How to Reduce Food Packaging Waste

What's The Problem With Packaging Waste?

The first and most obvious is the massive amount of trash it leaves behind. Almost all plastic food containers are produced from petroleum, a polluting fossil fuel that the renewable energy sector is working to phase out. While using renewable energy sources may help the environment, purchasing plastic packaging still contributes to the oil industry.

About 430,000 gallons of oil are required to produce 100,000,000 plastic bags by plastic packaging manufacturers. Although this may not seem significant, 380 billion plastic bags are used every year. It's easy to see how we can get to this number when you consider that the average family uses 60 grocery bags over the course of four trips to the store.

Current Issues Regarding Food Packaging and Sustainability

Convenience, portability, and occasionally social considerations and design are at the forefront of many of the new products entering the global food packaging market, where competition is fierce. Some of the innovations on the market claim to be sustainable without a thorough and fair evaluation of their overall environmental benefit, but they are only sustainable in terms of the resources they use (bio-based) or the end-of-life (biodegradable). For example, the amount of renewable resources used in the formulation of materials varies greatly, and the materials may or may not be readily compostable, despite widespread claims to the contrary. None of these innovations made any claims about being long-term solutions to the problem of food waste.

Numerous research efforts have been directed towards enhancing bio-packaging choices, such as the utilisation of bio-based packaging materials made from renewable resources and/or biodegradable materials. However, stakeholders in the packaging industry are up against the challenge of fixing certain technical problems with these bio-packaging materials, which prevent their widespread adoption. Some of the technical challenges preventing their widespread adoption by packaging manufacturers include the unpredictability of the raw materials used and a limited processing window in comparison to their more common oil-based alternatives.

Stakeholders aren't taking full advantage of the economic, societal, and environmental opportunities presented by bio-packaging innovations and packaging in general because they lack the tools to help them tailor packaging to food needs (such as fitting packaging mass transfer properties to food requirements).

Why Should You Reduce It?

The majority of trash that is eventually disposed of in landfills and the ocean is food packaging. These materials rarely biodegrade and can remain in the environment for a very long time. Both marine and terrestrial animals frequently mistake plastics and food packaging for their natural prey. They either swallow it or become entangled in it, both of which can be fatal. 

In addition to helping the environment, buying food without packaging can help you save money. The cost of the packaging should be considered. Even if it doesn't seem like much right now, that expense will add up. 

Furthermore, food packaging has an effect on the environment due to its carbon footprint. About 5 per cent of the power required to produce a food item is expended on the collection of materials for packaging, production, and disposal in landfills. 

If that's enough to get you thinking about how you can cut down on your own waste, here are some ways to lessen your impact on the environment when you shop. 

Benefits Of Reducing Packaging Waste

Many construction businesses underestimate the true cost of packaging waste. The costs on your site can come from:

• To save money on supplies, consider reusing your old packaging.
• Avoid being surprised by high on-the-job expenses when dealing with trash. This includes not only the labour involved in removing trash and loading it into skips but also the expense of bringing in and setting up new materials in the affected areas.
• Skip rentals, fuel for garbage trucks, and landfill entry fees all add up to a hefty tab when it comes time to dispose of garbage. Stricter regulations on what can and cannot be accepted for disposal and significant increases in the landfill tax have resulted in an increase in landfill fees as a means for site operators to recoup the costs incurred by these factors.
• Loss of income: even if it's not possible to recycle or reuse something on-site, there's still probably a way to make some money off of it.

Environmental Benefits Of Reducing Packaging Waste

Your company must make environmental and financial considerations when making decisions about packaging waste. The advantages of ecologically responsible packaging waste management include the following:

• utilising less power in the packaging waste management process
• lowering the potential for pollution incidents caused by trash fires
• decreasing GHG emissions overall and landfill-generated methane in particular
• lowering the volume of landfill leachates
• reduction of hazardous waste's impact on the environment
• decreasing demand for newly-mined resources in the packaging industry

Practical Ways To Reduce Food Packaging Waste

The issue of overusing single-use plastic bags poses a serious threat to the natural world, despite its apparent simplicity. 

Polythene bag littering has become a major problem that blocks drains during the rainy season, pollutes the soil, and results in the death of animals that mistake the bags for food. The typical lifespan of a plastic bag is only 20 minutes, while it takes 400 years to decompose naturally.

To combat this issue, the most practical solution is to adopt the BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) approach. People can bring their own cloth or jute bags when shopping, or use environmentally friendly paper bags sold in most supermarkets, department stores, and shopping centers. Refusing plastic bags also means avoiding the use of produce bags for items that are already individually wrapped.

When shopping for groceries, it is preferable to choose glass or paper packaging over plastic or Styrofoam. Bulk items like grains, lentils, vegetables, dry foods, fish, poultry, and meat should be purchased to reduce the use of plastic food packaging. Locally sourced meat and fish suppliers can use wax paper to wrap their products, while eggs should be purchased in moulded pulp cartons made from recycled paper. Airtight glass jars and metal containers are also long-term eco-friendly options for storing goods.

The use of plasticware during lunch breaks is a significant contributor to the 6 million tonnes of plastic trash that end up in the world's oceans annually. Individuals can reduce their use of single-use plasticware by bringing their own metal cutlery or silverware to work. Eco-friendly flatware and pocket cutlery sets are also alternatives. If possible, individuals should choose packaging that does not involve plastic when placing an online food order.

Meat and meat products are often packaged in non-recyclable plastic, which contributes to environmental degradation. Individuals can reduce their reliance on non-biodegradable food packaging by consuming more vegetables and less meat. This diet change will not only be good for their health but also reduce the amount of pollution in the atmosphere.

Proper disposal of waste is as important as reducing the use of non-biodegradable materials. Individuals can compost food scraps, cardboard boxes, and paper products in their backyard or research recycling programs in their area. By taking these small steps, individuals can make a significant contribution to protecting the environment.