Pak-Sher is the Right Choice for Your
Sustainability Goals
Compostable: The Ultimate “Green” Choice
Compostable Products are manufactured with natural, organic substances that
can be turned into nutrient rich soil.
Must be sent to industrial composter because they will not degrade any faster in
a landfill than traditional plastics.
Compostable products are truly green products. They are made from renewable
resources and are designed to avoid disposal in landfills. Their end-of-life
scenario is to totally disappear into carbon and water with little or no
biomass remaining.
Unlike traditional or fragmentable plastics, there are accepted standards for
testing and certifying compostable products as biodegradable.
Envirojolt Compostable Products meet the ASTM-D6400 standard for
compostability, are BPI Certified and Approved by Cedar Grove Composting. In
fact, while ASTM-D6400 requires products to fully degrade in 180 days or less,
many Pak-Sher products tested at Cedar Grove Composting fully
degraded in less than 50 days!
For operators who are sending food and waste to an industrial composting facility, the
Envirojolt Line of Compostable Products are the perfect choice. Kitchen prep items can
be discarded in the compost bin along with food scraps, which can help to reduce waste
disposal costs.
Traditional Plastics (PE) VS. Paper: The Myth Explained
The truth about polyethylene, supported by environmental organizations across the
planet, is that polyethylene is in fact less hazardous to the environment than paper.
The chart* below tells the real story.
Stage
Paper
Plastic HDPE/LDPE
Source
Trees
Imports - petroleum
based
US - natural gas
Production
2,511 BTUS to
produce
594 BTU’s to
produce
Production requires
use of toxic
chemicals
Heavier weight
larger cube
Production does
not require toxic
chemcals
Lighter weight,
smaller cube
Disposal
Uncoated paper is
biodegradable
Photodegradable,
Not Biodegradable
Recycling
Recyclable
Recyclable
Pollution
Transportation
The Scoop
Polyethylene in the US is produced from
natural gas, while most imported PE is
produced from petroleum production.
It takes more than four times as much energy
to manufacture a paper bag than it does a
plastic bag
Paper production generates 70% more air and
50% more water pollutants than plastic bag
production
7 Trucks required to transport same number
of paper bags as 1 truck of plastic bags
Generally, neither paper nor plastic will
breakdown in landfills due to lack of water,
light and oxygen. Paper currently accounts
for ½ of all landfill volume, while
plastic accounts for less than 13% as plastic
requires considerably less space.
It takes 98% less energy to recycle a pound of
plastic than to recycle a pound of paper.
For customers with unique needs, Pak-Sher has the capability to custom design,
manufacture and print compostable bags.
If budget is the primary driver, Pak-Sher’s complete line of traditional plastic bags and deli
sheets may be the right choice for carryout, kitchen, deli, or catering needs. Polyethylene has a better environmental footprint, requires less inventory space and is
less expensive than paper, and Pak-Sher’s high quality print capabilities will give
traditional plastic a more upscale look.
Reuseable bag alternatives have their own drawbacks. They are also manufactured with
petroleum based resins and studies now show that over time, they can become breeding
grounds for bacteria.
Copyright 2010
*Source: “Paper or Plastic”, Washington Post, 2007/10/03
Envirojolt by Pak-Sher: Recycled Content, Fragmentable and Compostable Product Options
Recycled Content
Polyethylene products are often manufactured with recycled content, which are materials that have been recovered or diverted from landfills. Recovered materials can
be pre-consumer or post-consumer.
Pre-consumer Recycled materials are generated by manufacturers and processors. At
Pak-Sher we recover 100% of our own process waste. We re-use 50% to make new bags,
the remaining 50% is used by third parties to make other products.
Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) materials come from end-use products that were
used by the consumer, then collected though commercial or residential recycle programs.
Pak-Sher can manufacture products with up to 25% PCR. We are continually testing
additional post-consumer materials with a goal of 40% PCR by 2015.
Products with PCR are a great option for budget-concious operators looking to market
an environmental statement in their carryout program. All non-food contact products can
be manufactured with PCR (except SoftTotes) and the Post Consumer Recycled content
percentage can be printed on the bag to keep the consumer informed.
Fragmentable: The Most Misunderstood
Class of “Degradable Plastics”
To create fragmentable products, additives which accelerate the degradation process are
incorporated into the product. New additives are entering the market every day.
Although most are chemical or metal compounds, some naturally occurring starches have
been found to offer similar properties.
None of the products manufactured with these additives will completely biodegrade;
however, the degradation process begins quicker than with traditional plastics,
and these products will continue to fragment into smaller and smaller pieces
faster than traditional plastics. Terms such as degradable, oxodegradable, biodegradable, and oxobiodegradable have all been used to describe this class of products. In fact,
many of our competitors boldly print “Biodegradable” on their fragmentable bags.
The fact is: none of these terms accurately describe this class of products because there
are no accepted standards for testing their rate of biodegradation. The Federal Trade
Commission, The US National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better
Business Bureaus and the SPI Bioplastics Council all state that use of such terms should be
eliminated for these products because they are misleading and unsubstantiated. PakSher stands behind these recommendations, using the term fragmentable for
this class of product.
For operators who are developing sustainability programs, but are unable to send plastic
waste to an industrial compost facility, the Envirojolt Line of Fragmentable Carryout bags,
Deli bags, and Quicksheets are the perfect choice. In fact, nearly all of the flexible packaging products currently in the Pak-Sher catalog can be purchased in a fragmentable material.
Our History: Carryout and Kitchen Prep Product Innovator since 1973