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Unpacking plastic packaging

Consumer opinion can make or break a brand. The recent surge in awareness around food waste, the climate crisis, and ocean pollution has increased anti-plastic sentiments and triggered campaigns to remove single-use plastic from our communities. Naturally this has extended to food packaging where the impact of consumer perspective is starting to be seen at the checkout.

Consumers’ food ideologies are closely connected with their food purchasing habits. This is especially true in the organic industry.

Organic farming is often associated with a more sustainable approach to food production. In a 2016 study from Pew Research Center on views about and consumption of organic foods, 33 per cent of participants surveyed who bought organic food in the past month mentioned helping the environment.

Follow that up with a search on Google for the phrase “packaging and the environment,” which brings up 302 million results, and there literally might be millions of consumers who, by association, believe that organic food packaging is somehow better for the environment. This puts a significant amount of added pressure on the organics industry. What might be seen as a new ‘green’ feature by a major brand, might simply be expected in organics. | For the full story, CLICK HERE. 

This article was written by Gayle Palas, and originally published in the British Colombia Organic Grower.