A Waste of Food-Waste Bags

It is estimated that the average Swede throws away 61 kg of food waste annually. The more food waste there is, the more food waste bags are required. Since the implementation of a tax on thin plastic bags, grocery stores have been providing fruit bags of paper as an eco-friendly alternative. This study examines the current usage of paper fruit bags in the municipality of Helsingborg and explores the potential for reusing them for food waste. Reusing fruit bags for food waste would minimise the waste of this type of bag and reduce the need for manufacturing additional bags, thereby conserving renewable resources. However, the municipality treats the food waste through anaerobic digestion to produce a certified digestate. This certification scheme has specific requirements on the type of food waste bags that can be used to minimise contaminants. The local waste company therefore insists on using only their designated food waste bags. The results of this study indicate that a total amount of approximately 4.3 million fruit bags is discarded annually in the municipality of Helsingborg after been used for groceries. Furthermore, 32% of households already use fruit bags for food waste. Additionally, 28% of the municipality's grocery stores offer fruit bags that are approved for food waste according to the digestate certification scheme. Biond, the digestate producer, prefers the utilisation of paper bags since plastic and bioplastic do not degrade during the digestion and is instead sorted out as much as feasible. Future studies should include testing occurrence of contaminants in fruit bags approved according to the EU regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 under what is considered normal and foreseeable conditions for fruit bags. Furthermore, it is of interest to investigate the effect of digestion on organic pollutants and the effect of these contaminants on soils.