Corona and the return of individually packaged – Culinary

Unnecessary packaging has become more and more like Jut in recent years. After years of intensive use, the mountain of waste piles up, sometimes until it literally creates islands in the oceans. Some packaging lasts hundreds of years, while being used only for a few minutes. Needless to do, more and more people find. With initiatives such as Mei Plastic-free and Plastic Attacks, they want to show that things can be done differently. This has paid off quite a bit in recent years. Producers and supermarkets were more likely to look for alternatives, and unnecessary packaging is increasingly being questioned. However, this trend could be severely affected by the Corona crisis.
…

Unnecessary packaging has become more and more like Jut in recent years. After years of intensive use, the mountain of waste piles up, sometimes until it literally creates islands in the oceans. Some packaging lasts hundreds of years, while being used only for a few minutes. Needless to do, more and more people find. With initiatives such as Mei Plastic-free and Plastic Attacks, they want to show that things can be done differently. This has paid off quite a bit in recent years. Producers and supermarkets were more likely to look for alternatives, and unnecessary packaging is increasingly being questioned. However, this trend could be severely affected by the Corona crisis. After all, supermarkets find that today customers prefer to use packaged food rather than mass-produced products. For example, Colruyt found that sales of loose confectionery tomatoes have halved in recent weeks, while the packaged version has been loaded into the carts much more often than before the Corona crisis. The number of pre-packaged loaves also doubled. The same trend can be observed in other Belgian supermarkets. In addition, the gastronomy puts a lot of effort into the pocket, now that meals and cocktails are not presented in a plate or glass at the table, but in a take-pocket tray or in a vacuum bag that is delivered to your home. Hospitality provider Metro reported sales up 120 percent. Some of it is compostable, but “it goes without saying that plastic is still widely used,” the trader sounds. Are all these packaging needed today? Are there species that can pass through the ecological bracket? And what does their resurrection mean for the world of tomorrow today, when this crisis will (largely) be over? Until a few months ago, it was clear to everyone in the food sector that people want to buy more and more fruit and vegetables without packaging. Almost every retailer in our country offered reusable bags in its fresh environment, which customers could load themselves. If there were already products for which packaging was indispensable according to the supermarket, alternatives to the frequently used plastic were often sought. For example, Delhaize put his apples in a cardboard box some time ago and replaced plastic bags with paper copies. Today spokesman Roel Dekelver is doubly pleased about this, because “we see that the mass suddenly sells much less and that people are more likely to reach for packaged products. Then I am glad that, at least in some cases, these are already ecological packaging.” The cause of this sudden upheaval? The rise of covid-19 and the fear that comes with it among consumers. The often heard advice to wash hands regularly implies that the virus can sit on everything, and therefore also on the foods we buy. The apparent solution? Choose foods that are in a protective jacket that you can take off, as well as disposable gloves and protective mouth masks. But is this argument correct? “Not really,” says An Vermeulen, director at packaging organisation Pack4Food. “The risk of getting infected while shopping,” she continues, “is not reduced by buying packaged products. Assuming that a package has been touched by someone infected with covid-19, you run the same risk of contamination if you take that package as you would have had when it comes to an unpackaged product. The only advantage of packaging in terms of hygiene, I think, is that you can clean a packaged product more easily when you come home. You don’t disinfect an apple, but end with a pack of apples.” Does this seem as cumbersome as the advice to leave your food in the hallway for a few days? Then it also works to wash your hands regularly and touch your face as little as possible.” In addition, I do not see any differences in hygiene between different packaging materials,” continues Vermeulen. “Basically, they all do the same thing: shield a product from the outside world.” For a while, it seemed that the coronavirus would survive longer on hard surfaces like plastic than on soft ones like cardboard, but according to Vermeulen, the differences studied were not so clear. According to the director of Pack4Food, the current trend towards choosing more packaging is primarily for consumers and their choices. Retailers are hardly adapting their ranges. “We don’t get more questions from the industry itself than usual. In the future, we could reconsider packaging that improves the shelf life of products. The upgrade could be imposed if people were shopping at most once a week.” In the supermarkets, it is above all the consumer himself who turns his car, a different story can be heard in catering establishments, which are now fighting for their survival and rushing to stomp on a delivery of takeaway service. The supply of packaging material has become just as important in the industry as the supply of good ingredients. However, this does not mean that the choice of the type of packaging material is based on extensive research, as the turbulent conditions mean that there is little time left for it. “The hospitality industry is struggling at the moment,” says Lieselot Van Mol of Horeca Vlaanderen. “I don’t think the type of packaging material is a priority now. In other times, ecology may play a bigger role, but now it is shifting a little into the background. Traders want something that is cheap and readily available. And then the choice often falls on plastic.’It may sound a bit crazy, but ‘that’s not necessarily less sustainable’, nuances. “Takeaway packaging often consists of a material and a layer, making them easy to recycle. In addition, the extension of the PMD bag in Flanders has been rolled out almost completely, so that these materials are now selectively collected.” In recycling, the role of the consumer is crucial. If it’s misrepresented, it goes wrong and a package still ends up as useless waste. Therefore, it may be interesting to look for alternatives in certain circumstances. After all, plastic is not the only affordable option on the market today to pack meals. But there is also an obstacle around the corner for environmentally conscious restorers, says Lieselot Van Mol: “Some packaging looks ecological, but is not necessary. Do you see cardboard around food? Then you can almost be sure that there is a protective layer on it that makes it non-recyclable.” There is a certain extent: the packaging industry wants to become greener even in times of health crises. “The long-term vision, whether corona or not, is still about sustainability and recyclable packaging. Not only the stricter consumer demands this, but also Fevia’s packaging obligations and European legislation. Do not give way to a virus.” Sustainability consultant Agnieszka van Batavia also draws the long-term map in the journal Food Inspiration: “Individual packaging seems clean, but it is indirect symptom control. If we can learn anything from viruses like Sars, Ebola, Mers and Corona, it is that our lifestyle makes the world of animals too small and viruses jump from animal to human. If the pandemic proves anything, it is that the world of food must be transferred to sustainable systems as soon as possible.” So it has to be different, and even today there are some things that prove it. For example, there is Tiffin, a network of about 100 restaurants in Brussels, which offer a five percent discount on takeaways when customers offer their reusable lunchbox. Or the Genter lunch concept Djar, which asks for a guarantee for the glasses in which their aperitif box comes. Billiecup has been around for a year. The reusable cup, launched by mei Plasticvrij’s initiators themselves, can be filled with takeaway coffee in hundreds of cases throughout Flanders. In the supermarkets, it is a coffee grounds for the time being when it comes to the future. Hanne Poppe of Colruyt expects the trend to opt for more packaged products to continue for a while. ‘Maybe it will fade a little bit in the long run, but this period will continue to have an impact.’ Vermeulen does not immediately see the growing concern of consumers translated into the production side of history. “Producers have already worked on an innovation path to make sustainability even more central, and will certainly continue to do so.” That sounds nice, but the athe trend continues to raise questions. After all, producers and supermarkets are growing by making consumers happy and thus always following their wishes. In recent years, for example, we have readily seen them jumping on the bandwagon of consumers who have asked for less or better packaging. No one can say for sure what will happen in the shops if mainly packaged products continue to be sold. Either way, one thing is certain: every euro you spend as a supermarket consumer is a vote for the food system you want. Settle down on a return visit. And don’t forget to wash your hands.