Question

In cities, fruits and vegetables can be bought packed in beautiful polystyrene and plastic packaging – we pay so much and what do we do?

Answer 1

Part 1: Packaging material
Any ready made goods has a minimum of three layer packaging materials. Some containers have many more layers, for example, some cartoons have 5 layers consisting of polyethylene and aluminium foils. This packing is based on the 3 P's – Protection, Preservation and Presentation.

Part 2: Effect of packing material
Leaching out of various chemicals from the packaging like bisphenols, phthalates etc. can have a medical impact on people. The effects on the environment are many, some of which are:-

• Consumption of so many resources to make the packaging material.
• Recycling of all material cannot be done increasing the toxicity level of the soil leading to biomagnification.
• Increasing volume in landfills.