Collaborating on Compostables - 5 Years of Vegware and Recorra

We are celebrating 5 Years of Recorra and Vegware! For the past 5 years, we have been working as the first commercial waste management company in London to collect and industrially compost Vegware products through our recycling service. This impactful partnership enables us to collect and compost quick–food service packaging across London, Brighton, and Sussex.  

Here, we explore the many benefits of compostable packaging and explain why the way this type of packaging is disposed of is just as important as the materials it’s made from.  

The Disposable Food Packaging Problem

Plastic pollution is a massive environmental challenge, with an estimated 51 trillion microplastic particles in our oceans. The problem is exacerbated by our reliance on disposable food packaging; more than 50% of UK food products use avoidable plastic packaging.  

Shockingly, only about 9% of plastic waste is recycled, with only 1% actually being put back into use. The vast majority of plastics, especially single-use plastics, will end up in need to give stats on how packaging for take away food is the issue, I’m sure there are some stats on Vegware’s website. Vegware can’t solve the plastic crisis but it can help with a small part of the problem landfill, incinerated, or even worse, in ecosystems, harming wildlife and contaminating the whole food chain from the bottom up. In 2019, the UK generated approximately 11 billion items of packaging waste. Finding alternatives for plastic food packaging is an essential step to start the much-needed transition away from single use plastics. 

What is Compostable Packaging?

Compostable packaging is designed as a sustainable alternative to traditional plastic food packaging. It breaks down completely and safely into natural elements such as water, carbon dioxide, and nutrient-rich compost under the right composting conditions and often within a specific time frame. 

For packaging to be truly compostable, it must meet two key criteria: 

• It must decompose fully without leaving behind toxic residue. Non-compostable packaging, like plastics and certain synthetic materials, fails to meet this standard. 

• It must break down into nutrient-rich compost. 

Organic matter, including food waste, is also compostable. This makes compostable packaging an even smarter design choice, allowing it to be ‘recycled’ together with the food it once contained. 

Unlike biodegradable or recyclable packaging, compostable packaging (such as Vegware) must meet strict certification standards. It must contain no plastics or non-compostable materials to be considered truly compostable and accepted by our composting partners.

Benefits of our Compostables Collections

There are many benefits of using a compostables service for this type of packaging.

• Ensure that compostables are sent to reach their full environmental potential  

• Compostable products are designed to return to the earth safely, transforming what would otherwise be a pollutant into a valuable resource.  

• Lowering greenhouse gas emissions released from general waste, and specifically methane which is produced when organic materials are in general waste.  

• Resulting compost is used to supports soil health and enhance nutrient cycling. 

• Compost-rich soils act as carbon sinks by storing atmospheric carbon in a stable form within the soil.  

• Compostables, like those produced by Vegware, contribute to a circular economy model. Unlike linear systems, a circular economy seeks to close the loop by promoting the regeneration of materials and turning waste back into resources.  

• Small food remnants left in the packaging are captured within the compostable packaging stream, reducing food waste and the amount of organic waste in landfill. 

Why Composting is Needed to Make Compostables Impactful

To ensure that compostables reach their full environmental potential (to be composted), they must be collected separately from other materials in their own dedicated container or sack. This ensures we can send these items for in-vessel composting (IVC).  

It’s important that compostables are collected and sent to reliable composting facilities, where they can fully break down under the correct conditions for all the benefits to be fully achieved. Using plant-based and compostable food–service products has many benefits from using plastics, but their proper collection and actual composting is a key component of their sustainable success story.  

This is why partnerships like Vegware and Recorra’s are essential, ensuring that materials are collected and processed for the best environmental and circular economy result. 

You can purchase back the compost through our workplace supplies division, which can be used back on commercial sites to help with landscaping, helping your business to actively support the transition to a circular economy.  

How Our Partnership Formed

Our partnership formed as a result of both our customers using Vegware and our awareness of Vegware as market leaders in compostable packaging.  

Being able to build on our network of composting partners, we have worked together to create a composting service for their products from our customers.  

Recorra is proud to be the first commercial waste management company to in London to collect and industrially compost Vegware products. This year, we celebrate five years of partnership, helping customers contribute to the circular economy by creating closed-loop compost and providing an alternative to single-use plastic. 

So far, we have processed 500,000kgs of organic waste across 50 sites together! 

An Example of Vegware Success

Beginning with a few trial locations, including PIMCO Europe’s headquarters on Baker Street, the service has evolved into a standout example of how innovation in the waste industry can contribute to the UK’s circular economy. At their London HQ, where there are spatial limitations and only small kitchenettes are available, Vegware packaging collections enabled PIMCO to maintain a circular foodservice system without the logistical challenges of using traditional crockery.