Circularity in Plastic Food Packaging - Principles, Problems and Prospects

Abstract

Plastic packaging of food covers single-use and re-use (multiple-use) categories. The sin-gle-use plastics are the most problematic to the environment and human/animal health. Furthermore, the beverage and personal care bottles/sachets, dry and wet food plastic pack-ages influenced wastes and losses in food processing and supply chain. The Circular Econ-omy (CE) has gained acceptance in operations and organisational management of firms as well as service organisations. Adopting or domesticating this technique, the CE frame-work(s) into organisational management, particularly in food packaging industry cannot be overemphasised. Therefore, this research review principles, problems and prospects of CE as it is applied to food packaging industry in African. The CE is developed based on three design driven principles, these are elimination/reduction of waste and pollution, extending shelf life of products and continuous use of materials, and restorative/regenerative indus-trial system that support environmental sustainability. Notable principles of CE developed include variants of “R” (3R, 7R and 9R) and other models/frameworks. The 9R (Reuse, Rethink, Repair, Recycle, Refuse, Remanufacture, Refurbish, Repurpose and Recover) and others include the Waste Hierarchy, Upcycle, Resources Efficiency, Closed Loop, Reverse Logistics, Industrial Symbiosis and Cradle-to-Cradle. Despite these principles adoption and implementation of CE in specific industry/organisation is hindered by number of issues and problems. In Africa some of these challenges include: recycling facility/technological deficit, wastes segregation and closed loop, reverse logistics, inadequate policy and public awareness, socio-economic factors and financial enablers as well as economy of African nations. Therefore, researchers, government and stakeholder are looking for suitable frame-works/strategies, regulations and policies. In addition, investments in CE driven projects and grant incentives, tax policies for firms/organisations will enhance sustainable develop-ment in African nations’ economy. Therefore, continuous improvement of CE frame-work(s) for efficient food packaging and environmental sustainability is needed in our na-tions.