Food Packaging and Sustainability

Phys.org recently released an article on the importance of sustainable food packaging.  In recent years, there has been a revolution in the food packaging industry.  The way that we sell and package our foods has a huge impact on the environment.  It has become incredibly important to develop sustainable packaging materials that are able to keep foods fresh and safe.  The key is to package foods with materials that can be recycled and composted.  It’s also important for renewable energy to be used in the process of packaging.

Sustainable food packaging has been widely implemented in the food industry.  Some of the most popular examples are thinner plastic water bottles and potato chip bags that can be composted.  The article showed that while glass can be renewed, it often takes a significant amount of fuel to re-use which usually surpasses the value of the material.

Data taken from the food industry shows that from 2005 through 2010, sustainable packaging helped to keep over 1.5 billion pounds of paper, plastic and other packaging material out of landfills.  That is an impressive number!  Some of the biggest challenges in reusable packaging include plastic bottles, food trays and cutlery.  It is not certain how long the degradation process takes for these items to breakdown.

One of the most promising avenues in packaging sustainability involves edible packaging.  There is already technology in place to make edible packaging and it is already being implemented in Brazil.  Many companies all over the world are starting to explore and experiment with making food wraps from dried fruit, mushrooms, nuts and other materials.

While there is still a lot of research and experiments needed to produce both sustainable and edible packaging, progress is well on its way.

Guest post is submitted by Food Trade Consultants, a leading food business consulting company that helps people succeed in the food industry.  Check out the foodtradeconsultants website for more information.