Worldwide Leaders of Fresh Produce Industry to Meet with Compost Organizations in Niagara Falls, Canada on October 1st 2024
Price Look Up (PLU) stickers will be center stage in a first-ever, worldwide meeting between the fresh produce industry and compost organizations in Niagara Falls, Canada, on October 1st with the objective of establishing a global compostable standard for PLUs.
PLUs, integral in helping accurately and effectively identify fresh produce for traceability, inventory control and pricing at retail, are predominantly non-compostable. Currently, a significant portion of discarded PLU stickers accompany fresh produce waste that is being sent for organics recycling, including consumer-sourced organic waste as well as waste from commercial and business sources. These stickers end up being difficult to remove, physically contaminating the organics recycling process and adversely impacting the finished compost quality and value.
Recognizing this impact, the fresh produce industry has identified the need to develop and adopt certified compostable PLUs. However, because of the nature of global sourcing of produce year-round and the potential regional variability of composting processing requirements, there is benefit for both the composting and fresh produce industry to develop and work towards the adoption of a single global standard for compostability that is compatible with compost standards around the world.
In an effort to accelerate the development and transition towards compostable PLUs worldwide, both the fresh produce and organics recycling industries will be meeting in Niagara Falls, Canada, on October 1st to develop the framework to create this global standard.
Attendance includes representatives from the fresh produce industry, including members of the International Federation of Produce Standards (IFPS), the International Compost Alliance (ICA) and the PLU label industry. The REA, the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology, is participating as a member of the ICA. The meeting is being jointly organized by the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA) and the Compost Council of Canada, with the support of the Government of Canada.
“CPMA is pleased to see the Government of Canada committed to supporting the industry’s efforts to develop a global standard for compostable PLU stickers. The PLU is an integral part of the fresh produce supply chain, helping ensure accurate product identification thereby ensuring accurate pricing for consumers”, said CPMA President Ron Lemaire. “This must be a global effort. The adoption of compostable PLUs – a priority identified in the CPMA’s compostable PLU guidance published in 2023 – is an international priority given the risk of compostable PLU requirements varying from country to country. Individualized or unique national efforts will only add burden to a complex supply chain and potentially disrupt food security efforts.”
“Moving to a certified compostable format for PLUs is a priority for organics recycling facilities,” said Jenny Grant, Head of Organics at the REA. “The current plasticized format cannot be easily removed during the organics recycling process and can result in the collected organics being sent to landfill, contributing to climate change and diminishing an important resource to build soil health. Recognizing the global sourcing network for produce, the members of the International Compost Alliance are keen to work out the solution to help the produce industry transition to certified compostable PLU stickers.”
The outcome of this global meeting will be published in October 2024, with further engagement with the fresh produce industry and organics recycling industry planned for Autumn 2024 into early 2025.
About the International Compost Alliance (ICA)
The International Compost Alliance is comprised of:
The Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA);
The Australian Organics Recycling Association (AORA);
Compost Council of Canada (CCC);
European Compost Network (ECN);
International Solid Waste Association (ISWA);
CRÉ – Composting and Anaerobic Digestion Association of Ireland;
WasteMINZ (Waste Management Institute of New Zealand);
The United States Composting Council (USCC); and
The Compost Research & Education Foundation (CREF)
The purpose of the alliance is for organics recycling organizations around the world to work collaboratively to maximize the recycling of organic wastes and advance the manufacturing of certified, high-quality compost to benefit the environment, society and our members.
Currently, over 83 million tonnes of biowaste are recycled every year around the world. Not only does this recycle over 1 million tonnes of plant macro-nutrients, but, through storing carbon in soil and offsetting fertilizer use, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents – an equivalent of driving an average car for 36 billion kilometres (23 billion miles); almost 95 thousand times the distance between the earth and the moon!
Despite our current success globally, our annual potential could be increased over 12-fold if all of the world’s unavoidable organic residuals were collected separately and composted.