As you walk around your local area, have you noticed that much of the litter you see on the streets comes from discarded food and drink packaging? A report released earlier this year by Keep Britain Tidy revealed that fast food produces the third highest amount of litter, after chocolate and sweet wrappers, and bottles and cans.

To make takeaway packaging more sustainable, the UK government banned the use of single-use plastic plates, bowls, takeaway trays and cutlery in 2023, in addition to the ban on plastic straws five years ago. However, with the increased demand for iced coffees and matcha lattes, it would be interesting to know if the Government will also be taking a stance against single-use plastic cups. If these are not recycled, the plastics slowly break down in the environment, causing harm to both wildlife and humans.

Is it recyclable?
You may have noticed takeaway containers are now often made of aluminum foil, kraft paper (produced from wood pulp), bagasse (made from sugarcane) and PLA (polylactic acid derived from plant sugars).

While the foil and kraft paper containers are recyclable, and bagasse is home-compostable, you might not be aware that PLA (which looks just like plastic), will not break down in your home compost, even though it might be displaying a ‘compostable’ or ‘biodegradable’ label.

It is best to check with your local council what to do with PLA packaging or, if in doubt, dispose of it in your general waste bin. It is important not to put it in your recycling bin, as it could contaminate the whole batch.

But it isn’t just PLA containers that contaminate recycling. More than 2,500 tonnes of recycling had to be rejected in Gloucestershire in 2022/23. This included unwashed containers, incorrect items and greasy food packaging. A lot of recycling facilities will wash glass, metal and plastic containers, but excessively greasy paper and cardboard can present a big problem.

How can you help?
Many of us are already aware that takeaway coffee cups are lined with plastic to keep them waterproof, so you cannot put them in household recycling. But new alternatives are starting to emerge like water-based coatings and PHA, a home-compostable material. In the meantime, look out for cafés and companies that are making efforts to use more environmentally friendly packaging, or those who offer discounts for the use of reusable cups.

You could make it a habit to take your own reusable cup or, if not, return your disposable cup to certain coffee shops that have specialist recycling. These currently include Caffè Nero, Costa Coffee, McDonalds and Pret a Manger.

You can also help by washing your takeaway food containers before you throw them into the recycling box. If you have particularly greasy paper or cardboard packaging, such as pizza boxes, tear off the greasy sections and discard these in your main dustbin so they don’t contaminate the recycling.

If you’re really keen to make your mark, why not speak to your favourite coffee shop or takeaway and see if there’s anything they could do to improve their packaging or reduce the amount of rubbish outside? While the litter from fast food packaging is not only damaging the look of our towns, it can also be very costly to local wildlife too.