Sugar, pesticides, petrol, diesel and plastic: They all started out as innocent and promising inventions in the past. However, today, they have become the biggest threat to humanity. Barring sugar, others go beyond that and pose an existential crisis for our environment and all the living beings.
Do you think our existing takeaway food packaging is any different in this regard? Let’s have a look.
Health Risks
- Almost all takeaway food containers are made of plastic.
- This plastic is not of the best quality. The average cost of these containers is 3 INR.
- When hot food comes in contact with such a plastic, the plastic leaches chemicals faster than normal. The same happens when food is heated in plastic containers in a microwave.
- This in turn can cause cancer, reduced fertility, obesity, neurodevelopmental issues and asthma.
- Bisphenol A (BPA) which is used to manufacture polycarbonate plastics, was found in the urine of nearly all of the people tested, which indicates widespread exposure to BPA in the U.S. population.
- Extensive research is not done in this area, and there are many unknowns.
- Most of the chemicals in the plastics are considered “safe,” not because they’ve been proved safe, but rather they haven’t been proven to be unsafe.
The Sheer Number Is Overwhelming
As of the year 2020, Swiggy and Zomato are the two leaders in the online food delivery space in India. Just these 2 players deliver almost 3 million deliveries per day in India ! That is 30 lakh deliveries per day and almost 1.1 billion deliveries per year !
If we consider only 2 containers per delivery, it amounts to almost 60 lakh containers per day and 2.2 billion containers per year !
More than 99% of these containers are plastic containers.
Depleting Valuable Resources From The Earth
- Collectively, across the world, production of containers consumes a massive amount of energy and natural resources such as raw materials, including water.
- A very insignificant amount of these containers gets recycled.
- Recycling process consumes a considerable resources, including water and energy. It doesn’t address the problem to any significant extent.
Takeaway Containers = Huge Pile Of Garbage and Pollutants
- Single use containers end up as garbage as soon as the consumer has used them.
- Reusable containers, not advisable for long usage, end up as garbage in around 6 months.
- Plastic used in these containers takes hundreds of years to decompose.
- As part of the decomposition process, these containers release chemicals into the soil, waterways and oceans.
- The entire foodchain starts getting contaminated with these chemicals. Billions of animals already contain plastic, and it has already reached the human gut through the foodchain.
- Food packaging waste that isn’t recycled or composted is typically land-filled or incinerated. While both options have benefits for waste management, they both produce air emissions, including greenhouse gases such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, mercury, lead, hydrogen chloride, sulfur dioxides, nitrous oxides and particulates.
How About Biodegradable Containers?
- Their environmental impact and benefits are controversial.
- Their production and transport consume considerable energy and natural resources including water.
- The terms ‘bio’ and ‘compostable’ are misguiding in this context. These containers need to be decomposed in a very specific way otherwise they result in a pile of long-lasting garbage and release greenhouse gases. That is what happens with most of them.
- Currently marketed bio-sourced bio-plastic (such as Bio-PE, PLA and more) use food resources such as corn or cane sugar. They contribute to increased food security concerns and pressure on agricultural land.
Is It Possible To Have A Solution Which Will Not Result In More Problems?
- Prevention : Total prevention can happen only when takeaways are not used at all which is very far from a real world scenario.
- Minimization : More and more minimization is possible when consumers become more aware and sensitive about the environmental impact and start consuming less.
- Reuse: The number of times a takeaway container can be reused can contribute significantly in addressing this mammoth problem. That is what we will look at in detail in my upcoming blog.
References:
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- https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/BisphenolA_FactSheet.html
- https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/18/are-plastic-containers-safe-to-use-food-experts
- https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/28/plastics-toxic-america-chemicals-packaging
- https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/cookware-plastics-shoppers-guide-to-food-safety
- https://www.treehugger.com/avoid-these-types-plastic-packaging-health-reasons-4856643
- https://www.eater.com/2020/1/15/21065446/compostable-take-out-containers
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652618336230
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329166723_Environmental_impacts_of_takeaway_food_containers
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/09/plastic-food-packaging-outpaces-cigarette-butts-most-abundant-beach-trash/
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/09/plastic-food-packaging-top-trash-global-beach-cleanup-2018/
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181218100410.html
- https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/11/takeaway-food-boxes-are-destroying-our-environment/
- https://foodprint.org/issues/the-environmental-impact-of-food-packaging/
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/future-of-food/food-packaging-plastics-recycle-solutions/
- https://www.naturespath.com/en-us/blog/whats-difference-biodegradable-compostable/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6288173/
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/06/you-eat-thousands-of-bits-of-plastic-every-year/