MATERIALS innovation company Xampla has claimed food service and takeaway brands have a responsibility to replace ‘hidden and harmful’ plastics in 2025.
The firm has published data revealing that two in three Brits believe food outlets should go plastic-free. The survey of over 2,000 UK adults was commissioned by Xampla, which has developed technology that helps create ‘natural and biodegradable’ Morro materials.
The results were released on New Year’s Eve ahead of a peak time for takeaways. Xampla said that even takeaways that appear to use paper or cardboard boxes are usually lined with a plastic coating to stop grease and moisture from leaking out. The company added that such coatings often render cardboard boxes unrecyclable because plastic interferes with the paper recycling process.
Morro is described as offering comparable barrier properties to plastic but enables consumers to recycle lined cardboard food boxes in normal kerbside paper recycling collections.
Around 7 in 10 people say Christmas creates too much plastic waste, while a similar proportion want supermarkets to offer festive food in plastic-free packaging next year. Some 2 in 5 will make a personal New Year’s resolution to use less plastic in 2025.
Alexandra French, CEO of Xampla, said, “We know that consumers are looking for ways to choose the planet, and cut their plastic usage, but they need readily available products to do this. Consumers often aren’t aware of hidden plastics, like those which line takeaway boxes. They’re essentially invisible but they contribute to the mountain of plastic waste polluting our soils and seas, and even stops cardboard being recycled.”
