What's true today...

Last month we did quite a lot with the theme of packaging. During a roundtable discussion with entrepreneurs in food, various problems in this area were denounced. With sometimes fierce discussions and a lot of misunderstanding about the fact that everyone is reinventing the wheel. Let's turn it into a joint innovation trajectory was the message. Anyone who reads my columns regularly knows that that goes without saying. Sharing knowledge together is the basis of our network.

And that is necessary, because things that are true today may be outdated tomorrow. And you can only find that out if you share your knowledge and gather knowledge.

And we learn every day.

During the roundtable discussion we also discussed biodegradable plastics. The conclusion was that the current composting system is not designed for this. The composting time is too short, which means that the biodegradable plastic is still fished out and goes into incineration. In short, we have to stop this.

And that has now become obsolete again. Researchers from Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (also a member of the OSV) have investigated how compostable plastics behave in the current VGF waste processing process in the Netherlands. Approximately 20% of what came out of the composting reactor after 11 days was sufficiently small to be classified as compost. Conclusion: compostable plastics that comply with the European standard EN13432 can be processed very well with the VGFT. 

In short: doing business is keeping your ears and eyes open. Keep reading, learning and researching. And anticipating the latest developments.

Saskia Stender