Plastic lined paper food bag

[John Holsten]

HI

I work for a very large food conglomerate and a lot of our dry seasonings are imported using 25kg paper bags which are lined with a plastic "inner" sleeve.

I am having a nightmare disposing of them, until recently our waste broker permitted them to be baled along with the card but now we have to divert to general waste.

Has anyone any idea's of how or who can deal with these bags.
Going to Procurement to pressurise them to change bags will not work. I need to find an outlet for the bags.

[grim72]

I suspect this will be similar to the 'paper cups' in terms of the coating being too much hassle for most recycling companies to deal with - as such most plastic coated paper is deemed as general waste and unfortunately assigned to landfills.

According to http://www.pcrrg.uk/faqs.html there are some specialist companies capable of recycling PE-coated paper - might be worth contacting them to see if they can provide contact details for those that do?

Why are procurement not willing to switch - is it purely on cost - are there any potential benefits in terms of marketing/PR to show how your company have invested in the environment that might offset these costs in terms if reputation and approval from the customers you supply to?

[stretch3144]

Have you tried contacting the manufacturer and/or supplier for advice?