UK national newspaper The Guardian has scrapped its polythene packaging in favour of a compostable wrapping made from potato starch, in a bid to reduce its plasticwaste.
The publication’s weekend print edition comes with a variety of supplements that have, up until now, been contained in a polythene wrapping to ensure they reach their audience intact.
Readers of last weekend’s edition will have noticed a difference, however, as the newspaper and its additional inserts were packaged inside a silky translucent, biodegradable material made from potato starch.
As the packaging instructs, consumers should not recycle the wrapping, but should rather dispose of it in either a home compost heap or a food or garden waste bin.
Devoid of any genetically modified substances, the packaging is said to completely compost within six months.
