Why is plastic packaging ideal for food?

You may have noticed that most of the food packaging we come across every day is made of plastic. No wonder. This is because plastic retains the physical and nutritional properties of the food, is resistant to contamination and prolongs product’s shelf life.

All this is only possible because plastic is a versatile, lightweight, inert and non-toxic material, and for this reason it is considered the ideal material for food packaging.

Benefits of plastic packaging

Conservation → preserves food for longer, reducing waste and the need for chemical preservatives, as well as preserving the taste and nutritional value of the food;

Practicality → another advantage is that they are light and easy to handle without giving up excellent protection to the packaged food. The plastic can also be molded into several formats and supports printing, providing countless possibilities that aim at a better consumption experience, such as ease to open or to storage, and mechanical usage of the product, for example.

Price → because it is a lightweight material, plastic makes the entire production chain cheaper, which is directly reflected in the final price of the product, making the food more affordable for everyone;

Safety and Hygiene → the plastic packaging offers excellent protection against contamination by preventing the food from being exposed during transportation, storage and at the point of sale, since they are often transparent and allow the consumer to see the contents without touching the food directly;

Sustainability → unlike what we are used to hear about plastic and its environmental impact, it is not the ultimate villain. Plastic is widely recyclable; it makes the transport of products more sustainable because it is lightweight and because it allows large quantities to be transported in small volumes. For being resistant, it reduces food waste, one of the great villains of global warming. Another factor worth mentioning is that new technologies in mechanical and advanced recycling are being developed and improved to make more sustainable raw materials available, increase the recyclability of plastic materials and increase the quality of the final product.

Also in the realm of sustainability, there are studies based on Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) that prove that, in different and determined applications, plastic has a lower negative environmental impact than other materials in most of the environmental topics evaluated. LCA is a technique developed to assess the impact of products on the environment. LCAs analyze the environmental effects associated with production activities over the entire product life cycle from the extraction of the raw materials they are made of to their disposal or post-consumption destination.

Valgroup Packaging

Valgroup produces packaging for the entire production chain of the food industry, from filling and packaging to transportation. All of them designed to the circular economy of plastics.

We are also one of the largest plastic recyclers in the world and have environmental commitments to create a more sustainable world.

Learn more about our environmental preservation initiatives on our website and social networks.