Bank of sour cream, a can of milk and kvass, a pot-bellied jar of beer, a grid of eggs… In Soviet times we had a well organized system empties: products are often bought in bulk. And there was no harmful disposable plastic. Over the years, this culture was a thing of the past, respectively, tightened sanitary regulations. Coronavirus now put the question bluntly: sanitary doctors suggest to completely ban the sale of bulk goods to the packagings of the buyer. But to the surprise of many for the good old cans stood for the state Duma: there is a selling offer, on the contrary, legalized.
the Share of disposable packaging in municipal solid waste, according to the head of the Duma Committee on ecology and environmental protection Vladimir Burmatov, reaches 30-40%. Methods of processing this type of waste is known, however, one hundred percent recycling of plastic is still impossible. So, the only way to reduce the environmental burden from packaging is to reduce its volume. And to make it more convenient to just at the stage of retail trade is possible and necessary to strive for the maximum non-waste trade. The Deputy proposes to finalize the draft of the new sanitary rules to selling bulk products in containers the buyer was still allowed.
— of Course, is to replace disposable packaging for reusable in current retail chains is impossible, — commented on the initiative of the representative of one of the Moscow regional operators of sorting and recycling of MSW. — But you can go the way of compromise: first, to increase the amount of one hundred percent recyclable packaging, and secondly, to regulate the chemical composition of the materials so that the packaging has been standardized. This is already done in Europe: there is, for example, the packaging of the yoghurt always, any manufacturer will be made from the same grade of plastic, and household chemicals packaged in bottles of other varieties. While that is the easy thing to do.
Indeed, in marshalling yards in Russia there is not one fraction of plastic, and several separate high-density polyethylene, low separately, separately, a polystyrene, a separate polyurethane and other plastics (such as banned a few years ago, but still gets the waste PVC). Even better recyclable cullet separately at the stations collect clear, green and brown glass.
the Next step forward on the road to “zero waste” is really the introduction of the stores in the container of the buyer, and collateral re-usable packaging. This system worked in the USSR (glass bottle had a relatively high collateral value, and regularly gave up), but now its development stumbles about with��sanitary norms. “We would be ready for ecology to migrate to the back packaging, at the same time to hedge in case of problems with the manufacture of bottles, — told the “MK” head of one of the major Russian wine holdings. But the reuse of containers for food products is prohibited.”
as to the packaging buyer — those cans and jars — when you start this program, another problem arises. Habit to go shopping with your own container already forgotten, what face enthusiasts, the opening “shopping without packaging” for reasons of environmental protection. “We considered the possibility to put the machine trading in dispensing milk, — says the owner of one of these stores in Moscow. And all would be good, but with this machine we have almost no alternative offered to supply a distributor of plastic bottles. We asked — why? And supplier of milk explained: now nobody will go for milk with his bottle, but still a fixed amount to come into the mount machine. Besides, in General it is illegal. We had to abandon the machine, because otherwise we would violate his own principle: no plastic”.
in Other words, in theory, circulating containers and packaging buyer can really help in solving the problem of packaging waste. But this will require not only to change the sanitary-epidemiological norms, but also to re-educate the consumer. Alas, the youngest of those who went for a beer from three-liter jar, has 50.
