Cardboard V’s Plastic

One of the UK’s largest organic vegetable box schemes may move from cardboard to plastic and cut their carbon footprint for packaging by 70%. Riverford Organics deliver organic vegetables to homes across England in cardboard boxes which typically last for four delivery cycles before being recycled. In a letter to customers this week, Guy Watson of Riverford said the company is considering moving from cardboard boxes to plastic ones.

Their research has shown that the carbon footprint of cardboard box production is greater than that of plastic boxes and this came as a big surprise: “From the start we have worked hard to come up with what we thought were environmentally-sensible solutions to packaging, so we were surprised to find this formed such a large part of our carbon footprint. Our research has lead us to believe that some of our efforts and much of the publicity around less-damaging packaging is mis-guided and actually obstructing real progress.”

The chart above, produced by Riverford illustrates the carbon footprint of packaging materials used by the company.

Riverford is clearly aware of the possible reactions from customers over this issue, saying “85% of our packaging footprint is made up of paper and cardboard yet our customers are very happy with this packaging; virtually all negative comments on packaging relate to plastic punnets and bags which contribute only 8% to the footprint.”

Cardboard and paper production consumes large amounts of energy from pulping the wood fibers to passing the wet slurry through huge rollers to make sheets for boxes, bags and books. Although householders see plastic as an evil when compared to cardboard, the reality in terms of carbon footprint may be a surprise to many. Ultimately, anything that does not last, like cardboard and paper, is a problem when looking at energy consumption and carbon emissions. Also a problem, however is the increasing problem of plastic litter, not only in the UK and not only on land.

What has not been addressed here is the use of fossil fuels in the production of plastics and the problems posed by plastics as they do not degrade and will ultimately end up in landfill. You can read more information on Riverford’s research into packaging here.