We are pleased to announce we have teamed up with the Nationwide Caterers Association (NCASS), the only Trade Association for Event and Street Food based caterers in the UK, comprising 4000+ members.
NCASS is wholly committed to minimising the catering industry’s ecological footprint. Dan Fox, Director at NCASS said, "Our position as a key influencer within the industry is not a responsibility we take lightly and as such we have recently teamed up with BioPak in a joint endeavour to increase sustainable practices throughout the industry and beyond."
The British public was recently alerted to an issue which has been of concern to the environmentally-conscious amongst us for some time: standard, disposable coffee cups - millions of which are used each day, are not in fact recyclable. King of sustainability, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recently brought the issue to light in his programme ‘Hugh’s War on Waste’ in which he pointed out that the majority of take-away coffee cups have a plastic lining, thereby impeding their ability to be recycled. This has both confused and frustrated customers, many of whom have been putting their cups in the recycling bin, only to discover that less than 1% of these are actually recycled, with an estimated 2.5 billion cups ending up in landfill sites each year in the UK.
Back in 2002, BioPak responded with fervour to consumer demand for a green alternative to these ecologically damaging take-away coffee cups and were the first company to introduce compostable cups to the market in the UK. Their increasingly recognisable eco-friendly cups are created with a plant starch lining, as opposed to a petrochemical one which means that BioPak’s cups can be composted within 3 months, unlike the plastic-coated ones which will invariably end up in landfill. What’s more, BioPak produces a compostable alternative to the plastic lid, which is also made from a plant starch material.
As market leaders, all BioPak’s compostable products are certified to European standards for compostability - their ‘I’m a Green Cup’ range is 100% compostable and becoming increasingly recognisable at events the length and breadth of the UK. All BioPak’s compostable products break down in their entirety within 12 weeks or less and do so at no cost to the environment.
Mark Bridgen, Technical Director at BioPak said, “One thing that caterers will want to watch out for as they start to investigate alternatives for their packaging needs is products being sold on the market that claim to be eco-friendly but won’t meet the requirements. In reality, these products may be just conventional plastic with an additive that merely breaks the material into fragments. These fragments still take 200 years to disappear. The best way to be certain is to ask your supplier for the relevant certifications.”
In an announcement to their members, NCASS said, "Our affiliation comes as the result of a shared passion towards a sustainable industry, whereby event organisers and traders alike, work congruously to minimise our impact on the environment. Increasingly, ‘Being Green’ can add value to trader’s brands according to research by ‘A Greener Festival,’ with almost 80% of surveyed attendees alleging an interest in sustainable practices."
BioPak looks forward to working with NCASS and their members. If you would like more advice on compostability or want to know how you too can source environmentally friendly products, please contact BioPak on 01386 555 777 or email sales@biopak.co.uk. If you are an NCASS member, you can also contact your NCASS Account Manager.
To view BioPak's full product range, click here.
For more information on NCASS, click here.
