"What kind of sustainability are we talking about?" Asks Rocco De Lucia when talking about packaging during a discussion between Sophie Guillin, director of Gruppo Guillin, and an operator during an exclusive interview with FreshPlaza.
"I totally agree with Guillin. When talking about packaging, we cannot only rely on trendy slogans such as 'Paper is good while plastic is polluting'. Unfortunately, or luckily, the scientific data confirming this thesis are lacking."
Siropack Italia operates in the sector of automatic machines for food and pharmaceutical packaging, both of which of essential importance for public health. "We manufacture machines that produce paper as well as plastic, so we are only interested in the truth."
Already in 2018, so before the situation became what it is now, Siropack talked about the problem of the sustainability of cardboard materials compared to plastic as, already then, it was evident how plastic had some advantages.
"Both resources have positive and negative aspects. Paper comes from renewable sources and is highly recyclable. However its production leads to high consumption and emissions. The production of plastic is less impactful when it comes to consumption and emissions, but bad management at the end of its life constitutes a problem that requires a quick solution to safeguard the ecosystem.
Barbara Burioli and Rocco De Lucia
"Making decisions based on trends, as a few big retail chains and locals institutions did with the introduction of Plastic-Free Municipalities without carrying out an LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) of products, led to unhealthy greenwashing and greater damage for the entire segment, destroying the three pillars of sustainability - economic, environmental and social."
Now, if we read the data emerging from EC studies, we can understand the extensive food waste linked with wrong packaging solutions: wasting food in fact costs Europe 170 tons of CO2 and €143 billion a year (source: European Parliament, 2018).
"Let's examine the image above, showing punnets with handles: one is made of cardboard, one is made of plastic with a metal eyelet and one is made of single-material plastic with an ultrasound-welded handle. The figures are the following: considering a production of 1 million punnets of the same size, 694 boxes, 35 pallets and 1.24 semis are needed for ultrasound-welded punnets; 1,389 boxes, 69 pallets and 2.48 semis are needed for the punnets with metal eyelets and 3,676 boxes, 245 pallets and 8.75 semis are needed for cardboard punnets."
"Considering these data, then the actual 'climate terrorists' are those who implement policies without scientific foundation."
For further information:
Siropack Italia S.r.l.
Via Balitrona 22/C
47042 Cesenatico (FC)
+39 0547 671116
[email protected]
www.siropack.it