Zume, formerly known as a robotics pizza company, is trying to make the compostable transition easier for brands, brokers, and distributors by packing agricultural waste and other materials local to the companies that need them.
The transition came after other massive companies, such as PepsiCo and Unilever, announced their goal to design 100% of packaging reusable, recyclable, compostable, or biodegradable by 2025.
Zume’s Pizza Robots
Zume is just one of the growing list of companies that are dedicated to compostable packaging. As of 2020, the sustainable packaging industry is listed as a $274.2 billion per year business, and it is expected to grow to $413.8 billion by 2027.
According to Grand View Research, the whole packaging industry as a whole is about $900 billion, so Zume and other companies already have their work cut out for them.
Also Read: Biodegradable Plastics Break Down Extremely Slow In Marine Environments: UN Report
Zume has decided to re-commission its pizza-making robots to press and mold its agriculture waste into take-out containers, cosmetic containers, and other operations that Zume and its partners can come up with.
Alex Garden, Chairman and CEO of Zume, told CNBC that the machines could either make low-quality things quickly or make high-quality things very slowly.
However, they were very expensive that they would be outrageous for a consumer market. What Zume’s technology does that is so revolutionary is it can make high-quality parts very fast.
But only about 27% of the U.S population has access to some composting program that accepts either food waste or food waste and some forms of compostable packaging, so it’s not a final solution yet.
Rafael Auras, a professor at Michigan State University’s School of Packaging, stated that the issue is that the waste management system is still at the state level.
There are 50 states with different types of goals, so they want to get an aggregation of a state, or the government can actually pass legislation on where they can have goals to move the whole country forward.
What is Compostable Packaging?
Compostable packaging is made, disposed of, and breaks down in a better way for the environment than plastic. It is made from plant-based, recycled materials and can return to earth quickly and safely as soil when disposed of in the right environmental conditions.
Compostable packaging requires less carbon in order to produce, which is a huge benefit to the environment. It reduces the amount of waste that is sent to the landfill, and it gives the earth the nutrients it needs, according to Heritage Paper.
Compostable packaging is similar to other biodegradable packaging, but there are some notable differences.
The added environmental advantage that compostable packaging has over biodegradable packaging is that the materials do not produce any toxins when the products deteriorate.
That means that compostable products can provide the earth with nutrients as soon as they are fully broken down. Biodegradable products do not have a specific timeframe in which they will break down into the earth.
Certified compostable packaging guarantees that it will biodegrade under certain conditions, like within set timeframes or at certain temperatures.
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Written by Sophie Webster
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