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Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey

After Plastic: New Eco-Packaging Options Underway

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Frito-Lay, Campbell Soup and other major U.S. players in the food and beauty industries are talking more about sustainability these days. The result is adoption of innovative materials.

Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of recycler TerraCycle, advises, “Bioplastics are meant to be a solution for the world’s plastic waste problem. However, in most cases, biodegradable bioplastics will only break down in a high-temperature industrial composting facility, not in your average household compost bin. Plus, these are not recyclable. A better solution might be to place the focus on durable bioplastics that are made from plant materials, but can still be recycled,”

Entrepreneurs like Daphna Nissenbaum are taking action. As an Israeli mom, she chided her teenage son for trashing rather than recycling plastic water bottles. Yet then, she says, “I realized plastic bottles weren’t the main issue,” when she saw flexible packaging such as chip bags, candy wrappers and go-to containers crammed into the trash. Nissenbaum learned that most flexible packaging isn’t recycled and ends up in landfills, oceans and other places.

Once an orange peel is discarded, it disintegrates biologically and turns to compost, she saw, and committed to engineering packaging to do the same. A graduate of the Israeli Army’s elite software engineering program and with a marketing MBA, her Tipa Corporation has patented bioplastic that acts like plastic. “When composted, the material naturally breaks down in 180 days or less,” she says. Tipa now makes zippered bags, stand-up pouches and packaging for coffee, snacks and produce.


This article appears in the September 2018 issue of Natural Awakenings.

5 Top Tips to Finding Your Next Doctor

1 Keep an Open Mind! Healthcare has come a long way. Today, you have access to practitioners that branch outside of traditional medicine and aim to identify the root causes of conditions while using alternative treatments that may help you get the relief you need. Just because it’s not a pill, doesn’t make it pseudoscience.

2 Build Your Health Care Team. There is no one doctor that can be the be-all-end-all for your health needs. Be sure to have a team of practitioners with different “lenses” and areas of expertise who will treat the root cause and not just the symptom(s).

3   Environment Influences Healing. Health is multi-factorial. Your mental and emotional environment plays a pivotal role in your healing potential. Your doctors and their staff should create an office atmosphere filled with positivity so you can get the most out of your care.

4 Your Story Matters.  Before you begin any treatment, be sure to have a comprehensive consultation to discuss your health concerns. Find practitioners who welcome questions and will take the time to listen and treat you with respect.

5 Report of Findings. When it comes to our health, we often make decisions without understanding the risk versus benefits. Knowledge is an important part of the healing process and is essential to make conscious, informed health decisions. Find practitioners who take the time to explain their exam findings and the recommendations for treatment in ways that make sense to you.

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