Following the launch of Enviroloc, the first security seal made fully from recycled polypropylene, Talisman is gearing up to innovate further products addressing concerns about plastic waste and sustainable manufacturing of plastic items.
The attention given to the use of biodegradable plastic as a solution to plastic waste, and the confusion between it and compostable plastic, could potentially harm the environment if people either put compostable plastic in with conventional plastic, or litter it, wrongly assuming it biodegrades like food waste.
‘’Plastic is only dangerous when used or disposed of incorrectly, like most materials. Plastic can be recycled hundreds of times before it starts to lose density and reusing the material for other applications is a sure way to be sustainable. It is weatherproof, lightweight, cost-effective and long lasting, and doesn’t require any special technology to do it,” says Nikki Ewers, business development manager at Talisman Plastics.
“Biodegradable and compostable plastics have a different applications and processes to dispose of them correctly which aren’t always clear and can contaminate your recycling bin. Recycling plastic is the most user-friendly, simple process that we can all follow and really make a difference to the environment,” Nikki adds.
A recent report by independent think tank Green Alliance suggested that consumer pressure to end plastic packaging could be harming the environment. An increased focus has been put on biodegradable plastics as a potential solution to the proliferation of plastic waste following extensive media coverage of plastic in the world’s oceans.
Shaun Champion, managing director at Talisman Plastics, said: “We are trialling various new methods of packaging our products. Given that we have produced an environmentally friendly product in Enviroloc, it is important we can be just as sustainable with our packaging. It’s no good just putting out one recycled product, our environmental strategy needs to cover everything from energy usage in our plant, to use of recycled materials in our products.”
The emphasis on the use of recycled plastic comes amid a series of initiatives to reduce Talisman’s carbon footprint which have included the recent installation of an electric vehicle charging point at its Malvern premises, the commissioning of newer, more energy-efficient cooling and injection moulding machines, and in the caps and closures division, the re-use of scrapped materials in the manufacturing process.