WHY BIODEGRADABLE:
“Except for the small amount that’s been
incinerated-and it’s a very small amount-
every bit of plastic ever made
still exists”
-Captain Charles Moore,
Best Life Magazine,
(from the Editors of Men’s Health),
November 2006 (p.104)
WHY WASTE REDUCTION STORE?
• Our containers have a 100% biobased content
with no petroleum derivatives
• Reduce ecological footprint associated with
packaging
• Reduce dependence on fossil fuels
• Reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions
• Encourage human creativity in addressing
environmental concerns
• Offer the opportunity to turn food waste into
a resource (and reduce GHGs)
• Most plastic and polystyrene packaging in the
food industry is NOT recycled
• Recycling petroleum based plastics requires
additional energy use (one reason why it is not
recycled)
• Recycled plastic products (e.g. plastic lumber) at
the end of their lifecycle must still be thrown away
• Biodegradable products at the end of their
lifecycle can be converted into a resource as
compost that has an added environmental benefit.
THE SITUATION:
Canada is one of the world’s worst emitters of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, making us a country with a small population base that has a significant impact on climate change. With public campaigns like the ‘One Tonne Challenge’, Canadians are falsely given the impression that our homes and cars are responsible for Canada’s high GHG. Instead it is a direct result of our desire for economic growth through exports of gas and oil to the world that are driving our high GHG emissions. ( Energy Information Administration: Official statistics )
We need to reduce our GHG emissions by supporting economic growth in sectors that are not dependent on fossil fuel extraction. Polyethylene, polyester, polystyrene, conventional plastic bags, containers, and coated paper all depend on the extraction of petroleum. It is estimated by the Canadian Plastics Industry Association that “the Canadian Plastic industry accounts for an estimated $33.7 billion in shipments of plastic products and another $12.2 billion in shipments of raw materials, machinery and moulds.” This association states that “only 4%” of the world’s oil consumption was used to manufacture plastics (source: http://www.plastics.ca/news/default.php?id=62). In 2003 the world’s consumption of oil was 3 636 600 000 TONS (source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2004). “Only 4%” of this works out to be 145 464 000 TONS of fossil fuels used to make plastics. Canada has the world’s second largest oil reserves, (178.8 billion barrels) after Saudi Arabia. Our reserves are eight times the oil reserves available in the United States, 10 times those of China and 31 times that of India. Canada is a net exporter of fossil fuels. The Canadian petroleum industry and the energy sector account for close to 50% of our GHG emissions. This does not include the fossil fuels used to extract, refine, transport and support the whole plastic manufacturing process. It comes as no surprise then that Alberta is the province with the highest levels of GHG emissions. Clearly an industry of $45.9 billion in Canada alone (and an industry present in many other countries to whom we export most of our oil) has an influence on driving petroleum extraction in our country.
Biodegradables are examples of products that can create an industry shift in Canada and around the world away from a dependence on oil and gas extraction. Biodegradables offer us the opportunity to prioritize the need for oil extraction, fossil fuel depletion and minimize GHG emissions. We no longer need to serve and package our food in petroleum derived plastics nor stick this waste in landfills.
VISIT OUR ORDERING PAGE for INFORMATION ON HOW TO ORDER OUR PRODUCTS.