pledge here.
Palm oil brands:
I have decided to look into palm oil brands as a bad sustainability category as many foods contain this. It’s a hidden ingredient that has devastating consequences to the rainforest. Greenpeace Palm Oil report 2018 highlights the impacts of brands using palm oil. WWF Palm oil scorecard actually names and shames brands who are guilty of deforestation, which is fantastic. I think more of this needs to be done to change the way the world is working currently and wake brands up to the seriousness and urgency of this.
Doritos are notoriously known for their exploitation of palm oil – destroying the rainforests, otherwise known as the home of the Orangutan. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as recalling one brand. When I began to look into this in further depth; Doritos is owned by PepsiCo. PepsiCo also own all of these food and beverage brands:
Gatorade
Starbucks (canned)
Lay’s
Walkers
Naked
7up
Mountain Dew
Tropicana
Munchies
Lipton
Papa John’s
Rockstar
No Fear
Cheetos
…just to name a few brands in the UK! This is what makes it so difficult for brands to change their ethics behind sustainability. Doritos has been an ongoing issue for years and there are still petitions for PepsiCo to eliminate palm oil in their products. (PepsiCo uses an immense amount of palm oil, enough palm oil every year to fill Pepsi cans full of it to circle the earth four times at the equator.)
The concession owned by PT Multi Persada Gatramegah (PT MPG), a subsidiary of Musim Mas company, a palm oil supplier to Procter & Gamble in Muara Teweh, North Barito, Central Kalimantan. Greenpeace is calling P & G to stop destroying Indonesian rainforest and to commit to a zero deforestation policy.
Recyclable packaging brands:
The bread bag is 85 per cent recyclable paper with a transparent window made from 15 per cent recyclable film. Verified by the On-Pack Recycling Label scheme, the bread bag can be put into a paper bin or mixed material bin at home ready for pick up by recycling authorities.
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