Packaged food caters to our busy schedules better than cooked food. As a result, the food packaging industry is facing a huge boom. But can we say the same for our environment? With rising consumerism, the environment has to pay the price of being literally “smothered in plastic”.
The Three P Link- Packaging, Production and Pollution
During the early production stages of food packaging, the food packaging suppliers in the UK can’t help but negatively affect the environment. From the overuse of natural resources for manufacturing the raw materials of the packaging material to contributing to the exhaustion of synthetic ingredients, packaging production is taking us miles away from achieving sustainability.
For paper or cardboard production, wood is the chief raw material. The production of packing material comprises four stages- deforestation, pulping, processing and printing. Vast areas of forest area are cleared to provide raw material which in turn leads to deforestation, soil erosion, desertification and even water shortage. This also leads to climate change. Plus, there is an added problem of soil, air and water pollution due to mismanagement of the raw material leftovers like metal dust, paper chaff, etc.
Exhaustion of Secondary Resources During Food Packaging Production
Most drinks suppliers the UK admit that pulp, metals or synthetic products used as packaging raw materials are not the only costs to the environment. Converting wood into thin paper packaging uses up energy as well as chemicals. For storing beverages, paper packing is not enough and needs flexible plastic or paraffin coating, glass, board, rigid metal, etc.
Further, there is an enormous amount of water used in the processes. One of the deeper implications of the food packaging business lies with the “land footprint”, which is actually the loss of useful land for harvesting required raw materials.
Safety Issues Involved in the Food Packaging Business
The quality of the packaging is as important in determining the safety of the product as is the stored food itself. A lack of awareness about the security of food packaging among the manufacturing companies can prove to be a serious hazard. There are some packaging materials that contain toxic or harmful components which can seep into the stored food and ruin it. In order to cut down on any mishaps during food package labelling, it is important to cater to all possible safety and quality standards.
Proper hygiene of the package manufacture house is a must and human errors during production must be avoided. For instance, the printing ink used on the packages shipped by online grocery shopping companies in the UK should not contain dangerous ingredients that can propagate through the package and react with the food. In case of glass bottles, deformations and sharp glass shards can be hazardous.
Hazards Involved While Transporting Food Package
Apart from the production stage, the food packages can cause major emissions during their transportation. A catering company can take care of this by using flexible lightweight packaging which is space-efficient during transportation and thereby reduces carbon print. Recently, a large amount of plastic food package debris was found floating in the Pacific, most of which comes from package shipping, oil rigs and waste from the continents.
World of Pain Due to the Waste Generated From Food Packaging
The waste that is generated by the food packaging companies UK is both huge and difficult to dispose of.
According to sustainability research experts, multi-layered packaging that is used for storing dry preserved food or even tetra packs for beverages pose the worst environmental hazard. For example, a standard chip bag contains up to seven films of plastic and metal foil. A non-biodegradable package used for storing single-serve foods like coffee or yoghurt is rendered more and more non-recyclable if it is of small size and sports multilayer. In such a case, it becomes a difficult job for recyclers.
Also, most e-commerce portals have to manufacture sturdy packages for transporting products over a long distance. This mail is often sent in a “Russian doll” package, wherein a pre-boxed package fits into another and so on.
A waste management technique to curb this can be choosing biopolymer packages rather than traditional Styrofoam. Some sustainable package materials are made from corn starch or sorghum.
As a plus, most customers nowadays are as aware of the environment as the production house. They are ready to pay an extra dime for a package that keeps the sustainable promise and more and more food packaging suppliers in the UK are keeping up with it. Ultimately, both consumers and sellers need to co-ordinate well to strike a balance between saving the environment and consumerism.
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