To build food security, reduce plastic use
BY JULIE KURTZ AND DREW SAMPLE Our food system has a plastic problem. Macro- and micro-plastic pollution is contaminating aquatic and agricultural ecosystems—threatening food security. Plastics are entering food chains, threatening both animal and human health. Meanwhile, as diets increasingly include more packaged ultra-processed and fast foods, the food system itself is generating more and more plastic pollution. Takeout food and beverage
To build food security, reduce plastic use
BY JULIE KURTZ AND DREW SAMPLE
Our food system has a plastic problem. Macro- and micro-plastic pollution is contaminating aquatic and agricultural ecosystems—threatening food security. Plastics are entering food chains, threatening both animal and human health. Meanwhile, as diets increasingly include more packaged ultra-processed and fast foods, the food system itself is generating more and more plastic pollution. Takeout food and beverage containers have become a dominant source of aquatic global litter. Of the $75 billion in estimated annual environmental damage due to plastics, food and beverage companies are the largest culprit, responsible for 23% of the cost.
To curb these problems, policies that limit a particularly dangerous trend—the rise in single-use plastic production and distribution—and encourage more nutritious and ecological alternatives to throwaway items must be a central component of a healthy and resilient food system.