Food vs. Plastics or Food ♥ Plastics

Earth Day 2024 is on 22 April and for 2024, it has an interesting topic: ‘Planet vs. Plastics’. From a food supply chain management perspective, plastic is both great as it easily let us package various food in a light, safe and cost-effective manner; however, also leads to various challenges due to sustainability concerns and as more and more consumer demand plastic-free solutions. Consequently, one can consider to ask ‘Food vs. Plastics’ or ‘Food ♥ Plastics’.

The answer, like so often in research, is not easy and best described on the example of cucumbers. Customers often dislike when individual cucumbers are wrapped in plastic and considers this as unnecessary waste. This thin plastic layer, however, protects the produce from damages, significantly simplifying handling processes and contributing to a reduction in food waste and losses. Depending on the thickness of the cucumber’s skin, the plastic wrap could be more or less beneficial to protect it from damages and decay. Similarly, the environmental impact of this decision may vary significantly based on the individual use case.

Consequently, if wrapping cucumbers in plastic is a good idea depends on various factors. Most importantly though, it depends on the specific preferences of the decision-makers as it leads to clear trade-offs between various ESG aspects, which one needs to consider depending on their individual business environment. This shows why it is so important to study food products in detail and align decision-making along the entire supply chains, a skill which we need to improve desperately to facilitate a better and more sustainable future.