With a growing segment of the population interested in being sustainable and conscious of the environment, food companies may have finally embraced sustainable packaging for their food. A survey of 14 of the nation's top companies found more than 1.5 billion pounds of packaging waste had been removed since 2005. Those companies now pledge to remove a further 2.5 billion pounds by 2020, according to the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA).
The report, entitled "Reducing Our Footprint," does not mention specific company names but outlines many success stories. Of the 1.5 billion already reduced, more than 800 million pounds of plastic and 500 million pounds of paper were saved. One company single-handedly thinned its plastic bottles and reduced waste by 2.45 billion pounds. If the companies successfully meet their goals of reducing 4 billion pounds by 2020, the overall amount of packaging waste will have decreased more than 19 percent.
Though a significant positive first step, the campaign hardly shows an evolution of companies in favor of the environment. Reduced packaging costs mean the company saves money on the vessels to carry their products and can fit more of their products onto transportation, both of which increase the bottom line. Still, if these companies can trim their packaging outputs by 19 percent, the whole world will benefit.
