The problem:
The typical snack crisp bag is made from up to seven layers of foil and plastic (known as metallised plastic). Companies like this because these bags are light, reduce shipping volume, don’t take up much space on a shelf, and are graphics friendly. The downside is that there’s currently no machinery to separate these layers, so they aren’t recyclable.
“It’s not cost effective and there would be no market for the separated material,” explains Lawrence Black, director of global business development at Waste Management, a US-based environmental solutions provider. “It is expensive to fix and it all comes back to is there a market for the material. If there’s not an ongoing market for the material it won’t get recycled.”
Who does it? Multi-layered packages are popular with consumer giants, particularly snack food manufacturers such as Frito-Lay and PepsiCo.
How can I tell what they are made of?
Do the scrunch test!
An easy way to find out if an item is foil or metallised plastic film, is to do the scrunch test. Simply scrunch the item in your hand - if it remains 'scrunched' it is foil and can be recycled easily if it springs back (like crisp packets) it is probably metallised plastic film.
Crisp packets made from metallised plastic film can’t be recycled at household waste and recycling centres. So at this time they have to be thrown in with general rubbish.
Crisp packets have become a thorny recycling issue of late. Around 6 billion packets of crisps are consumed each year in the UK, equating to more than 16 million of them being thrown away every day.
Of course this leaves the question of what to do with them once their contents have been polished off.
Contrary to popular belief, the technology is there to recycle crisp packets, but up until very recently it was considered too much of a tricky process to be cost effective. As a result, the vast majority of scrunched up packets have ended up in landfill. The plastic they are made from is so tough, it has been proven that crisp packets can last for over 30 years out at sea.
What Exactly Are Crisp Packets Made From?
Put simply, in most cases it’s plastic, its the metallised film which causes the problems.
Even the silvery lining on the inside of bags, which helps to extend the shelf life of the product, is made out of metallised plastic film, which is also what lots of wrapping paper is made from. Pringles tubes, while being made of materials which are recyclable on their own, are much more difficult to process in combination. The cardboard tube, inner foil, metal base and plastic cap makes separating the different components a “nightmare” according to The Recycling Association.
Walkers ( the largest crisp company in the UK) have pledged to make sure that all their crisp packaging is biodegradable by 2025, but there are plenty of consumers who want action now. In fact, some people have become so vexed by the situation that they started to post their empty packets back to manufacturers in the hope that they would do something about the completely unsustainable situation.
Pressure from the #PacketInWalkers social media campaign, and a petition which attracted more than 300,000 signatures, seems to have paid dividends. In December 2018 Walkers launched an initiative to recycle these single-use plastics.
Is there technology available to deal with Crisp Packets?
There is a new scheme, run by TerraCycle (unfortunately this is not available in Spain) which aims to turn all materials received into brand new resources.
As with most other forms of recycling, they are sorted and arranged into different groups, with the separated items being cleaned, shredded and made into fresh products. As their fibres are so small, crisp packets are most suitable for being extruded into plastic pellets, which can then be used in the creation of other useful commodities.
Are There Any Biodegradable Crisp Packets?
Yes, but not many.
The only ones currently in circulation in the UK are made by Two Farmers, a small company in Herefordshire, who say that their packets will completely vanish around six months after they have been disposed of, meaning that they are completely compostable.
What can I do with them?
Put a box or bag in your kitchen so that you can collect your used packets and aren’t tempted to chuck them in the bin.
Try making homemade crisps instead to avoid packaging altogether, you could even try with different veg.
I have notice here in Spain that some of the crisps are in plain plastic bags so maybe these can be put in the yellow bin.
I suppose the same can be said for the snacks like ´´Pipas´ and packets of peanuts and the like. An option is to buy loose, which is good because you only buy what you want and not what comes in a prepared packet, but it is more expensive. There are places that sell snacks in plastic containers, which can be recycled.
The blog song for today is " You really got me" by the Kinks
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