In its continuous work of research and improvement of the certification schemes, Eco Sphere Academy is not alone: in every reflection, development and updating of the processes it is accompanied by a support and supervision body, the Plastic Free Quality Board, which guarantees trustworthiness, reliability and independence to the PFC activities.

This supervisory body is made up of a heterogeneous team of experts who meet periodically to supervise the Standards and certification processes, the environmental impact calculation procedures, propose updates and suggestions so that the highest quality of services and certifications is always guaranteed. The members of this body include professionals from various sectors, researchers and academics in environmental engineering, experts in sustainable materials, professionals in the world of environmental consultancy and certification, as well as prestigious names in responsible catering and sustainability activists.

Ultimately, the Plastic Free Quality Board represents an important guarantee of the reliability of the Plastic Free certification system.

The Plastic Free Quality Board represents an important guarantee of the reliability of the Plastic Free certification system. Under the conscious guidance of these authoritative professionals, the Plastic Free Quality Board works to guarantee solid and credible certification, which increasingly perfects its message of environmental protection and reduction of the use of plastic.

The Members of the Plastic Free Quality Board are:

Luca Bazzani

Expert in certification and consultancy processes. Consultant and trainer on safety, quality and environment, he supports the OIB.OS.3 Unit of the European Commission at the JRC/JRC of Ispra in the management of Quality certification according to the ISO 9001:2015 standard. he was one of the first drafters of the Standard Plastic Free-Management System.

Prof. Davide Di Battista 

Associate Professor in the sector of Thermal Machines and Energy Systems at the University of L'Aquila, he has published about 90 scientific publications. Since April 2022 he has been the Energy Manager of the University of L'Aquila. In 2022 he coordinated the research group that led to the publication of the scientific article “Carbon Footprint of Single-Use Plastic Items and Their Substitution”.

Chef Mauro Colagreco

Chef of the Mirazur restaurant, in Menton in France, he was recently named a Unesco Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity. In 2019 he obtained the first position in the World's 50 Best Restaurants. For his well-known environmental commitment, he was named Plastic Free Ambassador.

Prof. Leonardo Binetti 

PhD, entrepreneur, investor, materials scientist and engineer. Chief Innovation Officer (R&D) / Founder of AraBat Srl, he worked at Edinburgh Napier University as an associate professor of engineering of metallic, plastic and smart materials.

John Dick

With decades of experience advising on environmental schemes across Europe, John Dick is one of the leading experts in the world of certifications. Founder of Assured Origin LDT.

Chef Dominique Crenn 

"Best female chef in the world" for the World's Fifty Best (year 2016) and the only female chef in the United States to have been awarded three Michelin stars, for her restaurant Atelier Crenn, in San Francisco, California. Chef Domique Crenn has developed a food philosophy that promotes healthy living for the planet and is a Plastic Free ambassador.

Maria Castorani

Expert in compostable solutions.

Chef Luca Mattioli 

Sous-chef and innovation manager of the Mirazur restaurant, Luca Mattioli spreads sustainability approaches in the food sector and not only in every part of the world.

Sarua Cinquegrana

President of Eco Sphere Academy.

Prof. Andrea Cinocca 

Engineer for the environment and the territory, Ph.D. in Energy Engineering and "EGE - Expert in Energy Management" . Professor at the University of Teramo and consultant in the energy sector for companies and institutions.

Chef Davide Di Fabio

After 16 years at Osteria Francescana, in 2021 he began his adventure at the Dalla Gioconda restaurant in Gabicce Mare, where he immediately applied sustainability and Plastic Free choices, obtaining both a Michelin star and a green star in 2022.

Prof. Danilo Di Emidio 

Ph.D in Psychology at the University of East London. Plastic Free consultant and manager of sustainability projects in the English academic world.

With great pride we announce the launch of a new Eco Sphere Academy certification dedicated to products. This certification will help a greater number of companies to make their own contribution to the reduction of plastic waste, allowing even a single product to be certified as Plastic Free.

The decision to develop the Plastic Free certification for products was born in relation to the different needs of the companies we have dealt with. In fact, the certification of the plastic waste management system has not always been applicable in a short time to manufacturing companies and the food industry.

The goal of this certification is to help brands communicate to their customers the choices made in terms of the choice of sustainable materials and therefore the ethical value of a product in which fossil-based plastic is absent or replaced by compostable alternatives.

Through the Plastic Free certification for products, companies will be able to avoid the risk of false accusations of greenwashing and be more attractive to customers who are attentive to the issue of sustainability.

The plastic free certification for products was carried out in collaboration with Control Union and Race for Water who collaborated with us to define the Plastic Free product certification standard.

Control Union is a leading international certification body with extensive experience in developing certification standards.

The Race for Water Foundation focuses on protecting our oceans from plastic waste and has offered their expert advice and critical review during the standard's redevelopment.

Companies wishing to apply for certification can find more information on our website (on the Plastic Free product certification page) and on the Control Union website. Additionally, we recommend those interested in applying for certification to register for our free webinar, scheduled for Wednesday 2nd November at 9:30 am and again at 4:00 pm (UK time). This webinar (in English) will cover all the details needed to understand the new certification, including:

• What has changed between the previous version of the Plastic Free Certification, and this new iteration
• The six different categories and how they each apply
• How the new scheme deals with bio-based, compostable plastic alternatives
• What the new process of certification looks like
• Details of the new logo

Here are the statements of the leaders of the three organizations involved.

Franco Costantini, MD of Control Union UK, states:

“It is exciting to see this standard re-launching. The previous version was highly successful, and this new iteration will build on that, bringing increased robustness, a greater range of categories and clarity on how to deal with bio-based, compostable plastic alternatives. We believe it is ideally placed to help brands communicate clearly with their consumers that they are taking plastic waste seriously, by making a Plastic Free claim consumers can trust.”

Giuseppe Sarua Cinquegrana, President of Eco Sphere Academy, comments:

“We are thrilled to propose an important certification tool for products without any contamination from inorganic plastics. After the certification of plastic free company management systems and that of plastic free events, we have found in the international market a great need for a solution for products. The plastic free certification for products developed in collaboration with Control Union UK will finally be able to give recognition to alternative solutions without plastic components, both in the source material, both in the content and in the packaging, giving life to a new reliable and crystalline environmental responsibility mark.”

And Camille Rollin, General Director of Race for Water adds:

“Transparency on the composition of materials, packaging and products is a key element to help consumers and companies make enlightened choices regarding their impacts on the environment. This new standard provides the guarantee of the absence of conventional plastic which is made from fossil fuel, which creates alarming level of contamination to human health and the environment during its production, use, and end of life. Hopefully this new standard will motivate our society to go even further to put in place new production and consumption patterns, free from single use products and free from toxic chemicals. As it is in nature, zero waste production of any kind should be our common goal. Any materials, packaging, products should always be designed to remain in the loop harmlessly!”

Introduction

The French Ecological Transition Agency (ADEME), published a report last May entitled "The limits of compostable plastic packaging." In this communication, the institution states that "the choice of compostable plastic packaging is (...) not a solution to the problem of pollution generated by plastics in the environment" and "recommends that residents put compostable plastic packaging in the (conventional plastic) recycling bin rather than in the stream intended for composting" (of organic waste). It then informs that "compostable plastic packaging is separated from the recyclable waste stream and sent with other waste, generally to energy recovery," i.e., to incineration or pyrolysis.[4] 

The reasons given allude to the inability, at the current state of the art, of composting facilities and related regulations administering them, to properly manage this waste.

This warning is to be contextualized in the broader framework of the so-called Agec (Anti-gaspillage pour une économie circulaire) anti-waste law of 2020 with which France transposes the 2019 European Single Use Plastics (SUP) Directive. The latter, in fact, includes bioplastics in the definition of plastics, thus inviting member states to apply the identical restrictive measures to plastics of fossil origin and compostable materials of plant origin. [5]

Like France, other European countries have also aligned with this approach, such as Portugal, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, etc., which have abolished bioplastic alternatives along with plastic plates, cups, straws, and containers. Italy, on the other hand, has taken up the issue with some exemptions that allow the use of compostable disposables instead of fossil-based plastics.[1, 2]

The Eco Sphere Academy's position

This situation has stimulated an intense international debate on the topic of compostable bioplastics, which understandably causes confusion and disorientation in the definition of environmental sustainability strategies of many responsible realities and stakeholders. In light of this, it is therefore appropriate to specify Eco Sphere Academy's position on the matter.

Undoubtedly, the European SUP Directive is an important step forward in addressing the emergency of single-use fossil plastic pollution in Europe by abolishing the marketing of many single-use items with a high environmental impact. However, we believe that a priori discouraging the use of compostable single-use, along with conventional plastic, and consequently curbing the industrial innovation processes that many realities are pursuing, is a short-sighted, anachronistic and counterproductive strategy

Indeed, in many cases, the substitution of single-use items is not possible.

This is true for the vast majority of sanitary products, for much primary and secondary packaging of food and non-food items, for some food storage products, as well as for numerous situations in which sanitary regulations and market contingencies force caterers and event organizers to use single-use products. A few examples: can you imagine reusable food wrap? Or reusable food vacuum bags? Or reusable garbage bags?

That is why the Eco Sphere Academy strategy proposes a prioritization of reduction actions that in some cases suggests items made of compostable bioplastics, albeit against the recommendations of some national jurisdictions. Without prejudice to the fact that compliance with the legislative framework in force in the various territories remains an essential prerequisite for organizations wishing to certify, according to our Standard, single-use compostable plastics remain an acceptable and preferable Plastic Free solution compared to the use of single-use plastics of fossil origin, for all cases in which it is not possible to opt for alternatives that eliminate single-use. 

Specifically, organizations that certify on our Plastic Free Standard - Management System, are required to evaluate the least environmentally impactful solutions, and only in cases where it is not possible to implement them, for reasonable and demonstrable reasons, may further types of actions be opted for, in the order set forth below:

1. Elimination of the item from the production and/or supply chain;
2. Replacement with a durable article;
3. Reuse of the article multiple times;
4. Replacement with a COMPOST HOME certified disposable article;
5. Replacement with a disposable article certified UNI EN 13432 (COMPOSTABLE);  
6. Recycling of the article for other purposes.

Insight

We present the reasons for this choice in Table 1 below, which compares the characteristics of disposable products made of conventional plastic with those made of compostable materials. The information gathered objectively and unequivocally

Conclusion

Eco Sphere Academy believes that the choice of bioplastics, in many cases, represents a viable alternative and an act of responsible consumption, an alternative that, unlike fossil-derived plastics, does not fuel the petroleum industry, does not require countless processing, does not release toxic substances, does not have shamefully low recycling rates and huge degradation times.

It is therefore deemed of strategic and fundamental importance that political and civic institutions incentivize the development of production and disposal systems for these materials in order to promote a complete conversion to compostable of inevitable disposable materials, instead of slowing down this process by preserving the obsolescence of national waste management systems.

References:

1. L.Brugnara,  “La direttiva sulla plastica monouso e le risposte dei paesi UE”, Osservatorio sui Conti Pubblici Italiani, 1 July 2021. https://osservatoriocpi.unicatt.it/ocpi-DirSUP_OCPI.pdf 
2. L.Copello, G.Haut, F.Mongodin, “Single Use Plastics Directive Implementation Assessment Report”, Sep 2022. https://rethinkplasticalliance.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/SUP-Implemetation-Assessment-Report.pdf  
3. L. Di Paolo, S. Abbate, E. Celani, D. Di. Battista , G. Candeloro, “Carbon Footprint of Single-Use Plastic Items and Their Substitution”, MDPI, 10 Dec 2022.   https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/24/16563 
4. AVIS de l'ADEME: Les limites des emballages en plastique compostables, May 2023.  https://librairie.ademe.fr/dechets-economie-circulaire/6283-avis-de-l-ademe-les-limites-des-emballages-en-plastique-compostables.html 
5. “Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options, Global Plastics Outlook”, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 22 Feb 2022.  https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/environment/global-plastics-outlook_de747aef-en 
6. Standard UNI EN 13432:2002  "Requirements for packaging recoverable by composting and biodegradation."
7. “World Oil & Gas Review 2014”, Eni. https://www.eni.com/assets/documents/eng/company/world-oil-gas-review/2014/O-G-2014.pdf 
8. “Bioplastiche compostabili, già superati gli obiettivi di legge per il 2025”, Biorepack, 14. Dec.22. https://biorepack.org/comunicazione/news/bioplastiche-compostabili-superati-obiettivi-di-legge-2025.kl 
9. “Questions & Answers - Guidance on the application of Single-Use Plastic rules”,  European Commission, 31 May 2021. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/QANDA_21_2709 
10. "Scopri perché conviene utilizzare un bicchiere di plastica", Ekoe Società Cooperativa, 2022. https://www.ekoe.org/scopri-perche-conviene-utilizzare-un-bicchiere-compostabile-anziche-un-bicchiere-di-plastica/ 

It is finally possible to know the impact of our system certification.

The research conducted in collaboration with the Department of Industrial Engineering and Economics of the University of L'Aquila on the evaluation of the Carbon Footprint of the replacement of single-use plastic has been concluded.

The research group, coordinated by Dr. Davide Di Battista, analyzed the Eco Sphere Academy methodology with the aim of valorizing the emissions of equivalent carbon dioxide avoided thanks to actions of reduction, elimination or replacement of disposable plastic objects. The policies of reduction or elimination of disposable plastics of fossil origin, in fact, have an evident impact on the reduction of direct pollution of plastic waste, but also have the effect of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the cycle of life of these components.

The developed procedure started from a careful and voluminous bibliographic research of scientific articles, international reports and publications on LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) analysis and carbon footprint of disposable plastic objects. This research has made it possible to obtain the CO2 equivalent values ​​emitted during the life cycle (from when the raw materials to make it are extracted from the subsoil, up to the management of the end of life, passing through all the stages of production, assembly, transport, distribution, use, disposal) of certain products or categories of plastic products. The research has therefore made it possible to create summary matrices, where a value of kgCO2eq per kg of plastic has been identified for each category of product and material.

Subsequently, the research focused on the substitution hypothesis. Therefore, the literature analysis on product categories was repeated also considering biodegradable plastic materials (PLA, PHA, bio-PET, bio-PE, etc.), but also paper, tetrapak, kraftpaper and wood and objects in multi-use material (glass, aluminum).

This will allow each Eco Sphere Academy certified body to obtain the exact data on the impact of its reduction actions and any more sustainable replacements, and to know how many kg of CO2 equivalent are saved by applying the Eco Sphere Academy certification procedure.