The financial impact of replacing plastic packaging by biodegradable biopolymers - A smart solution for the food industry

Abstract

Plastic packaging is essential to ensuring the safety and quality of foods and also to determining their shelf life. In this area innovation research is required, regarding the development and implementation of some bio-based biodegradable synthetic biopolymer materials able to replace the plastic packaging materials currently used in the food industry. Considering the financial impact of this replacement, an ante and post-complementary economic analysis is needed to allow for the transformation of this valuable idea into a sustainable project with a high impact on consumers’ health, as well as an ecological and economic impact. This research aims at presenting an econometric efficiency model for implementing the solution in order to increase the attractiveness of changing current technologies in eco-friendly terms through a smart solution addressed to major food packaging developers. The study represents an element of novelty by proposing an effective and widely applicable solution to the environment, as well as the medical, and socio-economic fields.