Whether you’re dining out or getting takeaway, condiments such as ketchup, mayo and vinegar often come in single-use plastic sachets. They’re sold to us as convenient, but are they really? If you’ve ever tried opening one, you’ll know what a pain they can be. There’s all that effort of wrestling with an impossibly small packet to access never enough ketchup. You’ll probably need to open another two, but by now your hands are so greasy, you have to bite the packets open with your teeth. Convenient they are not.
Clonakilty is fed up with them. Starting last November, the west Cork town set itself the goal of phasing out single-use plastic sachets before the start of the next tourist season.
It’s not just that the sachets are a pain to use, they are wasteful too, says Waste Not, Want Not, a community approach to food waste in the town. Stakeholders include Clonakilty Tidy Towns, community groups and schools, supported by environmental charity Voice Ireland.
Condiment sachets present a double whammy of food waste and plastic waste combined, says Waste Not, Want Not. Many of these sachets go in the bin, unopened. Others are binned half full. Not to mention the energy and materials used to manufacture them.
Although a 10ml sachet might seem like a small amount of food, all of the resources necessary to make ketchup, mayo or butter are used in that tiny amount, says Clonakilty Tidy Towns.
The plastic and foil packets are made from fossil fuels. About 855 billion of them are sold globally every year, according to UK environmental organisation, A Plastic Planet.
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Their complex design and small size makes them virtually impossible to recycle – they either end up as litter, clogging waterways and harming wildlife, or in landfill where they can take 500 to 1,000 years to decompose.
Sachets are a genius move for someone, though. Products sold this way, from condiments to shampoo and cosmetics, are many times more expensive by volume than bigger containers. Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Nestle are among the biggest producers.
There have been calls for governments to outlaw single-use sachets, but Clonakilty isn’t waiting.
Their campaign asks businesses in the town to embrace reusable solutions, enlisting Clonakilty Community College students to spread the word. Businesses are offered information and financial support to make the switch to options such as dispensers, squeezy bottles and ramekins.
Clonakilty Chamber of Commerce is on board.
“Not only is it environmentally savvy, but the sachets also cost 15 cent, so if you replace those sachets with ramekins or containers, it’s not only better for the environment, it’s much better for your pocket too,” says a chamber spokeswoman.
The Green Dot cafe in the town only uses ramekins for its sauces, butter and jam. The Emmet Hotel, Chunky Chip, Scannells Bar, The Fig & Olive, Imperial Hotel, Fernhill House, Dunmore House and Camus Farm restaurant are among others already sachet-free too.
Single-use sachets are a small but powerful symbol of a throw-away culture we have become inured to.
The next time you order food, refuse sachets. Signal you want a more convenient, reusable and cheaper option by asking for a ramekin or squeezy bottle instead.
