Food Safety- Food Packaging

Challenges Faced in Replacing Some Plastics with Paper-Based Packaging Student’s Name Institution of Affiliation Course Name Instructor’s Name Date Challenges Faced in Replacing Some Plastics with Paper-Based Packaging Over the years, plastic pollution has been attracting massive global attention because it has become a worldwide environmental disaster. Normally, plastic wastes affect ecosystems and biodiversity and put humans' lives at risk. Numerous organizations are swapping plastic-based packaging with paper packaging, which is viewed to be more sustainable, particularly with the current plastic packaging tax policies and regulations. Paper products are anticipated to become more efficient, bringing several opportunities to the paper industry. Unfortunately, the process of replacing certain plastics with paper packaging has some deficiencies, including material resistance to liquids and fats, barrier properties, poor durability, high GHG footprint, and problems with recycling and using recycled paper content, making this idea challenging. Notably, using paper makes the material resistant to the liquids and fats of drinks combined with foils, chemicals, coating, and other protective materials. For instance, a beverage carton comprises plastics, paperboard, and aluminium foil. Such multilayered beverage and food packaging materials are gradually utilized in the food packaging process, meaning recyclability is limited because these materials are complex and difficult to separate. Besides, paper packaging tends to be contaminated with food residues, making recycling the material into new food packaging less appropriate. Paper-based packaging lacks similar barrier properties to those present in plastics. Thus, the process has to be preserved with barrier treatment to enhance functionality (Perform...