Food Packaging All segments of the packaging industry, including food packaging, face environmental issues.

For example, fast-food chains are under pressure to reduce the amount of solid waste they generate and Maine has banned fruit drinks in aseptic packages (juice boxes). Yet, packaging is integral to today's life style (see box, "A Country Without Food Packaging"). Nowhere would the loss of modern packaging be more quickly felt than in the food processing and distribution system. In underdeveloped countries where packaging is minimal or nonexistent, food losses of 30-50 percent are not uncommon. In the United States, packaged food losses are less than 3 percent, while fresh food losses are 10 to 15 percent. Reduced food losses lower food costs. Food packaging allows consumers to enjoy a variety of foods year-around, not just during local harvest seasons. Also, food packaging can decrease rather than increase solid waste generation. These benefits of packaging come from a $70-billion-a-year industry, of which approximately 70 percent is used for food and beverages. On average, food packaging costs about 9 percent of the retail price of food products. What Does Packaging Do? Aside from the obvious, providing a container for the product, the package affords protection against the harmful effects of bacteria, oxygen, light, and disease agents such as rodents and insects. Items are also now packaged to give consumers clues if tampering occurs. With self-service supermarkets, packaging has taken on the role of providing information. The package is the manufacturers' link with the customer at the all important point of purchase. The package must attract the customer to make a purchase. It also, provides information on how to use and store the product and lists ingredient and nutrition facts. Finally, utility-of-use has become a key element in many food packages. Microwaveable packages, single serving sizes, recloseable and resealable packages, squeezeable packages, and shelf-stabel packages are all examples of packaging that make products easier to use or provide more convenience for the consumer. The Role of Food Packaging in Waste Reduction Food packaging can reduce waste. For example, a pod of fresh peas is 62 percent inedible. In order to get a pound of fresh peas, about 2.6 pounds of peas and pods would have to be purchased, resulting in 1.6 pounds of discarded pods. However, buying 1 pound of frozen peas leaves the customer with only a 1-ounce plastic pouch to dispose of. The pods of the frozen peas remain at the food processor where they are turned into recyclable by-products such as animal feed. (See "Managing Solid By-products of Industrial Food Processing," elsewhere in this issue.) In New York City alone, consuming packaged vegetables annually eliminates the need to dispose of over 100,000 tons of fresh produce waste. In a chicken processing plant, virtually all the waste - feathers, viscera, heads, and feet - is converted into by-products, often chicken feed. This is a true form of recycling. Processing 1,000 chickens produces about 1,650 pounds of recyclable waste products and requires the use of only 15 pounds of packaging. Compared to dressing chickens at home, this reduces the solid waste load from 1,000 chickens by a net of 1,635 pounds.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has developed estimates of waste reduction for some common food packaging materials. On average, every pound of paper packaging eliminates 1.4 pounds of food waste. Plastic is even more efficient. One pound of plastic packaging reduces food wastes by 1.7 pounds. Environmental Concerns Food packaging is not without its critics. With landfills filling up and citizens not wanting new ones in their community, municipal solid waste (MSW) has become a major environmental concern. Government agencies, elected officials, and national firms are under pressure to greatly reduce or eliminate packaging. McDonald's decision to eliminate foam packaging was influenced greatly by pressure from environmental groups. Yet, packaging makes up less than one-third of the MSW being landfilled (figure 1). Recycling Traditional packaging materials, paper, metals and glass have been recycled in varying degrees for many years. In the past, recycling has been emphasized during times of material shortages, such as the war years of 1918-19 and 1941-45. Paper has had an established system of reuse for many years. A great many packages are made from recycled paper. About 30 percent of all paper and over 50 percent of corrugated boxes are recycled. Each time paper is recycled the fibers get shorter and eventually wash out of the system. Another success story in packaging recycling is the aluminum beverage container. Unlike paper, aluminum can be recycled an unlimited number of times without degrading its physical properties. Today, more than 60 percent of aluminum beverage cans are recycled. (See "Less Packaging and More Recycling Reduces Waste," elsewhere in this issue.) A major roadblock to recycling is not technical ability, but financial feasibility. For example, technology has been developed that can process used aseptic juice boxes into plastic lumber. However, plastic lumber is more expensive than regular lumber, which limits its sales. The less expensive inputs from recycled sources relative to virgin sources or the greater the demand for final products made from recycled materials, the more successful recycling will be in reducing packaging wastes. Thus, consumer willingness to bring discarded packages to central collection centers and their purchasing of final products made from recycled materials is a key to successful recycling. Biodegradability About 75 percent of MSW in the United States goes to sanitary landfills, the rest is either recycled or incinerated. The modern sanitary landfill is designed to prevent degradation since it is a source of methane gas generation and potential groundwater pollution. William Rathje of the University of Arizonahas shown that even a highly degradable item such as a newspaper is still readable after several decades in a modern landfill. Even with today's technology, degradability does not alleviate the litter problem because degradation occurs too slowly. Only in remote areas where pickup is no possible or likely - e.g., wilderness areas or the oceans - can degradability be of some assistance. Biodegradability in packaging materials could become more important as more solid wastes are composted. Today, however, composting accounts for only about 0.2 percent of the waste

disposal in the United States. Highly compostable food and yard wastes are not being composted and end up as 25 percent of the MSW supply. Thus, using biodegradable food packages would no reduce MSW unless the demand for compost greatly increased. Overpackaging Another criticism of packaging is that firms use more of it than necessary which raises the product price and contributes to solid waste disposal problems. Often what seems like overpackaging is actually part the package function. A blister pack of small items may well be cost effective in terms of reducing pilferage or minimizing clerical help in handling and counting. Individually wrapped cheese slices prevent the cheese from drying out in the refrigerator once the package is opened. The empty space at the top of the box of many processed dry foods such as cereals is the natural settling that occurs during shipment from factory to consumer. Once new packages are introduced, competition quickly forces continued reductions in the amount of materials used. For example, the aluminum can and plastic beverage containers are both about 25 percent lighter today than when they were first introduced, and the weight of the 16-ounce glass soft drink bottle has been reduced over 30 percent in the past 10 years. (See "Less Packaging and More Recycling Reduces Wastes," elsewhere in this issue.) Designing Packages for Disposal and/or Recycling From an environmental perspective, the ideal package would either weigh nothing or be reused or recycled an infinite number of times. Most packages can only approach these ideals. In the past, most packages were not designed with environmental acceptability in mind. This is changing. Packaging users and producers alike are beginning to look at design and purchasing decisions from an environmental perspective. These efforts may lead to redesign of not only packages, but product/package combinations pointed toward minimizing the package's environmental impact. Have you noticed how many packages now say "Made from Recycled Materials"?