The Bare Essentials: A Systematic Market Review of Single-use Plastic Food and Drink Packaging and Possible Solutions for Cleaner Consumption

The prevalence of plastic products has exponentially grown over the past two decades. Single-use plastics are the largest source of plastic waste in the environment and are heavily produced for both food and drink packaging. While it is argued that single-use plastics maintain product longevity and are associated with ‘ease of use’, this research paper questions their essentiality.

In this study, single-use plastics in the food packaging industry were systematically reviewed in order to determine their ‘essentiality’ for product longevity. Four grocery stores were chosen and their brands ‘in plastic’ and ‘not in plastic’ were counted. Seven subcategories of food and drink types were created such that a proportion was representative of the brands in plastic per category.

The results of the systematic review showed that the majority of categories sampled from in each store had at least 80% of their brands in plastic packaging. Across four of the seven subcategories, 99-100% of each stores’ brands were in plastic packaging. Furthermore, six alternatives to single-use plastic packaging were reviewed and compared to current methods of food and drink packaging. This comparison deemed that none of the single-use packaging methods utilized in grocery stores were considered essential.

While this study concluded that none of the single-use plastics reviewed were deemed essential, alternatives still remain at a higher cost of production. Further innovation and widespread production of safe alternatives are both integral factors in reducing plastic production and protecting the future of the environment.