A sustainability scale for plastics: Is this what the industry needs?

Joint research undertaken by the University of Queensland and the University of Exeter has concluded that a step change is required in the way plastic packaging products are labelled. Modern labels should include a ‘sustainability scale’, according to the research, which will help increase recycling rates.

Littering and inadequate waste disposal infrastructure remains a major environmental issue. Industry players have accepted the extended responsibility and are working more closely with environmental groups than ever before. The recycling industry is now very much an integral part of the plastics value chain. So, can new labelling measures really convince the vast majority of consumers, local governments and policy makers to engage in more meaningful recycling initiatives?

Speaking to Kirsten O’Leary, Senior Media and Communications Officer at the University of Queensland, Professor Kevin Thomas, Director, University of Queensland’s Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, said: “A new internationally applicable labelling system is required that moves focus from recyclability to sustainability. It needs to be specific to the country and region of purchase and provide information to the public about plastic additive content.

"We hope that our recommendations initiate a reassessment of plastics labelling and that implementation of a sustainability scale allows individuals to make informed decisions in how they use plastics. This is just one small necessary step towards helping people help the environment.”

The study defines a sustainability scale as labelling that goes way beyond the binary ‘yes’ or ‘no’ recyclability of the material(s) used, including:

• The environmental cost of production;
• Potential risks to human health due to additives used; and
• Region-specific instructions for optimum disposal.

Lead author and University of Queensland PhD candidate Stephen Burrows suggests that such a measure will remove responsibility from the consumer, back to policy makers and manufacturers.

"This is vital because the mix of plastic products is so complex and confusing,” Burrows told O’Leary, “industry must be responsible for clear, accurate and accessible instructions on how best to dispose of plastic items.

"Requiring producers to list all additives would be a major step towards informing the public and helping them make decisions regarding environmental impact and human health."

Consumers are certainly more aware of the information given on packaging labels in the modern world, and we are becoming much more keen to promote the disposal of plastics in a responsible way. But just how much attention will consumers pay to additional information and instructions? I can only speak for myself currently. I buy products because I enjoy them, or because I need them, not because of the manufacturing processes involved, so would I take an interest in such information on a packaging label? Probably not. And I, a member of the industry press, am perhaps more knowledgeable of such processes than most consumers anyway. What more can I do than make sure I place the discarded product using the appropriate – often the only – method available to me? Manufacturers generally don’t have much of a say in which collection/sorting measures are used in local government, but they are committed to environmental improvements.

Speaking about the recent Global Plastics Agreement reached at a meeting of the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, the British Plastics Federation (BPF) stated that 'The UK plastics industry takes its environmental obligations very seriously and will continue to invest in material and product innovations, as well as in recycling technology, and views measures to stop waste leaking into the environment, optimizing manufacturing techniques and product design, and keeping material in use for as long as possible as key parts of the puzzle.'

It is a good thing, I think, to see academia continuing to undertake such research – because the industry is listening, and learning. In this case, however, the inclusion of additional information on a packaging label seems, conversely, to be adding further responsibility on the consumer, and thereby runs the risk of being overlooked.