West Country sausage-maker, Westaways says it has become the first meat producer to use packaging that is so eco-friendly you can stash it in your compost heap rather than add the nation’s waste problem.
Devon-sausage maker, Charles Baughn, says the process has taken a lot of patience and investment, but as a company that cares about the environment it was a necessary task.
Mr Baughn said: “Products like sausages do not have to be entombed in plastic – there are alternatives and from now on our range will be sold in eco-friendly cartons and wrappings that will disintegrate naturally in a compost heap.”
“We are proud to announce this UK first – and proud that it has taken a relatively small Devon company to lead the way.”
The company now uses a new cling-film style bio-plastic wrapping which has allowed Westaways to make the 100 per cent eco-friendly claim.
Mr Baugn adde: “It is a bioplastic – bioplastics are defined by European Bioplastics as being either biodegradable or made from a plant-base. In a compost heap it will fully disintegrate within six months and fully biodegrade within a further six months without leaving any microplastic traces – I know that because I’ve been trialling it in my own garden.
“The example we have set changes the way we do things in the food industry and other companies should follow our lead – which would result in the environment being freed of thousands of tons of plastic.”
