16 MARCH 2017 LONGOPAC Clever recycling and waste management As recycling becomes more popular across the country, the food industry is increasingly taking ownership of its waste, realising the benefits of recycling and that clever waste management not only reduces waste costs, it increases recycling. Clever recycling and waste management starts where the waste is produced. The Longopac system, manufactured in Sweden for more than 30 years, is a highly developed waste management system supporting and focusing on hygiene and efficiency of those who use it. The endless bag technology and sealing options minimises the risk of waste exposure to operator, a perfect solution for the food industry where exposure to offensive waste throughout the disposal process can be avoided. The Longopac waste management range, www.longopac. co.nz, is a flexible continuous bagging system that is efficient, hygienic and an environmentally friendly alternative to standard bagging systems. The ‘Longopac Maxi Food’, purposely designed for the food industry, has a base plate and cassette holder made from PP plastic & blue metal detectable material, with stainless steel legs and wheels. Highly visible in food preparation areas, the transparent or blue food bag cassette options accompany the stand. The food bag cassette is certified by Normpack (Swedish coding for food packaging materials), the black odour control cassette is an extra airtight bag cassette to control odours associated with waste, and biodegradable bag cassettes are available for either the disposal or composting of food waste. They are produced from organic material that is certified according to EN 13432:2000-12, with the material degrading within six months at 23°C / 73°F. The Longopac bag cassette technology allows for the waste bags to be replaced and sealed from the outside, with plastic ties, containing odours and eliminating user contact with the waste. Spillages around the opening are collected by the next bag, helping to provide a cleaner working environment. All food grade bags are supplied with blue plastic ‘metal detectable’ ties. The variable bag sizes ensure they are 100% fully utilised and of course the minimal contact with waste is ideal for factory environments with high volumes. Longopac cassettes come in a full range of colours, allowing colour coded segregation of all waste streams. For a free trial with the Longopac solution, contact us on – 0800 342 3177 www.longopac.co.nz FREEPHONE: 0800 342 3177 WEB:www.longpac.co.nz FT257 put pizza boxes in our green bins, so I thought ‘what if we sourced serviceware made out of similar plain cardboard packaging?’ So I approached Living Earth and asked.” We needed to ensure that only the serviceware accepted for the trial would be sent to Living Earth, so the ECO (Event Compostable Only) logo was developed to avoid this kind of confusion. Of vital importance was communication with vendors, and each was emailed and phoned about the trial, and encouraged to attend a three-hour workshop where the trial was explained, along with the environmental reasons for it. Those already working on solutions welcomed the initiative (and found the costs comparable), but many had never thought about packaging beyond simply purchasing the cheapest plastic and polystyrene options. My role was to plan collecting, transporting and sorting the waste onsite at Sparks and the Christchurch Lantern Festival. I worked with Envirowaste to provide skips suited to hand-sorting, and to coordinate pick-ups, making sure that the drivers knew exactly where each skip should go. ODW’s business model has always been to sort waste at events, but the trial required new streams and practices, and our signage had to be temporarily updated to accommodate the new items. Public acceptance With heavy promotion of the trial on social media, public enthusiasm began before the events even started. Volunteers assisted people at the bins, and the ODW team collected it and brought it back to the waste yard where every item was sorted into five separate streams to gain maximum diversion. At the Lantern Festival I got to witness the positive reaction firsthand. Some knew me from previous events and they were stoked that for the first time, they could put serviceware in the green bins, knowing that it would actually be composted. So the vision I had that night was tinged with pride that collectively Christchurch has created change. There is a lot of testing to be done and processes put in place before the trial is standard practice, but those skips (along with the ones from the other two events) bore thousands of pieces of evidence that Canterbury is finally on the path towards eliminating landfill from events, and that’s something we can all be proud of. www.ourdailywaste.co.nz
FT-Mar17-eMag
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