Compostable packaging company and BBIA member Vegware has teamed up with recycling company First Mile to create a new post-back service using First Mile’s courier-led recycling service, RecycleBox.
Businesses or consumers that use Vegware foodservice items will now be able to put these items back into the cardboard box in which they arrived or order one from First Mile and then book a collection online to return the box back to First Mile, which will then facilitate delivery to Vegware’s approved facility.
Vegware’s compostable packaging must be sent to an industrial composting facility to be recycled and must not be placed in mixed recycling.
Commenting on the scheme, Vegware’s Environmental and Communications Director Lucy Frankel 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 when we started working with the waste sector. We introduced First Mile to a facility who had tested and approved Vegware products in their process, and see RecycleBox as an innovative solution for individuals and foodservice businesses throughout the UK.”