Daphna Nissenbaum
During the last decade, sales of organic food have increased nearly 10-fold globally, and they are still growing as consumers want to be healthier and reduce their impact on the environment. This trend is significant and is making a real impact; as certified organic fruits and vegetables are produced without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, giving them several environmental benefits, including keeping toxic chemicals from field run-off out of the water supply, and a smaller overall carbon footprint.
But when it comes to growing this produce, the benefits go beyond what is not used—and also include what is used. This especially applies to compost, often utilized in organic farming, along with crop rotation and cover cropping, to promote higher yields and healthier soil. Applying compost increases crop yields, reduces irrigation needs and helps sequester carbon. In addition, when food scraps and other biodegradable waste is composted rather than land-filled, there is a significant reduction in methane emissions, one of the most potent greenhouse gasses. In fact, composting is one of the essential elements needed to ensure an adequate food supply as the population grows and climate change continues.
By playing a larger part in composting, produce brands, growers, and consumers too, can make food production and agriculture more sustainable. As about 40% of all plastic produced globally is used for packaging food and beverages, one way to improve sustainability is to use compostable packaging for fresh fruits and vegetables. This not only helps to create healthier and more powerful soil, but reduces the amount of toxic plastic that is drowning the planet and threatening human health.
The Benefits of Innovative Compostable Packaging
Today’s compostable packaging is not just made of paper or cardboard, which has certain disadvantages, like not being waterproof and flexible enough to easily packaging fresh produce. There are also innovative plastics that break down into compost when placed in bins or facilities with organic waste like food scraps. In addition to being compostable, these plastics offer the benefits of traditional flexible plastic packaging, including transparency, durability and keeping food fresh, clean and safe. Compostable plastic, like traditional plastic packaging, can also be printed with information about the contents, including required facts about the food’s origin, ingredients and nutritional value. Meanwhile these compostable alternatives do not include the serious drawbacks of conventional plastic.
In fact, replacing at least some traditional plastic with compostable plastic is an essential part of the plan revealed recently by the United Nations as it sets out to achieve an 80% reduction in plastic by 2040. Caring about their packaging, and replacing it with compostable materials is something that brands and growers, especially those committed to sustainability and organic agriculture, should prioritize.
Composting as a Solution for the Plastic Crisis
As composting becomes a larger part of waste management systems, with more states adopting mandatory laws for the composting of organic waste and implementing curbside pickup for compost, it is also one of the most promising solutions to the plastic crisis. Unlike recycling, which has failed to reduce overall plastic waste, composting is suitable for hard-to-recycle flexible plastics, and is more economically-sustainable, as there is a growing demand for agricultural compost. Compostable plastics are especially helpful to the composting process: They add a dry element to balance out the moisture content in compost bins or facilities, allow food scraps often stuck to packaging to make their way into compost and reduce the contamination of compost with regular plastic and other non-compostable packaging.
With agriculture and food production linked to one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions that continue to jeopardize the future of our planet, any and all efforts for sustainability are desperately needed, including moving toward more environmentally-friendly packaging. With the recent advent of compostable plastics, produce brands now have a golden opportunity to make their entire supply chain, from the farmer to the consumer, more sustainable. Now is the time to stop wrapping fruits and vegetables in plastic that will forever contaminate the earth. Instead, organic farms, which began with sustainability and health in mind, can use compostable packaging, which ensures a fully closed-loop product that nourishes rather than damages the earth.
Daphna Nissenbaum is CEO of TIPA Corp. For more information, visit www.tipa-corp.com.