Environmental assessment of food packaging: Impact and improvement

Abstract

AbstractFood packaging plays an important role in carrying food and drink from production sites to the consumers, and environmental aspects of this packaging receive considerable attention. As the functions of packaging are derived from the actual food requirements, environmental aspects of packaging should be compared with those of the food for a balanced optimization of environmental impact. The outcome of such combined analysis is illustrated with a macroscale analysis of the actual food supply situation in The Netherlands. An ‘overall’ survey of this system is used to indicate important interrelations between the subsystems and to estimate the order of magnitude of the environmental impact of each part of the system. The major environmental effects of the total food supply system and both impact and influence of the packaging subsystem are quantified in mass and energy terms. It is concluded that more attention should be given to matching the actual and varied demand of different size consumption groups, and suggestions are given for effective incorporation of environmental constraints into product development and packaging design.