Plant-based packaging specialist Vegware is joining forces with recycling company First Mile to provide a UK-wide end-of-life solution for its compostable foodservice disposables using courier-led recycling service RecycleBox.
Vegware
First Mile and Vegware partner on compostable packaging recycling
First Mile currently collects over 25 material streams in London and Birmingham, including Vegware’s compostable packaging, but has now introduced RecycleBox to provide a national solution for those items not collected by local councils and other waste companies.
This service is especially important for those items that require separate collections to be recycled effectively. Compostable packaging is a great example of this as it must be sent to a specialist facility to be organically recycled.
Lucy Frankel, Vegware’s Environmental and Communications Director, said: “First Mile’s RecycleBox service now creates full UK post-back coverage for used Vegware to access suitable waste infrastructure. Over two dozen UK facilities accept our compostable products, and trade collections for used Vegware now cover 38 per cent of UK postcodes, up from two per cent in 2012.”
RecycleBox is First Mile’s simple solution to overcoming the logistical barriers associated with recycling. Businesses or consumers can put the used Vegware disposables back in the cardboard box it came in (or order one from First Mile), and then book a collection online to return it.
First Mile founder and CEO, Bruce Bratley, said: “We’re delighted to be working alongside Vegware to ensure that its customers’ compostable packaging is effectively recycled.”
Brands responsible for creating hard-to-recycle items can sponsor the RecycleBox service as a credible end-of-life solution to their products. Any brand needing help in finding a recycling solution can contact First Mile, who will assist them in finding a route via its network of processing partners.