"Only consumers can really make a difference"
Interview with 2019 Green Alley Award finalist Flustix
Flustix from Germany competed against more than 250 startups and made it to the Green Alley Award finals! Flustix has invented a consumer trustmark to increase transparency and raise awareness amongst consumers. Differently coloured trustmarks indicate whether products and/or packaging are free of plastics and microplastics or are made of recyclates. Producers that want their products to be certified have to pass a thorough examination by an independent certification body. Read all about their idea and the challenges ahead.
# Why do you think a consumer trustmark will help changing people’s mindset from take, make, dispose to reduce, reuse, recycle?
Only consumers can really make a difference. Consumers need a reliable orientation, which is independently and transparently proven and awarded. Only Flustix with its established testing and license partners RAL, DIN CERTCO, TUV and the Wessling Group reliably offers this in the area of plastics.
# Every other big food retailer is currently launching their own “trustmark”. How will you compete against these big industry players and what is your USP?
The proliferation of self-declarations is increasingly being criticized. In the micro-plastic-free area, individuals cannot prove their promises analytically - here it is only a matter of time until it becomes obvious to everyone. In the recycling sector, there is currently no independent control and thus no evidence for the claimed percentage of recycled materials used, the origin of the recyclates and / or the toxins that may be present in the recycled materials used. In this respect, these are purely advertising statements. NGOs, consumer protection associations and politics will demand and enforce a uniform and independent standard. Moreover, "the advertising claims" will not be of any relevance in the course of the “VerpackG” as well as in the current amendment of the “Kreislaufwirtschaftsgesetz (KrWG)”. An independent and accredited assessment will be necessary. This is what Flustix offers.
# Where would you like to see Flustix in a year?
Everywhere at the POS.