Plastic Legend

Many legends in our lives are also refuted over time. The legends that we see in the film industry or that are told to us in daily life disappear one by one by trials or as the subject of research. One of them is about to disappear in the plastics industry.

As an alternative to plastic packaging, paper packaging has always been around the clock, and large budgets were spent on the work. Paper bottles were suggested as a solution to plastic bottles. Another legend is disappearing… Paper bottles are not a sustainable alternative to plastic bottles. Brand owners are still looking for a bottle that will meet the requirements for a plastic-free solution. It is interesting to see that despite all these efforts we find it difficult to move away from plastic with the "paper" bottle. No matter how much work is done, they don't seem to leave the plastic behind. In the past, big brand owners were convinced that paper bottles would be the escape route from plastics. However, one thing paper bottles and other chipboard containers need to hold their contents is a plastic sleeve. Brand owners don't like to talk about it, so when we ask about plastic liners for paper or chipboard bottles and containers, we often don't get an answer. Recently, Axel Barrett, founder of UK-based Bioplastics News, conducted an exercise reviewing all the paper bottles developed since 2011 to convince himself that paper could really be a solution for a plastic-free container or bottle. Barrett shared the conclusion in “The Paper-Bottle Fairy Tale,” published on February 15, 2021, that “PET bottles are the only available example of industrial scale bottle-to-bottle mechanical recycling. A PET bottle can be recycled into a new 100% PET bottle. Why would you want to change this? Why really?

Are paper bottles sustainable and practical? Barrett wrote that he thought the paper was a sustainable material, but stressed that he was not so sure anymore after studying the issue. One thing Barrett is committed to is that plastics should only be recycled and use recyclable resources. No trees should be felled for the paper bottle industry. Not a single one .. I think Jon Huntsman Sr. strongly agrees with Barrett's conclusion and again Huntsman says "Use old dinosaurs, not new trees." Paper bottles and food containers, advertised as "plastic free" by brand owners, are another example of green washing, and the myth is not true because a plastic liner is required to prevent the content from penetrating the paper. I don't know anyone who wants to waste a good drink because of a leaking bottle! Glass continues to be used for many types of bottles, but glass is energy intensive to manufacture, heavy to transport, and requires extensive packaging to prevent breakage. Additionally, the silica sand used to make glass is in short supply and makes recycled glass important despite the energy required to melt the glass. Still, the effort, time and money so far spent replacing plastic with paper bottles or chipboard containers are futile efforts. Big brand owners such as Coca-Cola and L'Oreal continue to ignore the science and numerous LCAs that show plastic is superior and indeed "greener" material. Receive the latest press release on GlobalData's new paper bottle of Absolut Vodka, which promises to "revitalize the declining paper and cardboard (P&B) packaging type in Western Europe's spirits segment". GlobalData, a data and analytics company, currently paper packaging requires higher bulk mass than glass or plastic alternatives to ensure the beverage is effectively preserved, "says GlobalData." Although the material is more environmentally friendly, this potentially equates to higher energy use. He said. Really? How many trees were cut down in the making of these bottles? I guess nobody counts. The plastic packaging that everybody said people threw into the sea and it is not plastic to blame.