Plastic packaging: About the main culprit from the trade’s perspective

Nagy Miklós
főtitkár
CSAOSZ

Basically no day goes by without an article about the negative environmental impact of plastics. At the same time, the opinion of the packaging trade is hardly publicised about this. The appearance of plastic packaging has made the manufacturing of economical designs possible, which also provide perfect protection and safety to products.

It is a fact that the environmental burden of any product’s manufacturing process is many times bigger than that of producing its packaging. Consequently the more the packaging protects a product, the bigger its contribution is to environmental protection. For instance, if a loaf of bread is packaged in a plastic bag, 94-96 percent of the environmental burden comes from manufacturing the bread and only 4-6 percent is entailed by the packaging and packaging waste management.

Obviously the volume of packaging materials used needs to be reduced, but it must be accepted that the alternative to cost-efficient plastic packaging requires using technology that puts a bigger burden on the environment! We shouldn’t look on plastic as an enemy, but as a material that serves our interests. It isn’t the material that is to be blamed, but the people who use it. Let’s focus on efficient waste collection and management at a global scale! //