What is ‘sustainable’ packaging? Part I
At Fire Ox, we believe everything is interconnected and interdependent. We depend upon many others to grow our food, make our food, and package and distribute our food. We depend on Mother Earth’s soil, sun, and air to grow nourishing vegetables, legumes, and grains that we use to make our meals. We also realize that everything our company does has an impact on the environment. From the composition of our meals, to where we source our ingredients, to the type of packaging we use, to how we get our meals to our customers. Packaging, my friends, has been one of the most difficult conundrums for us thus far, and we’ve tried over 15 different physical samples and looked at many more to arrive at our current solution.
A number of questions were running through our heads…
How do we source packaging that fits our budget?
Is it freezer-safe and microwave-safe?
Can it be composted or recycled?
What impact does the manufacturing of the tray have on the earth in terms of CO2, water, and other relevant metrics?
What impact does the disposal of the tray have on the earth in terms of emissions, water, and waste?
Can I source a tray locally in order to support small businesses and reduce transit time, costs, and emissions?
Our 100% recycled (and recyclable) paperboard carton made from Neenah Paper
you thought paper was recyclable…
During this process, we learned a lot about materials – PFAS, PLA, and all sorts of different kinds of plastics and papers (PP, PET, recycled plastic, etc). During our research, we discovered that nearly every freezer- and microwave-safe tray is coated with some sort of liner in order to prevent the moisture in food from seeping into the tray – meaning most trays cannot be recycled or composted. In addition, almost all paper cartons (the boxes that holds the meals) are coated on the outside with a waxy liner to prevent scuffing. While this protects the packaging from damage, it also prevents it from being able to be recycled; we thought this was a terrible means to an end.
For a moment, we thought of getting rid of the meal carton altogether – the less packaging overall, the better, right?
However, after a number of discussions with paper packaging suppliers, we discovered we could use uncoated paper instead of coated paper and therefore prevent our meal cartons from going straight to the landfill! Hallelujah! Once we began to look at uncoated options we decided to take it a step further and use stock produced 100% from recycled paper. Our printer, TigerPress, was able to source a non-coated stock made of 100% recycled paper from Neenah Paper, based in Alpharetta, Georgia. While using this material hurts our margins, we feel good knowing we are doing the right thing for the environment. And since we are all a part of the Earth, what is right for her, is right for us too.
Voyage to find the ‘right’ tray
The PLA-lined sugarcane bagasse compostable tray made by In Good Company
Choosing the right tray to hold our meals was another story. I’ll tell you right now - there is no ‘right’ tray. We researched and tested recycled plastic trays, recyclable trays, paper trays, and compostable trays. We tried a couple different compostable trays, but they didn’t end up holding up well in the microwave after heating. We wanted to avoid using plastic and didn’t like the idea of heating plastic up to too high a temperature in the microwave. We do admit that our concerns may be unfounded when it comes down to the science of microwaving certain kinds of plastic.
We got a few samples of a PLA-lined compostable, freezer-safe, microwave-safe tray from a company called In Good Company. The tray is made out of sugarcane, wheat grass and husk, and lined with compostable plastic made from Ingeo, a bio-based plastic derived from renewable corn in the U.S. This material is known as PLA (polylactic acid) and can be derived from a variety of plant materials. I did a lot of research on PLA (polylactic acid) and its safety in microwave and freezer environments. After looking at a number of scientific studies, getting testing results and a letter of assurance from the company, I determined that the PLA-lined tray was safe to use in the freezer and microwave. But was it really compostable and better for the environment than other materials?
We will delve into that question in Part II. To be continued!