University scientist Dr Robert Barker, an expert in the recycling of plastics, has welcomed the move by supermarket giant Tesco to begin a trial on selling fruit and vegetables without plastic packaging but warns that the global problem of plastic waste requires a ‘more joined-up approach’.
Dr Barker, of the University’s School of Physical Sciences, commented: ‘The announcement by Tesco that they are going to begin a trial selling only plastic-free versions of 45 foods where loose alternatives are available is a welcome step and the latest in the ongoing process by supermarkets to take ownership of their role to reduce plastic packaging waste.
‘Any consumer-facing action to reduce packaging will help with keeping awareness high, which is vital, and ‘every little helps’ with respect to reduction, however I suspect this will represent only a small reduction. To make a bigger impact we need a more joined up approach, this includes:
• Removing relatively hard to recycle plastics from packaging all together, like PVC found in plastic film and polystyrene such as that used in pizza trays. This requires new material development to enable usage of sustainable or readily recycled alternatives.
• Improved recycling streams, both enabling more routes to recycle and the development of new technologies to enable this as well as improving consumer uptake of these schemes.
‘I’ll be following this trial – and similar schemes announced by other supermarket – with great interest, particularly noting the broader picture here. It is also important that supermarkets monitor not only consumer uptake of foods without plastic packaging but also changes in food wastage.
‘In some cases, plastic packaging can contribute to reducing food spoilage, particularly in fruit and vegetables, so we have to be careful that removing plastic packaging won’t inadvertently lead to an increase in food wastage, which is another important global challenge.
‘However, the fact that these avenues are being explored is a positive step towards a reduction in the global plastic packaging problem.’
Dr Barker is one of the organisers of the Plastic Unwrapped project, which has seen the University working with the Royal Society of Chemistry and local schools to highlight plastic pollution on a beach in Margate.
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