Packaging is important. Many people choose their products and brands that they buy based on the packaging and its effect (or that company’s contribution) on the environment. As more and more people have become aware of the detrimental effect of humans on the environment, more and more people have started to look at how they can make an impact.
One of the ways in which people are looking to make an impact in a positive way has to do with the packaging of items. There are different kinds of packaging available in retail and grocery stores and many of it cannot be recycled in any way. This leads to a negative effect on the environment and people may suffer with for years to come.
There are other kinds of packaging that are more environmentally friendly. One of these kinds of packaging is plastic.
Plastic has been known for some time as a material that can be recycled, which reduces the human impact (trash) on the environment. Plastic is often seen being put into recycling bins in certain municipalities, along with cardboard and glass bottles. Plastic bottles, plastic jugs, plastic wrappers, can all be recycled, which lessens the trash waste.
This is important, as water pollution and land pollution continue to cause problems for our environment. Water pollution occurs when trash is thrown into the ocean, the streams, the rivers, and the lakes. It can be as little as a aluminum coke can and as large as the floating island of trash in the Pacific.
This kind of effects have a detrimental quality to our living as “citizens of the earth” which is a hippie term but still means we should be conscious of our place on earth rather than a species that seeks to deplete the earth of its natural resources. This is significant issue that many countries are trying to correct.
Plastic has many positive qualities when it comes to food packaging. Here is a list of the statistics about plastic and why it is helpful to use to lessen the impact on the environment.
- 52 percent of people around the world make purchase decisions partially due to packaging that shows a brand making a positive social and environmental impact.
- Packaging experts estimate that each pound of plastic packaging can reduce food waste by up to 1.7 pounds.
- Just 2 pounds of plastic can deliver 1,300 ounces, which is roughly 10 gallons, of a beverage such as juice, soda or water. You’d need 3 pounds of aluminum to bring home the same amount of product, 8 pounds of steel or over 40 pounds of glass.
- Since 1977, the 2-liter plastic soft drink bottle has gone from weighing 68 grams to just 47 grams today, representing a 31 percent reduction per bottle. That saved more than 180 million pounds of packaging in 2006 for just 2-liter soft drink bottles.
- Roughly 60 percent of the U.S. population (about 148 million people) have access to a plastics recycling program.
- Each year roughly 1 out of 6 Americans (or 48 million people) gets sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die from food-borne diseases.
- Vacuum sealers preserve food 3-5 times longer than food stored in plastic bags or containers.
- In a typical metal detector application with a wet or conductive product where 2.5-3.5 mm stainless steel can be detected, X-ray frequently can detect 1.5 mm or less thus improving food safety and brand protection.
- Cold temperatures keep harmful bacteria from growing and multiplying. Refrigerators should be set no higher than 40 degrees and freezers set at 0 degrees.
- There are three main groups of metallic contaminants that a food metal detector can sense: Ferrous, Non Ferrous, and Stainless Steel detection.
There are many issues with food that are worth noting, though plastic containers can help alleviate these issues if the plastic is vacuum sealed to the product. Food inspector tools are helpful in figuring out if the product is defective or not. A food inspector might use food inspector tools to run tests on food.
Food inspector tools may look for bacteria in foods. And food inspector tools may look for carcinogens or radon in the food, as they can become contaminated sometimes.
There are many terms associated with this. They include packaging distributor, packaging machines, packaging products, pouch filling machine, x-ray food inspection, and more.
