Sustainability Bites, in association with Nestle Professional, is a podcast which unpicks the key sustainability issues affecting the hospitality and foodservice sector. In this episode we explore the current strategic priorities of businesses where packaging sustainability is concerned and consider questions including:
- What alternative materials to plastic are getting the most traction in an out of home setting and why?
- On what criteria are businesses assessing the use case for alternatives to plastics?
- How are companies measuring and reporting the sustainability credentials of different materials and how can they guard against accusations of greenwashing?
- How is the UK regulatory environment influencing business’s choice of packaging materials?
On the green sofa for this podcast are a number of protagonists in the packaging field who, whilst approaching the issue from differing perspectives, all have an eye to the future making for a fascinating discussion.
- James Marsh – Senior Packaging Specialist, Nestlé UK
- Martin Kersh – Executive Director, Foodservice Packaging Association
- Justin Turquet – Director of Sustainability, Bunzl Catering & Hospitality
- David Burrows – Associate Editor, Footprint
Have to say, I completely agree with James comment about the pressure internally from marketing teams, wanting to make claims about their packaging.
Having spoken to many businesses they seem able to override the sustainability teams effort to make the right decision on which type of packaging to use. So instead of opting for a packaging type because it is overall more environmentally sustainable, they end up going with what would be perceived as a better PR story!