The recycling conundrum

Written By Guest User

Before we begin, let’s clear up some definitions:

Compostable: Will break down into all-natural material (compost), and will leave no toxic residue in the soil or environment. To compost, it needs oxygen, warmth and moisture. If compostable packaging is not put in the compost, it will end up in landfill and not experience these conditions, therefore will not compost. 

Biodegradable: The material can break down into smaller and smaller pieces by bacteria or other living organisms which can then be safely absorbed by the environment. This generally takes longer than composting.

Degradable: Essentially, everything will eventually break down, such as plastics breaking down to microplastics by UV light (sunlight) over hundreds or thousands of years, but this is harmful to the environment.  

So…What’s the problem?

Plastic is an incredibly useful material that has made packaging simple and effective...but at what cost? More and more attention is being paid to the negative impacts of using plastic, such as it’s contribution to landfill, plastics filling our oceans and the discovery of microplastics. It is our responsibility to protect our planet and that means making a concerted effort to limit our impact. With negative impacts of single use plastics becoming more apparent, it’s important to limit our use, find reusable options and where these are not available find suitable alternatives. According to World Atlas, the UK is the second largest plastic consumer in the world, using almost 100kg per person per year. And on top of that, it’s been reported that well over half of the rubbish the UK Government claims to recycle is actually sent overseas to be burnt or dumped illegally. As individual consumers, it feels almost impossible to change a problem this big and out of our control. But we can change our behaviour to limit the impact we have as individuals, while also forcing change through buying power. We can control what we purchase and who we purchase it from, so if we choose to buy more environmentally friendly products and packaging we can encourage other companies to make the switch to eco solutions. In this blog I will attempt to unravel the complex industry of plastic packaging and the alternatives that are available.

Can’t we just recycle the plastics we use?

There are numerous types of plastics which have been organised into 7 groups, with the 7th group covering several “other plastics”. Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET or PETE) and High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) are the two most widely recycled plastics while Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) isn’t easily recycled. To recycle LDPE you need to contact your local waste sorting centre to find out if it can be collected with the rest of your recycling, otherwise you will need to drop it off to a designated centre. If LDPE is added to your normal recycling but cannot be recycled, it could contaminate the whole batch. 

A common misconception with plastic recycling is that it can be recycled indefinitely, but unfortunately, that is not the case. Once recycled, the material loses quality and because of this, most plastics are usually only recycled once or twice. If recycled again after this, the material may be used in longer lasting products such as carpets. There are also other complications, such as black plastic which cannot be recognised by sorting systems so often isn’t recycled.  

Although recycling may seem to be the answer to our plastic problem, in reality, a very small portion of plastic is actually recycled. It is estimated that worldwide, only 16% is recycled, with 40% going to landfill, 25% incinerated and a whopping 19% is simply dumped! Of all the plastic ever produced, only 9% has been recycled. Of course, as we all know, conventional plastic isn’t biodegradable and has seeped into the land and oceans, endangering the species that live there. Our efforts to combat this simply are not enough.


Cardboard and paper vs plastic packaging.

The cardboard vs plastic debate is more complex than you might expect, with varying environmental impacts from production, transportation and end-of-life. Let’s start at the beginning with production. According to sources, plastic production requires 40% less energy than paper and cardboard yet has higher emissions as cardboard manufacturers use renewable sources of energy. Cardboard production accounts for 1% of global emissions, while plastics are responsible for 3.8%. If plastics were a country, they would be the 6th biggest global polluter! Of course, another important point to highlight is that virgin cardboard is produced from trees, a regenerative source, while plastics are derived from oil, a non-renewable resource. Energy requirements in production are greatly reduced when materials are recycled, with cardboard requiring 25% less energy, while plastic recycling saves up to a whopping 88%. 

The issue surrounding transportation is the weight of the materials, with plastics weighing in at just 2% of an equivalent package made from cardboard. Of course, the heavier the load, the more fuel and subsequent CO2 emissions there will be. This makes plastic more attractive for this category, however, with the growth of electric vehicles, the transport impact of cardboard will most likely be greatly reduced.

Lastly, the end-of-life phase, a more ambiguous part of the life cycle that is often overlooked. We have already discussed how a small percentage of waste is actually recycled, so we have to consider what happens to it when it is dumped. It is estimated that plastic will take up to 500 years to degrade into microplastics, while cardboard can decompose in just 2 months. Plastic is broken down by UV, so sunlight. The problem with this is in landfill, much of the material is hidden from the sun, meaning it will remain. Plastic that enters the sea will degrade in the sunlight, creating microplastics which are then mistaken for food by marine life, killing millions every year. Although during decomposition, cardboard will release methane into the atmosphere, it can fully decompose being naturally derived. Cardboard may be favourable here, but in both cases and more so with plastic, recycling as much as possible is the best solution. 

So the debate may be a complex one, but I think we can all agree that cardboard is definitely less damaging and therefore favourable. Producing cardboard may be more energy intensive, but a solution for this exists: renewable energy. Unfortunately, there is no solution for microplastic pollution, not to mention it is derived from oil. Sources suggest that the carbon footprint is around 12 times higher for plastic than cardboard!

So what’s this got to do with chalk?

Like most products, chalk is most commonly purchased in plastic bags or bottles. This is partly unavoidable; if you consider liquid chalk, in order to apply this to your hands it needs to be stored in some sort of squeezy bottle with a lid and be made of a non-reactive material, both of which plastic can provide. However, with loose chalk, there is more room for innovation. Unfortunately, many chalk brands opt for using plastic bags, many even using LDPE - the plastic not widely recycled. The benefits of this are its cost, durability while also being low-density, therefore, lightweight and flexible. Choosing this plastic for packaging could also be the result of suppliers glazing over the recycling credentials in order to make a sale. Whatever the reasoning, LDPE is bad news for the environment as it will most likely not be recycled. 

Putting plastics aside for a moment, there are some other troublesome materials involved in packaging chalk. Single use chalk balls are made from a synthetic non-recyclable material which once discarded, will most likely end up in landfill or incineration.

Some brands within the chalk industry and other industries, have begun to use compostable packaging. Although this is a great step forwards, sadly it’s not as clear cut as it appears. The lack of clarity between “home” compostable and “industrially” compostable leaves consumers confused and packaging on its way to landfill.

Home compostable packaging is a great solution if you have a composter. Once you have finished with your chalk, you can simply throw the bag in with the rest of your compost. However if it's industrially compostable (which is usually the case) this requires specific conditions of high temperatures for long periods of time in order to break down the material. So to dispose of your packaging in this way, you would need to find a suitable facility to drop it off at. Obviously this requires more time and research, which means less people dispose of it correctly and sadly industrial composting drop off points are few and far between in the UK. If this packaging ends up on a home compost pile due to the ambiguity of ‘composting’, it won’t break down.

The sad fact is, many do not have composters and if they’re not composted correctly, they cannot be recycled so they go to landfill. 


What's Gekco’s solution?

We thought long and hard about our packaging before releasing any of our products and are now happy that we have achieved the best possible outcome with what is currently available on the market. 


Liquid chalk:

As discussed, plastic is necessary for liquid chalk, so we considered how we could lessen the impact of this. Our bottles are made from HDPE, meaning they are widely recycled, making it easy and more guilt-free for the consumer to dispose of. But more importantly we run a bottle return scheme, so once finished it can be refilled by us and put back out into the market!

Loose bags:

Our loose chalk bags are made of a fully paper recyclable and home compostable material, providing the consumer with an option of how to dispose of it. Packaging that is only compostable is unlikely to be composted every time the consumer disposes of it, and therefore, would end up in landfill or incineration. It’s for this reason Gekco chose a packaging that is both home compostable and recyclable. It includes a lining to protect the chalk from becoming damp, which is likely to happen with paper packaging alone. All the materials in this bag will compost, it will biodegrade and have no impact on the environment.

Chalk Balls:

Our chalk balls are both refillable and 100% biodegradable. This way, you can use it more than once and then just toss it in the compost heap or food waste once you’ve fully knackered it!

Guest User
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