Unwrapped: Why are we still using plastic food packaging?
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You’d think that plastic food packaging would be enough to solve Europe’s food waste problem. The reason why most of our food is packaged in a supermarket is because it keeps our produce ‘fresher’ right? A tomato that is wrapped in plastic lasts twice as long, whereas a cucumber lasts even three times as long thanks to its new plastic jacket. Since the introduction of plastic food covering in 1950s, the pile of plastic waste generated from our consumption habits has increased enormously, not to mention large amounts of food waste around the world.
Within the European Union alone, the associated costs of food waste were estimated to be around 143 billion euros worth in 2015. For many this is just a large number, to put it in perspective: if global food waste were to be a country, it would be just behind the USA & China in terms of annual greenhouse gas emissions. Data suggests that the waste streams of both plastic and food waste are growing parallel while you would expect that longer shelf-life of fresh foods would reduce food waste.
‘Most plastic products become waste in the same year in which they were produced’
Nevertheless, we cannot fully deny that plastic food covering does have a protective function for some fresh produce, and there might be an increased risk of products spoiling even faster when there is no protection for certain products at all. Next to the protective function of packaging, it provides information along with marketing purposes. Biological fruits and vegetables are packaged differently compared to other ‘standard’ produce. Luckily, for some of these problems, the solution of “natural laser branding” has been found, which coincides with the European strategy of eliminating all non-recyclable packaging by 2030.
When we talk about plastics in Europe, landfilling (31%) and incineration (39%) are the dominant approaches to managing plastic waste. This is because less than 30% of the consumers plastic waste is collected for recycling, most of which is exported out of Europe.
But what are the alternatives for the ‘plastic jackets’?
Scientists at Wageningen University are working on the development of alternative sustainable packaging materials compared to fossil, non-biodegradable plastics. Next to developing new materials for select fresh produce, cardboard (which already has a well-functioning recycling system in place) is suggested to be used as a sturdy alternative. For the products that need the extra protection, Wageningen scientists are working on new innovative ideas to ensure protection, quality and freshness. One of the new developments that is patented by Wageningen Food & Biobased research, is dynamic packaging that responds to the ambient temperature and the needs of the product, which keeps it fresh much longer on the shelves.
What can you do to avoid buying too much plastic food packaging?
We, as consumers, do agree that manufacturers and supermarkets should act upon plastic package reduction. In a survey by the EU, 94% replied that they would like to see the use of plastic packaging decrease. Whereas 54% said that they are actively trying to buy non-plastic packaged products. So what can we do to avoid buying more plastic than we want?
Pre-prepared and convenience foods are often necessary to be packaged.These products such as pre-cut fruit and vegetables or prepackaged sandwiches can easily be replaced by bringing your own food in a reusable (steel) food container and just cutting your own apple.
Next to that, small format packaging for items such as sugar, coffee-milk, cookies and mini-chocolate bars represent 10% of the packaging market by weight, especially the items are most vulnerable to leakage into the environment due to their small and light qualities. A big amount of the marine litter that we see nowadays, consists of these small plastic wrappers. Buy bulk, it’s also cheaper!
Invest in reusable bags, jars, containers and bread bags for your produce, preferably made of something other than plastics. Do research on food, and where to store it for maximum freshness even after a few days! In this case, knowledge is power.
Are you a tourism company trying to reduce your plastic footprint? We can help you with and together we can #GoGreenForTheBigBlue.
Would you like to get more information about this article or have other questions? You can send an email to babet@seagoinggreen.org
Sources:
https://www.wur.nl/en/show-longread/The-packaging-of-food-how-to-minimalise-environmental-impact.htm