B-Green Recycling

Food packaging made from sugar could soon be composted at home along with organic waste. Researchers from Imperial College London have used sugars from trees and grasses to create a polymer - a large molecule that can be used to make plastic.

Most plastics are made from oil, taking hundreds of years to decompose and this latest discovery could cut the use of oil and require far less energy.

Plastics made from sugar could be on supermarket shelves within five years, according to Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council scientist Dr Charlotte Williams, who is leading the research.

Around 7 per cent of worldwide oil and gas resources are consumed in plastics manufacture, with worldwide production exceeding 150 million tons per year. Almost 99 per cent of plastics are formed from fossil fuels.

The search for greener plastics, especially for single use items such as food packaging, is the subject of significant research worldwide, Dr Williams said.

'It's spurred on not only from an environmental perspective, but also for economic and supply reasons,' explains Dr Williams.



On March 5, 2011 GrowNYC began a pilot program to expand current food scrap collections from NYC households at select Greenmarkets. Shoppers can drop off fruit and vegetable scraps to be transported to a compost facility where they will become a fertile soil amendment for local farming projects and other uses. This program complements the existing, ongoing Greenmarket food scrap collections conducted by our community partners, Lower East Side Ecology Center (Union Square), Western Queens Compost Initiative (Sunnyside, Jackson Heights, Socrates Sculpture Park) and the Ft. Greene Compost Project.  

Why compost?
Food comprises about 17% of NYC’s waste stream. When this material is sent to a landfill it contributes to NYC’s disposal costs and can create greenhouse gas emissions. When composted, food scraps and other organic waste become a useful product that adds nutrients and improves the quality of soil for street trees, gardens and more.

Article date March 5, 2011