Stand Up Pouches: A recyclable food packing option.

When it comes to marketing, it is important not to underestimate the functional and environmental impact food packaging can have. Consumers are looking for brands that consider the impact they are making on the environment when they shop, so its an important thought process to undertake when looking at packaging and your brand.

Food Packaging is vital for the transportation, storage, handling and preservation of food. Good food packaging helps keep harmful elements out, ensuring the food stays fresh and maintains its original texture and form. Great recyclable packaging such as food pouches can also be used to attract consumers through aesthetic elements and design. Recyclable doesn’t have to mean brown paper bags and consumers are very aware of the brands using natural-looking packaging to give the impression of being environmentally friendly; when some are actually not recyclable!

Flexible soft plastic pouches - are recyclable!

Food packaging can include products made of different plastics, bio-based and biodegradable plastics, paper and board, metal, glass, and other multilayer materials.

With many consumers actively choosing to buy from brands that they believe are doing good socially or environmentally, it is important to consider how your brand can choose more sustainable food packaging options to appeal to a wider market. Choosing recyclable food packaging can help brands signal to consumers that they are conscious of the environmental impacts of food packaging and are actively taking steps to minimise the amount of packaging that ends up in landfill.

While our own country doesn’t have the recycling process 100% right yet, it’s on the way. Environmentally conscious shoppers are well aware of REDcycle recycling bins and are using them to ensure their flexible food packaging is being recycled correctly. So don’t discount stand up pouches for your product. Here is why…

A flexible, recyclable food packaging option designed to stand out.

Stand up pouches are a flexible packaging option that is designed to stand out on the shelf (literally!). Suitable for use across multiple product categories, stand up pouches are a popular option for food packaging as they include usability features such as an easy tear open seal and resealable ‘zipper’ to help keep your product tasting fresher for longer.

Stand up pouches can be easily adapted to suit most branding so you can showcase your brand from every angle. Its resealable nature allows consumers to store your product within the packaging during use, meaning your brand is in front of consumer’s eyes for longer. The stand up pouch lifecycle takes your product from shelf to pantry, and when your end user is finished, from pantry to recycling.

Our stand up pouches are made of soft plastics, making them suitable to be recycled through commercial recycling programs such as REDcycle.

A word of caution.

The move to use food packaging labelled as biodegradable, compostable or degradable can be tempting. While these packaging options sound great in theory, they increase the cost of packaging for your business and can have environmental implications that are often not considered by businesses.

Food packaging labelled as biodegradable, compostable or degradable can not be recycled through regular kerbside bins. Compostable and degradable food packaging are also not accepted by commercial recycling facilities such as REDcycle because they begin to degrade before they can be recycled by these facilities.

Compostable and degradable food packaging is traditionally designed to break down in the general waste stream or commercial compost facilities. However, the conditions for these packaging to break down needs to be ‘just right’ or they can take years to break down - if they break down at all.

As for any packaging that is compostable, biodegradable or compostable, if they have been disposed of incorrectly the process can become just as problematic. It is important to ensure your packaging is labelled correctly and end-of-use instructions are clear on your packaging design. While the RLP team are doing what we can, the design of your packaging is up to you, so read on to ensure you get it right, your customers and the environment will thank you.

Why is it necessary to promote how to your recyclable food packaging?

In Australia, local councils place strict controls and guidelines as to what can be placed in kerbside rubbish collections. Unfortunately, the processes required are not available to all local councils, meaning that any soft plastics that are placed in kerbside bins where the process is not available yet can create huge problems because they jam the automatic sorting machines if they go unseen during the sorting phase and recycling process, resulting in more landfill.

Currently, most households across Australia cannot recycle soft plastics through local council kerbside pick ups. Therefore, we must rely on commercial programs such as REDcycle to help us reduce our environmental impact.

Australia's National Packaging Target aims to ensure 70% of plastic packaging is recycled or composted by 2025. These targets play a vital role in helping create a circular economy for packaging in Australia.

What is REDcycle?

The REDcycle Program was established by the RED Group in 2011. The program provides an innovative way to recover post-consumer, soft plastic packing.

For a full list of packaging accepted by REDcycle, visit their website HERE.

What part do I play?

As recyclable packaging depends entirely on the consumer to recycle the right way, businesses should strive to educate consumers on how to properly recycle their food packaging so that as much soft plastics are kept out of kerbside pick ups until further advancements are made.

This starts by partnering with commercial recycling services such as REDcycle so you can advertise that your soft plastics can be recycled. Partnering with REDcycle and joining the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), allows you to include ‘Return to Store’, ‘Store Drop Off’ or REDcycle logos on your food packaging for consumers reference.

At RLP, we continuously work to ensure our packaging, including our food pouches and stand up pouches, are manufactured with soft plastic. We continue to monitor the materials used in production and ensure our ‘foil’ lining is created from locally sourced soft plastics and are able to be safely placed in commercial soft plastic recycling bins.

For more information on the reality of recycling, read on HERE or contact us for a chat.