SCOTLAND is playing a ‘huge part’ in an innovative form of recycled packaging being found across supermarket shelves, the director of the firm behind its creation has revealed.
Bantam Material’s Prevented Ocean Plastic, as the name suggests, uses discarded plastic found on coastlines in developing countries to not only offer retailers PET packaging made from recycled materials, but one which has actively aided the clean-up of the planet.
Lidl became the first UK grocer to utilise the packaging some two years ago, with it since being picked up by other major names including Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, and Aldi – leading to over 20,000 tonnes of discarded plastic already being repurposed into packaging.
“Over ten years of research went into this,” Raffi Schieir, director of Bantam Materials, told Packaging Scotland.
“We audited 25 different countries and 50 recycling factories to see what materials work in the market, what materials don’t; making sure everything is compliant in terms of food safety regulations; and making sure everything is as it needs to be from a supply chain perspective to deliver true, real and reliable volumes so that you can have your packs month after month.”
He credits the product’s rise to Sharpak, who he said took a ‘leap of faith’ when signing the initial contract for 1,000 tonnes a month of Prevented Ocean Plastic – at a time prior to any product category being established.
The firm produces the packaging, after Bantam Materials orchestrates the collection and processing of discarded plastic through local collection centres before it is transformed into rPET flake and pellet in Dumfries – the entire process of each piece being tracked, and accessible to retailers via an on-pack QR code.
“Scotland also has a huge part to play in this,” Raffi added. “The plastic is being collected from at-risk coastline and then it’s being brought to PETUK in Dumfries to apply Scottish know-how, manufacturing and food safety compliance to be upgraded into food contact safe plastic.”
The Canadian continued by saying that the firm ‘loves’ partnering with Scotland, not just in the creation of the material but also through the packaging of Scottish produce – with it commonly being found in supermarket fish and strawberry lines.
“It’s being upgraded into food contact graded material through Scottish ingenuity and know-how, and I think that’s a really good thing to lean into,” he added.
“We’re taking this really seriously; it’s a real supply chain, it’s data from information, it’s volume, and it’s a statement of Scottish leadership for us to be able to show that there is a way to prevent ocean plastic at scale, at volume.”
Raffi revealed that ‘a little bit more’ than a third of the recycled material Bantam Materials sells is made up of Prevented Ocean Plastic.
“One of our main focuses is pushing the message of choose recycled, as opposed to choosing new plastic,” Raffi added. “We want the consumer to have a visible logo with real traceability, a real programme so that they can choose recycled, they can choose something coming from an at-risk ocean bound area with preference over new plastic.”
He believes they are on track to move into the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of packaging made from Prevented Ocean Plastic ‘within a few years’ – adding that he’s ‘really happy’ to have reached 20,000 tonnes but must also remember that there’s still an estimated eight to ten million tonnes of plastic entering the ocean annually. He revealed that ‘a couple of major’ supermarkets are currently in the process of joining the existing cohort of retailers, something he said the firm and supply chain is prepared for – with there being an estimated $1 billion worth of plastic material discarded on land.
“The material is available, it is there for them to be used; there are research centres there to support them on knowing more about recycled materials and how to communicate with their customers and if they put the logo on their pack they will receive preference from their consumer and identify with their consumer that they’re already compliant with the coming government regulation – they identify to their consumers that they want to be in a leadership position, forward moving on sustainability, on recycling, and ocean plastic prevention,” Raffi added.
“Everybody everywhere wants this to work – especially in those countries where plastic has become a real scourge on their coastlines. Hopefully the industry as a whole can choose recycled, can go out and show there’s value for what’s laying on the ground, have it collected and brought back into the supply chain to create new plastic.”
