Food Packaging Repercussions

Food Packaging Repercussions

Everyday we consume foods, whether its junk food, healthy food or somewhere in between, we all do it. When you order from a restaurant your food usually comes in either plastic or cardboard. If your food comes in a plastic container than the food might be greasy or wet, the plastic may be used to help contain what’s inside. If your food comes in a cardboard box than it might indicate that the food, you ordered is a solid. Things like candy, chocolate, or bags of chips all typically come in plastic packaging but can be in different states. The packaging on products can affect you in several ways, if the product you bought comes in plastic than you are expected to get rid of it in a respectable way (recycling.) But having to recycle our plastic isn’t necessarily a bad thing, recycling is good for the earth because it means that all of the trash that would normally be polluting our planet can be reused to make other things.  After we eat the food, the packaging is either thrown out or recycled, if it is plastic it is better to recycle than to just throw it away. If you throw out plastic it can take 1,000’s of years to fully decompose so that means that for the next 1,000 years that piece of plastic that was carelessly thrown out is going to be sitting on this earth, after 1 day of plastic garbage being thrown out nothing really changes about it, after a year the plastic may seem real disgusting and bad but nothing has actually been broken down yet and after 100 years the object may have begun to break down but still has a lot longer before it is fully decomposed. Cardboard boxes can be recycled but if you aren’t being responsible with them they only take 3 months to decompose, after 1 day of being thrown out nothing really happens, after a year the object is completely decomposed, and after 100 years nobody even knows that that piece of cardboard use to exist. Plastic bags are different than the other types of plastic because it isn’t as harmful to the environment, plastic bags can take anywhere from 10 to 1000 years to fully decompose but in our time they typically take less time to do so, after 1 day of a plastic bag being thrown out nothing happens to it, after 1 year the bag may see some slight changes but very un noticeable ones and after 100 years there are noticeable changes made to the bag but still may need some more time to fully decompose.  Food waste typically decomposes extremely fast, but this also can depend on what is inside of it. Consumers can decrease waste by making sure they’re responsible with their plastics and other recyclable items, it isn’t very hard to put the piece of trash in the right bin. Eating less may be beneficial to you and the planet, you may not to actually have to eat less but eating healthier foods also may help because there is usually has less packaging on vegetables than there might be on candy. If you notice someone isn’t being responsible with plastics or other recyclable items than you can try and point that out to them. If you notice your school or workplace doesn’t have recycling bins accessible to you and your peers than you can bring that up to the people in charge.