Phase Out Single Use Plastics

“ Until a suitable packaging for milk is developed, industry must adopt packaging reduction strategies by reducing weight of plastics, eliminating unnecessary packaging and by using light weight packaging materials. We should discourage small pack sizes. A system for quantifying the use of plastics per unit of final product should be evolved.

The packaging contributes a vital link between manufacturer and consumer for safe delivery of products through the supply chain. The loss of product is minimized by an adequate protective mechanism. Packaging provides containment, protection and preservation, communication and convenience.

Indian food industry has a long history of using primitive packaging materials such as plant leaf, paper, pottery, gourd, wooden baskets and wooden boxes. Now we use modern packages like metal tins, glass, plastics, laminated paper and aluminum foils, ceramics and tetra pak containers. Plastic materials are commonly used because of a variety of properties like moldability, heat sealability, printability, affordability and integrability with the production processes. However, plastics are not very environment-friendly neither safe nor easily recyclable. Besides, micro plastics are carcinogenic and animals often mistake them for food. No wonder, therefore, that use of plastics for food articles has been banned in many countries of the world including India. Materials that cannot be recycled are burnt illegally or dumped in landfills or waterways.

The National Green Tribunal has advised various State governments to prohibit the use, sale, purchase, import and storage of plastic pouches with less than 50 micron thickness and also to make efforts for recycling the used packages to prevent deteriorating environment and human health. The packaging market for milk is largely dominated by plastic pouches in the single serve segment. However, there are 15 package types used in dairy industry. Besides thin wall plastic container some of the well known packages are gamble top, liquid cartons, laminated pouches, flexible aluminum and paper foils, folding card board cartons, tin and metal cans, board tubs, wooden packaging and glass bottles. Flexible plastic packages also dominate the markets in Western and Eastern Europe, Latin America, North America, Middle East, East Africa and Asia Pacific. India has registered the fastest growth in flexible packaging with a total industry size of about Rs. Four lakh crores and providing employment to five lakh people directly and nearly 50 lakh are dependent on it for livelihood. The total consumption of plastic is about 17770 billion tones annually. The trend in consumer behavior towards packed dairy products is influenced by health awareness and hygiene.

Retail and consumer demand for packaged butter, spread and soft cheeses with the small packed size at low price are becoming popular among the lower socioeconomic classes. Dairy product is now considered by younger generation as snacking material in Asia-Pacific. Food staples like milk and yoghurt are fast becoming part of consumer daily diet primarily because of their nutritional image.

Phasing out plastics from dairy may not be immediately possible without the alternatives and substitutes which are economically viable. Use of recyclable, compostable and reusable packaging materials is advocated. A number of feasible alternative packaging materials available are paper board, composite plastics, multi-layered laminates like Tetrapak.

Paper cartons for milk packaging can be made from paper board duplex, white craft or a composite. Depending on the need, the paper board can be waxed or coated with a thin layer of polyethylene to form a barrier. Gamble top packaging made out of liquid packing board offers safety and extended shelf life of liquid milk. The package is tamper proof and high in branding having large surface area for printing. Gamble top are 100 per cent recyclable, biodegradable and environment friendly.

Edible food packaging seems to be a great future because it takes away the plastic and paper waste. The idea is that once you have finished the eating of the packed food inside the package, you finish off the package too.

Edible films can protect food from moisture migration, microbial growth on the surface, light induced chemical changes, and oxidation. They also function as a barrier against gases, vapours and as carrier of active ingredients such as antioxidants, flavours, colourant, anti-microbial agents and spices. Edible films control adhesion, cohesion and durability and improve the appearance of the packaged foods. The edible packaging stabilizes the products leading to increased shelf life. Edible films are made from pure protein or polysaccharides with bacteriocin embedded with it. Whey protein, sodium caseinate, corn zein, wheat protein and soy protein have been tried for formulating edible coating. Polysaccharides and gum based edible film and coatings of agar, carrageenan, pectin, chitosan, zanthan gum and other carbohydrates are becoming popular. The emergence of smart packaging, biodegradable and nano-composite packagings have helped in mitigating many problems faced in the use of non-degradable plastic material. In addition, active packaging is a system, which continuously interacts with the internal environment of a packaged food and minimizes the quality changes in the food system, thereby extending its shelf life. Intelligent packaging has emerged as a new system to monitor changes by sensing and providing information about the functions and about the properties of packaged foods. There are three types of indicating devices (a) external indicators attached outside the package and also include time temperature indicator (b) internal indicators placed inside the package at the head space of the package or at the lid and (c) devices that increase the efficiency, information flow and effective communication between the product and the consumer.

Several packaging innovations have been made for dairy products such as modified atmospheric packaging, shrink and stretch wrapping and retort pouching using various packaging machine.

PET packaging is at present being preferred for flavoured milk drinks, UHT milk, lassi and other dairy products which guarantee the shelf life of four to seven days. The famous “pride of cows” milk is packed in one litre pack bottles with a shelf life of one week under refrigerated condition.

Bulk vending of milk is the best choice for replacing hazardous plastics. Mother Dairy has established 900 milk vending booths in NCR Region where milk is drawn with the help of a token into the container of the consumer. About 6 lakh litres of milk is sold daily through the milk vending booths resulting in about Rs. 19 crore saving on packaging and also 900 metric tonnes of plastic. Some 4.2 gram plastic material is used in the production of one litre milk pouch. Scheme is underway to supply milk directly to the consumers. Mother dairy is making efforts to develop environment friendly packaging material through their research.

AMUL dairy is also making efforts to limit the use of plastic pouches and also to recycle the used pouches as about 65 lakh litres of milk of 500 ml capacity are transported to different markets in the country. As the plastic used for packaging of milk is virgin, it can be recycled for production of irrigation pipes. AMUL management is searching for many private agencies for collecting and recycling of used plastics.

Home delivery of milk in glass bottles was a practice in the early days of dairy development in India. Glass bottles were painted or embossed with the names of dairy on them. Later milk delivery service went into a decline. Today, in some areas in the world, milkmen supply milk at the doorsteps of customers. In India, now farm fresh milk and organic milk delivery is available online in the bottles.

Polylactic acid (PLA) from corn entered the packaging market signaling the return of biobased plastics. PLA offers many disposal options and also possibility of combining antimicrobial compounds with different types of carriers. After the original use, the polymer can be hydrolyzed to recover lactic acid.

Until a suitable packaging for milk is developed, industry must adopt packaging reduction strategies by reducing weight of plastics, eliminating unnecessary packaging and by using light weight packaging materials. We should discourage small pack sizes. A system for quantifying the use of plastics per unit of final product should be evolved. Plastic foot print for each category may be benchmarked with the market average of use of plastics. What gets measured can be managed.