The Tough Relationship between Food Waste and its Plastic Packaging

Food waste is a problem in Canada, the United States, and around the world. Though we may not associate food packaging with having a positive relationship to food waste, some advocates are calling for an increase on packaging.

The ‘why’ is because of the belief more packaging would prevent food spoilage, a serious issue in supermarkets and food sellers across North America. To the other end of the argument, opponents suggest this would only create more plastic waste.

How to combat the growing food waste problem is unclear but what isn’t is that the food waste issue is very real. The United States alone creates up to 63 million tons of food waste every year, which comes in at a loss of $218 billion when one considers the investment in growing, processing, transporting, and disposing of food. Additionally, if one were to consider the vast array of resources used – water, land, fertilizer, labor, energy – one comes to understand the real impact.

The United States is not the only country producing large amounts of food waste. In fact, developing countries do it unintentionally. There’s sometimes rot on farms, issues with food distribution relating to spoils, and other supply chain issues at play. These types of issues are relatively easy to repair as all they require is an upgrade in technology. In North America, what we’re seeing is a very different issue. Approximately 85 percent of our food waste is being created towards the end of the supply chain, either in businesses selling the product or homes where the food’s consumed.

There are many issues consumers face in the consumption of food. For example, sometimes the produce does not appear healthy or cosmetically pleasing, despite being perfectly alright. Then, there’s over-serving food resulting in cooked food that goes uneaten. Then, there’s overpurchasing food which results in food spoiling. All of these things are unintentional ways that households create food waste. In all of human history, our food has never been more affordable and it’s never been more readily available. Needless to say, it’s no surprise we create so much food waste.

Among the solutions encouraged is a 27-point Roadmap to Reduce US Food Waste document produced by a multi-stakeholder coalition of more than fifty government leaders, non-profits, and businesses. An estimate suggests implementing these solutions would require $18 billion in investment within the next decade. Though that seems hefty – and, believe us when we say, it is! – its’ return on that investment is a decrease in food waste by 20 percent and savings of up to $100 billion.

Two of the 27 food waste solutions outlined in the report includes call to increase and improve food packaging. Though supermarkets are focused on limiting plastic packaging, if one were to increase it on select products, the argument could be made it could extend their lifetime while subsequently saving food waste. Calculating what foods could benefit, the precise type of food packaging, what’s available locally in terms of reusable containers, biomaterials, and recycling facilities – these are all things to measure when increasing food packaging on select products.

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