~100 billion sachets are used in a year of which the majority get thrown into the waste.
If you are questioning what exactly a sachet is, think about that ketchup packet you used last week at the fast-food restaurant you went to, or that soy sauce packet you opened and threw out for lunch today with your sushi, or maybe that mini shampoo bottle you used at the hotel you stayed in on your last holiday. Sachets are generally single use, disposable packages most often used for food or beauty items and rarely does this packaging get recycled (only 9% is recycled). This means that it is adding to the enormous amount of plastic waste we already have on our planet – which contrary to popular belief, doesn’t just disappear into thin air. Plastics take hundreds of years to biodegrade if they are not recycled, some may even take thousands!
“At least 8 millions tonnes of plastic leak into the ocean each year, which is equivalent to dumping the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute. If no action is taken the ocean is expected to contain more plastics than fish by 2050.”- Ellen Macarthur Foundation
How crazy is it to think that we might end up with more plastic in our oceans than fish? This fact blows my mind and makes me really want to do something about this growing issue. Obviously we can’t just get rid of all packaging together as it is a necessary part of our lives as well as makes the products we buy a lot more hygienic and clean. However, there is a massive opportunity for innovation in the field of packaging and a few companies have started coming up with ways to solve this issue.
Delta, a company from the UK, has designed a way for restaurants to dispense their bulk sauces into edible and compostable sachets. These sachets are made from seaweed and are designed to either be eaten once the contents have been used or composted. If thrown in the garbage, they will decompose in only 4-6 weeks meaning they are reducing the amount of plastic out there! This company is just one of a few who are reinventing the way we have done things with plastics in the past. So along with my planned overall reduced use of plastics as well as plastic recycling, I will start looking into businesses that are supporting companies who are innovating in the world of plastics.
Hi Megan,
Thank you for sharing, your blog post was very informative, You did a great job of incorporating class topics and the ted talk added value. I briefly researched Delta and its sachets, and I think its great innovation and this can help reduce plastic waste in our oceans and landfills. However, I was curious if the small packets are durable like the plastic sachet and whether or not the seaweed packaging would influence the taste of the sauce. Besides my two minor concerns, I think its a step in the right direction.
Hello Megan,
It’s great to see that a few small companies are innovating to produce packaging that doesn’t have a negative impact on our environment. Ecoware is another similar company working on edible packaging made from seaweed. They focus on several areas such as protein bar & burger wraps to sachets for noodle seasoning and tea. Some of their sachets are designed to dissolve once its introduced to a liquid and wrappings for burgers or bars are meant to be edible. There are a few other companies that are working on similar things that were the winners of Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Circular Design Challenge for “new plastics”.