An ‘eco packaging’ firm claims to have become the UK’s first packaging company with an entire product range of foodservice disposables and ‘takeaway’ packaging that is ‘compostable and suitable for organics recycling’.
Vegware has produced a compostable soup container and lid set; an insulated coffee cup ‘made locally from EU materials’; and high heat-resistant cutlery.
“Our full range can be commercially composted together with food waste rather than go to landfill,” said Joe Frankel, founder and MD of Vegware, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He says that the product material will break down in under 180 days ‘in the right conditions’.
According to Vegware, yearly increases in landfill tax in the UK mean that from April 2011, commercial composting will become the cheaper option. The company says it works closely with the organics recycling sector and offers a UK-wide composting collection service for mixed packaging and food waste. After six to 12 weeks, the waste is reprocessed into compost, or biogas and topsoil.
The compostable hot cup lid this year won a Best Disposables award and a Green category commendation in the UK’s Caterer and Hotelkeeper Excellence Awards.
The company's products are also distributed in North America (Vegware US) and Ireland.
