Views: 2 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2021-08-12 Origin: Site
Sustainability is a hot topic in both the specialty coffee and packaging industries.The UN predicted that if consumption and waste management don’t change, the world will be home to some 12 billion tonnes of plastic waste by 2050.
Coffee businesses around the world have been focusing on creating a more sustainable, circular economy. They do this by adding value to products and materials they use. They have also made progress replacing disposable packaging with “greener” solutions.
We know that single-use packaging poses a threat to the global ecosystem. However, there are ways to minimise the use of single-use packaging. These include to avoiding fuel-based materials and recycling the packaging that is already in circulation.
Packaging accounts for around 3% of the coffee supply chain’s total carbon footprint. If plastic packaging isn’t properly sourced, produced, transported, and discarded, it can be detrimental for the environment. To be truly “green”, packaging must do more than simply be recyclable or reusable – its entire life needs to be sustainable.
For now, the focus is on using renewable raw materials, lowering the carbon footprint through production, and safely repurposing materials at the end of the product’s life. So, what more can roasters do to make their packaging more sustainable?
Many packaging companies are investing a lot of time and money into researching sustainable packaging ,such as recyclable, biodegradable & compostable coffee pouches. Options that are being considered include cornstarch, sugarcane, cellulose, and wood pulp, as well as various other forms of organic matter.
