The Issue With Disposables
In 2018, scientists estimated that 2025 million disposable takeout containers were being used every year in the EU alone. With demand for takeout rising since then, clearly, this represents quite an issue for the environment!
Photo by cottonbro from Pexels
Unfortunately, many of these disposable containers are never recycled, and a great deal of energy and resources are required to produce, transport, and ‘dispose’ of these containers, all for one single use!
So surely there must be a better way!? Well, there is.
Ozarka’s Planet-Friendly Solution
In a recent in-depth study conducted by the University of Manchester in the UK, the environmental impacts of different takeout containers was analyzed in detail. The most widely used types of disposable containers — aluminum, polystyrene, and polypropylene (plastic) — were evaluated, as well as reusable plastic containers.
12 different environmental impacts were considered in the study, including things like global warming potential, human toxicity potential, and primary energy demand.
After accounting for these impacts across the life cycle of each type of container — from resource extraction to production, to packaging, to transport, to use, and to disposal — it was found that reusable plastic containers have a lower overall impact on the environment compared to all kinds of disposables, assuming they are used 16-208 times.
As reusable plastic containers can only be reused on average about 43 times, they may not always be a better option than disposable containers.
But as Ozarka containers are made mostly from silicone, are 100% recyclable, and can be safely reused over 1000 times, it’s clear that they offer a much lower-impact alternative to disposables.
A Reusable Recommendation!
Professor Adisa Azapagic, project leader of the study, suggested that ‘as consumers, we can play a significant role in reducing the environmental impacts of food packaging by reusing food containers as long as possible.’ He added that ‘our study shows clearly that the longer we reuse them, the lower their impacts become over their extended lifetimes.’
By carefully designing Ozarka containers to be reused over 1000 times, we are helping restaurants to have the lowest impact they possibly can.