Durable

NATURAL AND ORGANIC AT ITS BEST IN A SUSTAINABLE AND RECYCLABLE WRAP

BIOFOOD, part of BF®Petfood, is the first pet food company in the Benelux and one of the first pet food companies in Europe to offer natural and organic pet food for dogs and cats in recyclable plastic packaging (March 2020).

Dutch top quality, natural and organic pet food products, recyclable packaging, sustainable, local production, and a small ecological footprint.

As demand for reducing plastic packaging increases, consumers are looking for more sustainable and recyclable solutions and packaging that is attractive, in order to better distinguish pet food. Read: Three-quarters of the global population want a ban on single-use plastics, and 1 in 3 consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable packaging.

The PPWR is the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. This EU legislation is set to replace the EU Packaging Directive. UPDATE: EU sorting label on the way: one system for all packaging.

The EU Plastics Strategy published a goal for 100% of plastic packaging to be reused, recycled or composted by 2030, and many companies from producers to brand owners pledged their support to work towards this goal.

At the end of 2008, the European Union (EU) introduced Directive 2008/98/EC regarding waste, which states that by 2020, 50% of municipal waste and 70% of construction and demolition waste must be reused or recycled. The average recycling rate in the EU was 39% in 2013, growing to 45% in 2015. However, the fact that a relatively large amount of raw materials is collected does not mean that a large part of the materials used comes from recycling. In 2016, only 12% of the raw materials used by EU industry came from recycling; the way our waste is collected and processed today is largely focused on the recycling of materials. The Dutch recycle only 54 percent of recyclable waste, with uncertainty about the recyclability of packaging being one of the main reasons.

The revised directives raise the bar for recycling municipal and packaging waste, while landfilling of municipal waste must be further reduced. By 2030, food waste must be halved, and hazardous waste and bio-waste from households must be collected separately.

UPDATE Dec. 2022: The European Commission has presented the regulation regarding Packaging and Packaging Waste. The main objective of this regulation is to reduce packaging waste per capita per member state by 15% by 2040 compared to 2018.

The proposal has 3 objectives:

Preventing the production of packaging waste. By reducing the quantity, limiting unnecessary packaging, and promoting solutions for reusable and refillable packaging.
High-quality recycling. All packaging on the EU market must be fully recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030. To achieve this, design criteria for packaging will be introduced.
Reducing the need for primary natural resources and creating a well-functioning market for secondary raw materials. The use of recycled plastics in packaging will be increased through binding targets. You can find more information here.

In recycling, the materials from waste are used to create something new. When waste is recyclable, it saves raw materials. Because recycling creates new raw materials, these materials do not need to be produced from scratch. Take the recycling of paper, for example. By turning old paper into new paper, trees do not have to be cut down. When recycling plastic, no extra crude oil needs to be used.

Saving money
By separating your waste and submitting recyclable waste streams separately (think of paper and PMD), you reduce the amount of residual waste. Residual waste is the most expensive waste stream to have collected. In addition, you can often drop off other (recyclable) waste streams for free. The smaller you can keep your residual waste stream, the better.

Greenhouse effect
More energy is needed to create new products than for recycling. It is therefore better for the greenhouse effect when a lot is recycled.

However, some waste streams are more recyclable than others. In general, textiles, glass, paper, and plastic are very easy to recycle.

Recyclable packaging
At the start of the Frisian company BIOFOOD Diervoeding BV on September 27, 1989, also known for some years now as BF®Petfood, the then-director Wiebe Bijlsma focused on natural ingredients, based on 'respect for animals, nature, and the environment'. This was a far-sighted vision. More and more people with a dog and/or cat are choosing natural and organic products from BF®Petfood due to growing awareness for animals and the environment and a good price-quality ratio. The transition to recyclable packaging, since March 2020, was therefore a “natural” step for our natural and organic products for dogs and cats. With this, BF®Petfood is the first pet food company in the Netherlands and the Benelux to offer natural and organic pet food with recyclable packaging.

Our recyclable packaging is made of mono-material that is recyclable. This recyclable packaging, such as cans, plastic (LDPE), and cardboard, can therefore be disposed of with collected metal, plastic, and/or paper waste.

What goes where?
“Most municipalities collect plastic, metal packaging (cans), and drink cartons separately for recycling. There are also municipalities where you can throw this in with the residual waste. This is called post-separation: the residual waste goes to a factory that sorts plastic, cans, and drink cartons out of the other waste. Not sure how it is arranged in your municipality? Check your municipal website.” More info here. You can find more info about the various waste streams here.

If separate collection is not possible in your municipality, our can and pet food (LDPE plastic) packaging may be disposed of with the residual waste, and post-separation of recyclable and non-recyclable material takes place via ultra-modern sorting machines in your municipality. Our new folding cardboard packaging (chocolates and tablets) with FSC certification can simply be put in with old paper and cardboard for recycling and is separated and collected separately in every municipality.

Note! Many dry pet food bags consist of several types of plastic or look entirely like paper but contain plastic*. Both options are not or poorly recyclable and therefore end up in the residual waste. These are not reused but incinerated (CO2 emissions) and are therefore not sustainable. *Bio-plastic, which is made from plant-based renewable sources, seems like a more sustainable and compostable solution. Seems, because there are quite a few catches (e.g., agricultural land, water use, fertilizers, pesticides, composting machinery, etc.), which is why we did not choose this at the time.

Recyclable
When is something recyclable? In short: if it is produced from mono-materials and/or if it is collected separately.

Our new BF®Petfood packaging – cans, plastic, and folding cardboard – are recyclable. Cans and plastic can be put in with PMD waste (plastic, metal, and drink cartons). The folding cardboard can be put in with paper/cardboard.

If this is not possible in your municipality, our can and plastic (LDPE plastic) packaging may be put in with the residual waste, and post-separation of recyclable and non-recyclable material takes place via ultra-modern sorting machines in your municipality.

Plastic waste
Plastic (or synthetic material) is a collective term for many types of plastic. The material is not a natural but an artificial product (often made from crude oil) that was invented at the beginning of the 1900s. Although a fair amount of plastic is collected, only a small part of new plastic comes from recycling. Of the 2000 kilotons of plastics consumed annually in the Netherlands, only about 280 kilotons comes from recycling, while 1700 kilotons consist of new fossil-based plastics. This means that only 16% of all discarded plastics return to the market as plastic.

If plastic is not separated from residual waste, it is incinerated. Since a large part of plastics are toxic, incineration is harmful to the environment. Furthermore, all plastics made from crude oil are not biodegradable. But the advantage is that certain types of plastic are easy and good to recycle. However, one can only recycle plastic if synthetic materials are collected separately from residual waste. Because oil is a fossil fuel that is running out, more and more plastics are being made from natural polymers. For example, polymers from potatoes. The advantage is that such plastic is biodegradable. Unfortunately, that plastic cannot be used for everything.

Pet food bags
Many pet food bags consist of several types of plastic or look entirely like paper but contain plastic due to the fat barrier. Both of these options are not recyclable and therefore end up in the residual waste. BF®Petfood has searched for a sustainable solution and, as one of the few pet food manufacturers in Europe, uses special LDPE material for its recyclable packaging.

LDPE film is easy to reuse as a raw material. LDPE film is an oil-based material that is excellent for recycling. After the LDPE films are collected, the waste processors sort the films. Then, the films are washed and ground. Ultimately, a granulate remains for the plastics industry. The pouches of our Bio wet food are made of C/LDPE material which is recyclable.

LDPE is used for items such as bottles, packaging film, bags, plasters, plastic bags, the inside of cardboard milk cartons, and computer parts such as hard drives.

SPI resin identification code system
The SPI resin identification code system is a series of recognizable symbols used to identify the type of polymer in plastic. The code system was developed in 1988 by the SPI, which stands for Society of the Plastics Industry. The main purpose of the code series is to be able to efficiently separate different polymers for the most effective recycling process possible. The code system consists of the following codes (see image).

Paper and cardboard
The BF®Petfood folding cardboard packaging (chocolates and tablets) and paper carrier bags with FSC certification can simply be put in with the old paper and cardboard in every municipality. The FSC system ensures that forests around the world can be preserved through responsible forest management. Responsible forest management refers to the protection of the habitat of plants and animals and respect for the rights of the local population and forest workers. But also to harvesting wood and earning money while preserving the forest. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international organization committed to the preservation and responsible management of forests worldwide.

“Deforestation accounts for 15% of global CO2 emissions on an annual basis and therefore plays a major role in climate change. Furthermore, 80% of all animals in the world are dependent on the forest, as are millions of people who live or work in the forest.”

Forests are vital to our planet! The World Wide Fund for Nature tries to preserve them by establishing protected areas. However, wood is also a sustainable raw material if it comes from responsible sources. With the unique approach of giving equal weight to ecological, social, and economic interests, the FSC certification system is, for the WWF, the best way to manage forests responsibly and thus use wood as a raw material. If you buy wood, paper, or cardboard with this label, you are making a good choice!

Cans
BF®Petfood can packaging is very easy to recycle. In many municipalities, you can drop off metal packaging (beer and soft drink cans, soup cans, aluminum trays) together with the plastic. Household metal packaging ends up in two material streams: residual waste and PMD (plastic, metal packaging, and drink cartons). Commercial metal packaging is often reused several times first, after which it ends up in a metal, PMD, or residual waste stream. Metal packaging ends up in the incinerator with the residual waste. However, metal does not burn. And so, waste companies can filter it out of the ash: steel with magnets and aluminum with eddy current separators. Afterward, the raw material, scrap, is remelted in blast furnaces and receives a new application. Because metal packaging is so easy to sort, this type of material can be recycled to a high degree (95%) and infinitely often.

Stickers
The BF®Petfood stickers used are either made of paper, as with the rawhide chews, or the labels are compatible with the packaging (bottles, jars, both PET 1 packaging), which creates the right product combination so that it can be collected separately, or ensures that ultra-modern sorting machines at your municipality can recycle the packaging via post-separation.

Within the company, we implement a sustainability policy that fits our natural and organic products for dogs and cats. E.g., cardboard and plastic that is specially collected and reused for new purposes, and the provision and use of paper carrier bags for retail and dog and cat club events.

In addition to the benefits of our natural and organic BF®Petfood products for dogs and cats, such as Dutch quality, tastiness, purity, honesty, and healthiness, and no chemical additives, sustainable and recyclable packaging emphasizes……