Abstract
The Institute of Food Technologists has issued this Scientific
Status Summary to update readers on food packaging and its impact on the
environment.
Advances in food processing and food packaging play a primary
role in keeping the U.S. food supply among the safest in the world. Simply
stated, packaging maintains the benefits of food processing after the process
is complete, enabling foods to travel safely for long distances from their
point of origin and still be wholesome at the time of consumption. However,
packaging technology must balance food protection with other issues, including
energy and material costs, heightened social and environmental consciousness,
and strict regulations on pollutants and disposal of municipal solid waste.
Municipal solid waste (MSW)
consists of items commonly thrown away, including packages, food scraps, yard
trimmings, and durable items such as refrigerators and computers. Legislative
and regulatory efforts to control packaging are based on the mistaken
perception that packaging is the major burden of MSW. Instead, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that approximately only 31% of the
MSW generated in 2005 was from packaging-related materials, including glass,
metal, plastic, paper, and paperboard—a percentage that has remained relatively
constant since the 1990s despite an increase in the total amount of MSW.
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