VIA INO21 Challenge 2: Rethink And Reuse Take Away Packaging

To participate in this challenge it is required that you are a student at VIA University College Engineering and take part in the Innovation weeks in week 5 and 6.

In Aarhus you find plenty of take away places that hand out food in some kind of packaging. Often it either consists of- or contains plastic, since plastic is both cheap and durable. No matter the type of material, the packaging OFTEN becomes a by-product and a residue, which is thrown out as it is difficult, or even impossible, to recycle. This means that the packaging ends up in trash cans and the resources are lost. Or even worse, it ends up as litter in the nature or around the city.

In 2025, a new law called "producentansvarsordningen" require manufacturers of one-time-use packaging to be responsible for the product life cycle. Presumably, this implies that manufacturers will be charged a fee depending on how friendly their packaging is to the environment.

In Denmark a similar scheme exists for cars, batteries and electronics. Furthermore, the deposit of bottles and cans for certain beverage packaging is also a part of having product responsibility. This illustrates that a broadened responsibility for products can be both in the form of recycling and reuse, which can be of inspiration for future takeaway packaging.

How can Aarhus as a whole, including the restauration business, help each other in minimizing litter coming from take away places? 

Bonus information: At the moment Aarhus Kommune is working on a new focus area in their plastic strategy. This deals with the take away segment and how the amount of plastic kan be minimized when it comes to take away. It can either be done by taking the plastic out of the products, recycling or be part of the Danish return system for bottles and cans.