10 signatures reached
To: Defra UK, European Commission
STOP using environmentally hazardous plastics for organics packaging!
Forbid use of non-recyclable plastic packaging for organic products
Why is this important?
Whatishealthy.info petition that organic regulatory bodies ban any plastic materials from packaging of organic food that causes environmental hazards. For the plastic packaging to not cause environmental hazards, it must be fully recyclable and certified to circular economy regulations such as supported by Organics Council ®, to ensure it does not end up in landfills.
Opting for organic products shall help both to keep nature and human health safe, but have you ever noticed what organic food in supermarkets is packed in?
It is mostly non-recyclable plastic. In the modern world, where many companies switch to zero waste and circular economy, it is unacceptable that ‘organic’ is still allowed to be sold in landfilling plastic packaging.
In the Organics Council ® 2018 organic food packaging environmental pollution survey on the major UK supermarkets’ own label packagings [6], the Organics Council ® found that only 4% of all organic food packaging is fully recyclable, while 90% contain plastic. Almost 40% of the products failed to provide sufficient information on packaging recyclability, with some suggesting that the customer should check for recyclability information from elsewhere, and some claiming the information can be found on the label while, in fact, it is absent.
Soil Association Certification Ltd, the major organic certification body in the UK, claims to be ‘pioneers of protecting the environment’ and is proud of the fact that their regulations ‘go above and beyond legal requirements’. [1] Contrary to their claims, the Organics Council ® survey revealed that 94% of the goods they certified contain plastic in the packaging, and none of these are fully recyclable. Among all products, only 1% is fully recyclable!
Another major UK company, Marks & Spencer, states that all their products are going to be 100% widely recycled by 2022. [2] Nevertheless, the Organics Council ® survey showed that so far, they are nowhere close to that goal when it comes to organic goods – none of their organic product packaging is currently fully recyclable.
In the light of the facts, the major companies are not credible to live up to the promises that may be broken; we need to take action right now.
Consider these facts about plastic:
- 8.3 billion tons of plastic have been produced since the beginning of the synthetic materials industry;
- almost 80% of this plastic has accumulated in the environment; [3]
- plastic kills sea animals; [4]
- plastic is also likely to end up on our plate. [5]
We think by no means any goods that are not packaged in fully recyclable plastic shall be called 'organic'. ‘Organic’ is a synonym of ‘sustainable’, and everything labelled as such – both content and packaging – shall not harm our planet and our health; otherwise, it is no better than ordinary goods.
Sign this petition to demand a ban on the use of polluting plastics in the organic industry and to only allow the use of fully sustainable packaging instead, in order for a product to be called ‘organic’.
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References:
[1] www.soilassociation.org/blogs/2018/may/01/unwrapping-organic-packaging/
[2] www.packagingnews.co.uk/features/ms-plan-polymer-reasons-profile-kevin-vyse-05-01-2018
[3] www.advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/7/e1700782.full
[4] www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/how-plastic-is-harming-animals-the-planet-and-us/
[5] www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/feb/14/sea-to-plate-plastic-got-into-fish
