Farro’s Change for the Better:
Supermarkets across New Zealand are racing to find an alternative to single-use petroleum-based plastic bags. Prompted mainly by a solid shift in consumer preference and concern about the impact of this type of bag on the environment.
The main environmental problem with these bags is that their useful life is only around 5-10mins and the actual life span of the bag is estimated to be up to 1000 years. This results in these bags lingering in the ground, ocean and environment with vastly damaging effects.
Growpac is proud to say we have a solution to this issue. Sustainable packaging wasn’t a thing 10 years ago and people across the world never really considered the impact day to day packaging could have on the environment, both in the environmental costs of production and the afterlife of the packaging. Now with consumer awareness quickly growing and preference quickly shifting, sustainable packaging is on the rise and our planet is happy about it.
Our compostable supermarket bags are a revolution and provide a stark difference to alternatives. With Farro being the first major brand supermarket across the country to start using our bags we are proud to say this has taken compostable plastics further into the limelight and hopefully is pushing petroleum-based plastics further into the dark.
Unlike traditional supermarket bags which are made from petroleum, compostable bags are made from corn waste and non-toxic soy ink. These bags although are still often only used once can be put in your compost pile at home along with other food scraps and depending on conditions will completely decompose in under 3 months. These bags bring awareness to the importance of composting at home. Food waste makes up around 30-40% of our urban waste that goes to landfill and is a major methane source once in a landfill. It is essential that people start to become aware of composting and its benefits.
With more businesses like Farro making the switch to sustainable packaging and consumer awareness growing rapidly we here at Growpac are pleased with the progress but realise we have a long way to go to become truly sustainable.