As Britain is making a conscious effort to reduce the number of plastic bags in circulation due to its overuse and long life span, did you know it is actually one of the most sustainable packaging materials? There is a stigma attached to plastic packaging with many people believing that a lot of energy is used to make it and that it is environmentally unfriendly.

However, when it comes to packaging there is no better material. If plastics were not used in packaging and other materials were used instead, then waste and energy consumption would double, and weight and costs would quadruple. Not a lot of energy actually goes into the production of plastic and if you wondered why we don’t use paper bags over plastic bags; it’s because more energy is needed to produce them.

Polypropylene is recycled in many of its applications such as pallets and crates. It is actually more energy efficient to make than other plastics and products significantly less CO2 emissions than others as well.

It is a totally recyclable material and it’s reusable which makes for long life products but only if it is reused. Woven polypropylene sacks are considered to be the strongest packaging bags used, to pack materials such as seeds, fertilisers, sand, metal parts, concrete, garden or document waste. Woven sacks are made by using a number of polypropylene threads woven in two directions to form a very light but strong fabric for packing of materials.

Recent policies were implanted in an attempt to make a positive impact on the planet as when these products aren’t recycled or reused they become a pollutant. The reality is that alternatives are more expensive and may be less energy efficient to manufacture.