We all know how important it is to reduce, reuse and recycle!
Packaging comes with the products we buy for our homes and businesses. It protects them during transport, keeps them fresh and provides product information. Once the products are unpacked, the packaging become waste.
We often hear the terms reduce, reuse, recycle, minimising the amount of waste we produce, reusing products as much as we can, and recycling any materials that can be used for a new purpose.
Well, we're going to look at the reuse packaging in our daily lives that can help contribute to less waste in Ireland.
Did you know?
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- Ireland generated 1.2 million tonnes of packaging waste in 2021.
- Only 28 percent of plastic packaging waste was recycled - a long way off the 2025 EU target of 50 percent.
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Ireland's overall recycling rate fell from 62 per cent in 2020 to 58 per cent in 2021
Recycling is part of the solution to packaging waste, and Ireland must achieve packaging targets set out in the EC Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, however in a circular economy, packaging would be designed for reuse, rather than just a one use followed by recycling.
Reuse is preferable because recycling costs energy and uses resources, for example water for washing and fuel for transport and reprocessing. Designing packaging for multiple reuse trips makes the best use of raw materials, protects biodiversity from excessive extraction of raw materials, reduces emissions and reduces waste.
Local Businesses
This week on Ours to Protect, Orla looks at how you can practice reusing your packing thanks to some independent businesses in the South East.
First up, Orla visited a local refill store and learned how they encourage customers to bring their own containers for produce.
Eco Kind, based in Enniscorthy Co. Wexford, is one of many eco-friendly grocers popping up around the country, offering lots of different products, from shampoos to dried foods without the packaging.
Shopkeeper and barista Christina spoke to Orla about why she enjoys her work at the store.
"Well, I love this shop and I was into sustainability even before this opened and I was hoping there would be shops somewhere close by.
"And when they opened I was absolutely delighted.
"It's great for you if you are living on your own.
"You can buy just how much you want or if you if you're trying something new, a new recipe, you can just buy the amount you want instead of buying big bags and throwing it away.
"It's about creating new habits, definitely reducing the amount we use and really simplify. It's really going back to less and back to basics.
"Groceries for your food, cupboards, cleaning products and hygiene products can all be bought in whatever weight or number you want.
"Eco Kind carry up to 300 bulk foods, liquids and cleaning items, as well as zero waste and personal hygiene products.
Christina continued to say that customers can either come in with their own jars or use Eco Kind's own empty jars that you can either buy. They even have some pre-loved containers that customers either left there that are free to use.
"Then we also have lots of paper bags. You just come in even without anything and refill your own bag. It's all charged by weight."
Shopping in a package free grocery might take a little more prep than heading to one of the big supermarkets, but it has a positive impact on climate change.
Products aren't sold individually wrapped, and all the excess cardboard and plastic that would usually come home with a shopping trip is swapped for your own repurposed containers.
When you only buy what you need, there is less food waste.
It also helps to reduce what you put in your bin!
There are zero waste shops and stores in every county here in the South East. A simple Google search will help you find one near you.
After visiting Eco Kind, Orla then took a trip further north along the Wexford coast to Tara Hill, where reusing containers and getting your milk go hand-in-hand.
Saltrock Dairies is a family run dairy farm that has it's own mobile milk vending unit.
Owner Catherine Kinsler explained their reduced packaging approach.
"It will be the freshest milk you'll ever get.
"The milk that's in there this evening was from the cows who were milked at around 5:30am this morning. I pasteurised the milk at 7:30am and I was in here by 9am."
Saltrock dairies trailer is parked up at one of the six locations around North Wexford it visits each week.
Catherine explained that the customer process starts off with a bottle or their own branded bottles.
"They're glass bottles that will be refilled. As people come, they'll buy the bottle separately.
"Now, there's no problem if somebody has bottles, somebody else's bottles, a plastic container, if that's what they want to use, we'd prefer it was glass.
"So, initially they may have to buy a bottle and then fill it with milk. They will be coming back washing their bottles, bringing them back, refilling them."
Reusing a bottle for your milk means that you are reducing the production of plastic bottles, which requires a significant amount of energy that primarily comes from fossil fuels.
The use of plastic products in Ireland over the last 70 years has been described as exceptional.
According to Ask About Ireland, the country produces nearly 300 million tonnes of plastic every year, half of which is for single use, after which it is is thrown away, never to be used again.
To learn more about the Saltrock dairy farm, check out the various locations that their trailer visits in North Wexford weekly.
For more information visit:
www.facebook.com/p/Saltrock-Dairy
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