Is it better to buy goods with no packaging?

Plastic packaging reduces food waste, and plays several important roles.

Relative CO2 Impact of Food Waste Vs. Packaging

SOURCE: Denkstatt – How Packaging Contributes to Food Waste Prevention (2017)

Packaging prevents food waste in several ways. It extends shelf life, protects from damage or contamination and can assist with portion control, as well as displaying information about the correct way to store, prepare and serve a product. 

Plastic packaging: Extends shelf life Protects from damage or contamination Can assist with portion control Displays information about the correct way to store, prepare and serve Provides a puncture-resistant barrier against air or moisture Can optimize humidity levels Can provide a modified, protective atmosphere Can contain anti-microbial properties

 

Plastic packaging ensures a high level of hygiene. It can provide a barrier against air or moisture and can help to optimize humidity. With good puncture resistance and sealing, it can also provide a modified, protective atmosphere or a vacuum, and can even remove oxygen emitted by the product to further increase shelf life. [1]

There are times when reusable and refillable packaging can play a useful role in helping us to enjoy products. This can be for products consumed out of the home as well as in the home. However, when deciding upon which type of packaging is most suitable, it is important to consider the overall environmental impact, including end of life implications.

It is very rare that a product only travels between a shop and your home. Most of what we buy involves long supply chains and many products travel hundreds or even thousands of miles before they reach the consumer. Even food products intended to be sold ‘loose’ in a shop need to be protected on this journey, so some form of packaging is necessary. 

The environmental impact of growing or manufacturing the products we buy is usually far higher than the packaging protecting it. A typical steak, for example, produces 7.5kg of CO2 on its journey from farm to fork. [2] The packaging protecting it produces 80g and extends its shelf life by ten days. [3]

In the UK, more than a fifth of the food we buy is wasted after it leaves the farm – and 71% of wasted food comes from households. [4] Our country wastes £19bn of food every year, which is responsible for over 25 million tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. [5]

Plastic packaging protects and preserves perishable items like food, vastly reducing the risk of damage and contamination, using a very small amount of material. If you compare cheese sold at a counter to pre-packed cheese bought off the shelf, the amount of cheese wasted can reduce from 5% to 0.1%, for example. Research has also shown that 11% of plaited yeast buns sold in a paper bag are wasted, compared to 0.8% of those sold in plastic film. [6]

Source: Figures are global averages taken from foodmiles.com and accurate as of 19 April 2021

The benefits of preventing food waste usually far outweigh the environmental impact of the packaging. The packaging for one kilogram of food on average creates 70 grams of CO2 but prevents 350 grams of CO2 due to food waste. [7]

By protecting food products on their – sometimes very long – journey to our plate and extending their shelf life, plastic packaging plays a key role in reducing the amount of food that gets wasted and therefore reduces needlessly generated GHGs. And studies have shown that using plastic to make packaging, rather than alternative materials, typically generates less GHGs and uses less energy. [8]

GHG impacts of food production and packaging

Source: Source: Adapted from Poore, J., & Nemecek, T., Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers, 2018, Science

 

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