Is there an alternative for packaging market-wet food(meat,fish,veggies,etc), other than PLASTIC?

Question

When can we stop from using plastic packaging for products in the market?...We have already done a great deal of change at the restaurants - by using to-go boxes.. recycling plastic containers at the groceries/stores...

Answer 1

You can get the freshest meat & fish - they always wrap it in butcher-paper.

Answer 2

Actually, there are plenty of packaging options available now. The cost is what is stopping company's from switching. An example is PLA. This is a corn-starch based material and looks and feels just like normal plastic wrap. The problem, it is twice the price as regular film wrap. Tell your local store to become more environmentally friendly and make the switch.

Answer 3

Not really. Feel free to try to find one though.

Plastics have made our lives better.

I can't imagine life without my plastic garbage can that cleans up easily, my plastic garbage bags that keep the trash inside them, the plastic containers that keep my food fresh, that allow me to keep my leftovers for more than a couple days.

I love the 1 gallon milk, orange juice, or 1 liter soda bottles, they are so light. Not to mention the laundry detergent, dishwashing detergent, the soap bottles in my bathroom for everyone to use (so much less messy than a bar). My vacuum cleaner (it would be so much heavier if it was metal).

I haven't even gotten started really when getting to all the stuff that plastics has made better, but I definitely am thankful to plastic food packaging for increasing the cleanliness of our food and making disease less likely to be spread by it.

Answer 4

The problem with wax paper is that wax is also a hydrocarbon!

This is an interesting question. Using plastic has helped prevent the spread of bacteria. But, it's bad for the environment.

The point you've stumbled upon is that we have some very difficult choices ahead of us.

Answer 5

I am continually astonished by some of the advances in technology I hear about from time to time (usually coming from somewhere other than the U.S. - I've never understood why we lag so far behind the other industrialized nations of the world on certain technologies), so I shouldn't be the least bit surprised if they do come up with a solution along the lines your question suggests.

But there is a larger issue at hand, here. The plain and simple truth is that, at this point in time (and likely for a long time to come), we NEED plastic.

I've been accused of being neurotic at times about my recycling habits (I have an aneurysm every time I see people throw away perfectly recyclable things); and the horrible things loose plastic in the environment does to our ecosystems just makes me cry; so know that I'm not coming from the "all you tree-hugging enviro-wackos are gonna burn in hell with your recycling bullcrap and your global warming propaganda" angle at all. As an avid recycler, I state quite soundly that we NEED plastic.

The problem, as far as I understand it, isn't with plastic itself. It's with what we do with it when we're done with it. We're a disposable nation. We use something once and then throw it away. We're also a consumer nation, in that we like to buy things. We like new things. Buying new things serves the same function as comfort food for a lot of people. When you buy something new, you need to get rid of the old; and we don't like holding on to things anyway, because then we'd have to be responsible for it (do you want to carry your plastic fork and styrofoam box around with you after you've finished your carry-out? didn't think so - just throw it away; once it's in the garbage can, it doesn't exist anymore). It is this irresponsible, self-centered (yes, I said self-centered, and I mean it), instant-gratification/zero responsibility mentality that leads to mass amounts of plastic ending up in our landfills, littering our roads and landscapes, and choking our environment.

The ideal solution would be everyone properly recycling their plastic items. Of course, that won't happen, because people don't want to be bothered with it. Change comes but slowly. We can teach our children more responsible habits, and work at creating better/easier means of getting plastics to the recycling center.

We can also teach each other. What do you know about the resin codes? Do you know what each of the 7 coded plastic types are, how easily they are recycled, what they get recycled into? Most people don't.

You yourself can learn more about the plastic types, and try to educate others about them. Try not to be pushy about it, though; it turns people off, and some will even tend to deliberately throw things away just to spite you. (My sister does. Anytime I try politely to ask her to take the few extra steps down to the garage to put the soda bottle in the bottle bin, I get the verbal and facial-emotive equivalent of the middle finger as she deliberately puts the bottle in the trash can and covers it with compostables. Really makes me mad; of course, I make her equally mad when I throw on the gloves and go sorting through the trash bag to fish out all the recyclables she threw in there.)

Answer 6

Wax-coated paper works as well, but can soak through with a lot of blood/moisture.

Answer 7

Glass. Ceramic.
Wax bag.

Answer 8

wax paper.