Reduce the environmental burden of Christmas packaging!

With the festive season underway, a renewed surge in plastic waste will accompany our celebrations. In the UK alone, approximately 125,000 tonnes of plastic packaging will be discarded over the holiday period, with most of it left unrecycled and much of it ending up as litter. Globally, plastic waste surges to more than 25 million tonnes at this time of year, with far too much of it persisting in the open environment for decades.

‘Christmas and the festive season should be a time of joy, rather than one of environmental harm,’ said Michael Laurier, CEO at leading plastics innovator Symphony Environmental. 

‘Plastic is often the best material for packaging, in both economic and environmental terms, but this holiday season, manufacturers and brands must make conscious decisions on their choice of plastic packaging. Every decision has a direct impact on the environment, so choosing sustainable option is no longer optional.

‘The problem with plastic litter is that it creates microplastics and lies or floats around for decades, but both these problems can be solved by manufacturing the plastic products with a d2w masterbatch at little or no extra cost. This technology causes the material to biodegrade automatically and completely in the open environment without leaving microplastics behind – yes, we have proved that it really does work!’

He continued, ‘One day people will stop dropping litter, and will send all their plastic for recycling, but we can’t wait until then. Action needs to be taken now to reduce the environmental impact of plastic.

‘Making Christmas greener and ensuring that celebrations today don’t impact the planet of tomorrow is our mission at Symphony.’