A co-operative supermarket chain in Italy has replaced all its polyethylene carrier bags with biodegradeble and compostable bags, acknowledging that they can be re-used for separate waste collection.
“They will become a powerful tool for promoting quality collection of organic refuse, thus also helping quality recycling of other refuse components” said the supplier of the bag material, Novamont.
All 98 Unicoop Florence supermarkets have made the change, involving around 50 million bags a year. The bags are made in Novamont’s Mater-Bi starch-based thermoplastic, which meets EU regulations UNI EN 13432 and UNI EN 14995 for biodegradability and compostability. Novamont says the grade used comes from non-food sources.
Novamont says Unicoop Florence is the first co-op foodstore chain in Western Europe to completely eliminate polyethylene carrier bags, bringing forward a measure contained in the 2007 National Budget Act.
Source: britishplastics.co.uk
