RETHINKING THE SUSTAINABLE PLASTIC PACKAGING FOR FOODSTUFFS

Rodica Pamfilie
Alexandru Jurconi

Department for Business, Consumer Science And Quality Management, Faculty of Business and Tourism, Bucharest University of Economic Studies – 41, Dacia Blvd., Bucharest – 1, Romania
Business Administration Doctoral School, Bucharest University of Economic Studies – 41, Dacia Blvd., Bucharest – 1, Romania

The milestone of this year’s European legislative process is the adoption of the so – called Single Use Plastic Directive, a piece whose impact on the industry, retail and consumers is still a matter of debate. For the food supply chain this might result in disruptive innovation of the way that food and beverages are packed, with particular regard to the plastic packaging. Originating  from the principles of circular economy, the enactment aims that all plastic packaging on the EU market to be recyclable or reusable by 2030, resulting into a new system of relationships and flows amid food supply chain operators, that has to be promptly and properly communicated to the consumers. The scope of this contribution is to prospect how the industry could take advantage on the new opportunities of placing sustainable food packaging on the markets and how this transformation will be perceived by the customers. Its benefit is to share a preliminary out – of – the box examination of the way that business organizations, governments and public will accommodate the opposite options of immediate profits, from one side, and a cleaner environment, from the other. We hereby consider examining the trend of sustainable technologies for plastic packaging, to explore form a high level perspective the appetite of the foodstuffs producers to adopt these innovations and, respectively, to scrutinize the opinion of the consumers in social media and other assimilated public subjects. Being a matter of communication between stakeholders, the ante mentioned findings could result into a draft proposal of modelling the way industry, retail, consumers and governments speak together for new investment opportunities in the food packaging thus sustainably creating new jobs, reducing the food waste and protecting the environment.

Key words

single use plastic, tethered caps, recycled content, attached closures, extended producers responsibility, plastic strategy, littering, food packaging, beverages packaging, circular economy, sustainable innovation, food waste, technology adoption, consumers rights, public communication, environment protection, SUP Directive

​References

[1]   https://bpf.co.uk/press/Oil_Consumption.aspx