We've joined forces with Vegware to launch a compostables collection service

We’ve teamed up with market leaders Vegware to launch this service with customer engagement at its heart. 

Our new service will see compostable packaging collected as a separate waste stream and sent to an in-vessel composting facility, enVar, in Cambridgeshire where it is transformed into compost in a 7-week cycle. Used in agriculture, horticulture and landscaping, compost provides soil with a slow release of vital nutrients and improves soil structure, reducing flood risk. 

Andy Sibley, Managing Director of enVar Composting Ltd received the waste from the trial scheme:  

“I am pleased with the way Vegware’s products work through enVar’s composting process. Working together with Vegware, Paper Round and customers, we continue to reduce contamination through this exciting new waste stream.” 

Why use compostables? 

Used in the right circumstances compostables are a great alternative to disposables in the food service sector in situations where it is not realistic to remove food residues from packaging and service items like plates. Designed to be commercially composted with food residues, your salad container, cutlery and food scraps can go straight into your compostables bin. To realise their full environmental benefits, a suitable service must be put in place.

That’s where we step in.   

What’s different about our service?  

Our partnership will uniquely focus on educating businesses on compostables and best practice recycling. For instance, although leftover food residues are accepted, contamination from other recyclables and waste must be kept to minimal levels to meet the requirements of composting sites.  In collaboration with Vegware, Paper Round will support compostable scheme launches and provide training to make sure that contamination is kept to a minimum, so your waste gets the best environmental outcome. Quality is checked with systematic audits at participating sites. 

Bill Swan, Paper Round’s Managing Director added, “We are excited to launch this new product after successful trials with several Vegware customers. Our trials uncovered the importance of engagement and education to keep contamination levels low. Before launching a composting service, we wanted to make sure that we had a system that would deliver a viable waste stream for processors. After testing with a range of customer types we are now confident that this is possible.”   

Commenting on the new service, Vegware’s Environmental and Communications Director Lucy Frankel said: “Caterers can only return to work with a major focus on safety and distancing. In the current environment disposables are in greater demand than ever, and sustainability is still paramount. We share Paper Round’s focus on quality source segregation and are pleased to see the effectiveness of our pilots. We are proud to launch this new composting solution to enable London, Brighton and Sussex to compost used Vegware disposables.”

Join us to learn more
To find out more about our new service, sign up to our webinar on Wednesday 27th May at 11am. Hosted by Paper Round and Vegware, you'll learn:

• What are compostable foodservice disposables?
• How they are composted?
• About how a composting collection works in practice, analysing waste audit data from our pilot scheme
• How the new scheme might work for you