From California to the EU: Plastic Packaging Rules Tighten as Industry Defends Safety and Essential Role

For years, the packaging industry has broadly expected flexible formats to move into virtually every product category. Tuna and pet food offer clear evidence: after decades of cans, retortable pouches have taken the lead. More recently, glass jars for baby food have given way to retortable pouches.

In the United States, California's legislature recently reached an agreement to prohibit non-degradable plastic bags in local supermarkets, stores and pharmacies by 2016. After years of failed negotiations, lawmakers finally produced a compromise bill in recent days: supermarkets must stop using plastic bags by July 2015, with the ban extending to pharmacies and stores one year later.

Once the ban takes effect, retailers may offer bags made from recycled paper or reusable bags, priced at 10 cents each. The California legislature has debated plastic bag restrictions for years, but has repeatedly met resistance from plastic bag manufacturers. Under the agreement, USD 2 million in loans and subsidies will be used to help these companies and train workers to shift to producing next-generation reusable eco-friendly bags.

The plastics used in food packaging are often the same materials relied on in healthcare, including artificial organs designed for long-term close contact with human tissue. Public organizations commonly recommend plastics for such applications. The British Plastics Federation (BPF) later stressed that plastic packaging is safe and delivers significant public health benefits.

The European Parliament's Environment Committee also recently backed an EU proposal to cut packaging and packaging waste, with a focus on reducing lightweight plastic carrier bags.

MEPs agreed that legislation is needed to reach these goals: an 80% cut in EU consumption of plastic bags thinner than 50 microns by 2019, after a 50% reduction by 2017.

The committee noted that member states could use taxation, marketing restrictions, or outright bans to meet the targets.

Danish MEP Margrete Auken said that with well-coordinated policies, hitting the target should not be difficult. The committee backs member states in legislating to maintain charges for plastic bags when food is purchased. Free bags would be allowed only for unpackaged foods such as raw meat, fish, and dairy products.

However, in response to a UK Guardian article about safety concerns linked to chemicals migrating from food packaging, the British Plastics Federation (BPF) pushed back, describing plastic packaging as a safe and indispensable industry. Plastic packaging is now used across electronics, food, beverages, alcohol, tea, cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, health products, cosmetics, small home appliances, clothing, toys, sporting goods, and related packaging supply sectors.

The Guardian cited an academic paper warning of long-term harm from exposure to synthetic materials and calling for more research. BPF Director General Philip Law called this alarmist, adding that industry perspectives had not been solicited from people within the sector. Many chemicals, he said, are lumped together as 'synthetic materials' without regard for their individual properties.

Over the past five decades, plastic packaging has driven major gains in food hygiene. The era when corner shops had to chase flies away from exposed butter packs is now a distant memory. Before durable, sealed packaging existed, it is hardly surprising that perishable foods contributed to worrying mortality rates through improper packaging.

Source attribution: China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-361741.html