Introduction: The Need for Sustainable Food Packaging in India
India’s food processing sector ranks as the sixth largest globally. A wide array of items such as bags, boxes, containers, wraps, cups, straws, and tableware designed to hold or safeguard food are used in this sector. Given the perishable nature of food, significant losses often occur during the supply chain due to environmental factors like oxidation, moisture, microbial contamination, or thermal degradation. With rapid urbanisation, addressing these challenges has become crucial, emphasising the need for effective packaging to facilitate the transportation, storage, and consumption of food products.
Grocery stores with physical shops and/or online ordering, quick commerce delivery chains, and restaurants that provide takeout and delivery services continue to generate a huge amount of food packaging trash. Single-use foil covers, cans and trays, plastic straws and cutlery are preferred for convenience but are harmful to the environment. Although glass and metal have a smaller environmental impact, the chemical compounds present in them make them dangerous when discarded. Even paper and paperboard, which are usually thought of as environmentally friendly materials, need up to three times the energy required to create plastic. All this calls for alternative, more sustainable packaging materials.
The food and beverage industry stands out as a major adopter of sustainable packaging, focusing on minimising environmental impact throughout a product’s lifecycle. This approach prioritises using renewable and eco-friendly materials, reducing waste, and lowering the carbon footprint associated with packaging, transportation, and disposal—all while ensuring that the product remains well-protected. In addition, it does not cause any form of pollution, toxicity or health issues, and uses less energy and natural resources. Companies are adopting circular economy practices or closed-loop systems where packaging materials are designed for reuse or recycling, minimising waste and resource consumption.
The eco-friendly or sustainable food packaging market is categorised by the material selected, application, packaging type, and manufacturing techniques used. It includes packaging materials that are recyclable, biodegradable, or compostable and designs that prioritise refilling or reusability and efficiency. Raw materials commonly used include bioplastics, paper and paperboard, glass, and metal. Applications span across various segments such as bakery and confectionery, fruits, vegetables, dairy, beverages, meat, poultry, fish, and convenience foods.
Bio-packaging can refer to either bio-based packaging materials obtained from renewable sources and/or biodegradable materials.
Recycling aluminium or paper requires less energy and water than producing it. Recently, Ball Corporation, which specialises in sustainable aluminium packaging, partnered with Dabur India to launch Real Bites products in fully recyclable aluminium cans. Such initiatives would help in supporting India’s targets of one billion tonnes carbon emission decrease by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2070.
Coca-Cola India is the first company in the country to introduce 100% recycled PET bottles. The company also offers refillable packaging.
Innovative Sustainable Packaging Solutions
Some of the emerging trends in biodegradable packaging encompass:
Corn Plastic: Polylactic acid, a thermoplastic resin produced from cornstarch, offers a biodegradable alternative to conventional plastics such as polystyrene which are made from petroleum-based materials. This bioplastic is economical, versatile, food-safe, and resistant to food fats/oils.
Sugarcane-based plastic: This is a bioplastic from a renewable source. Agro waste such as sugarcane bagasse or ethanol extracted from sugarcane can be used as raw materials. Chuk is a company that uses sugarcane bagasse to produce tableware, containers, and plates, catering mainly to the food service industry. These products are compostable.
Bamboo: Known for its rapid growth, bamboo is increasingly used as a sustainable alternative to paper and plastic for producing eco-friendly items such as cutlery, straws, cups, and more.
Wood and Plant Fibers: Biodegradable packaging materials are crafted from cellulose found in plant matter and wood pulp, which can also be recycled into other paper-based products.
Ecoware produces tableware and boxes from bagasse as well as areca-based bowls and plates. Bio-lutions, which has a production facility in Bangalore, use rice straws, banana stems and leaves from sugarcane as well as dry molding technology to manufacture plastic and paper-free, recyclable, and food-safe trays.
Mushroom-Based Packaging: Mycelium, the fungi’s root structure, is combined with seed husks to create an environment-friendly substitute for polystyrene or styrofoam packaging.
Leaf-based: Such containers, plates, and cutlery are biodegradable, watertight, and compostable. They can be stored in the freezer or used to cook in a microwave oven. Vistaraku is a Telangana-based startup that offers leaf-based tableware and boxes which also use cardboard and paper for support and sturdiness.
Edible packaging: To eliminate the need for plastic wrapping in fresh produce, edible coatings such as wax or natural oils are being increasingly utilised. These coatings help extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by reducing moisture loss.
It also includes films made from seaweed or rice starch, which can be consumed along with the food, reducing waste. These solutions are still in developmental stages but hold promise for the future of sustainable packaging.
Zerocircle Initiatives is an Indian startup that offers seaweed-based edible food coatings. In addition, they produce a bag-like packaging which is heat-sealable, food-safe, printable, home compostable, and degradable in seawater.
Overcoming Challenges to Industry Adoption in India
High costs and scalability: Though certain small companies are focussing on sustainability, bigger brands in the country are yet to adopt sustainable packaging to a large extent. This is because such environment-friendly packaging is often accompanied by high costs compared to conventional packaging due to difficulty in sourcing, manufacturing, and scalability. In addition, improved packaging functionality also comes with cost implications.
Consumer awareness: One challenge is limited consumer awareness of the benefits of sustainable packaging and waste segregation. Even if there is infrastructure for waste segregation, usage is low and also, home or small-scale segregation of waste does not guarantee segregation of waste at waste collection points and landfills.
Over-packaging: Over-packaging is another issue. This may be required to maintain the quality or freshness, and extend the shelf life of the food product but leads to more waste generation. Consumers’ interest in posting videos of unpacking or unboxing food products on social media is another reason for companies and restaurants offering sophisticated packaging. This kind of packaging has another advantage – premium positioning or perception, which can generate higher revenue for the company due to the added costs. Flimsy packaging may damage the product and using recycled material may not make the product look premium. The food industry is also far from using reusable material and the so-called premium-ness comes from using more plastic. But if consumers start refusing to pay high prices to buy such over-packaged items from restaurants for example, for the disposable waste generated, players would adapt, transforming to sustainable packaging.
Reducing plastic: Even if companies use plastic-based primary packaging for its low cost, good containment and product shelf-life, the plastic has to be collected back and recycled to maintain circularity. Nowadays, consumers prefer small packs for affordability or product trials but these small packs tend to use almost double the amount of plastic that midsize packs use. Reducing the grams of plastic that players use in packaging is a challenge to overcome, which also helps from a profit point of view.
Technical issues or lack of required tools: Technical issues or a lack of tools to help customise the packaging (such as fitting the packaging’s mass transfer properties) to the food requirements may be hindering the larger market uptake of these materials.
Adapting existing machinery: An additional challenge for industries is adapting their existing machinery to prepare packaging using any new material which may lead to low outputs and hence, increased costs. In that case, the material has to be modulated.
The role of bigger brands: Popular, large food manufacturers choosing sustainable packaging or educating consumers about such themes will be beneficial in driving change as their voice is more powerful. To start with, companies can choose to make product labels in the same type of plastic as packaging for easier segregation.
Sustainability and Health: Healthy products can be offered in sustainable packaging though it may be expensive since consumers may not mind the costs if the products have additional health benefits.
Retailers’ part: Other stakeholders such as the retail industry also have a part to play. Supermarkets/ hypermarkets can offer one section dedicated to such premium, gourmet or healthy food products in sustainable packaging to create consumer awareness of such products or encourage purchase from people who seek such products.
Packaging optimisation: Optimising the packaging and material performance to deliver the same level of functionality as non-sustainable packaging is required. This can be achieved through various techniques outlined below:
- Active packaging – Reduces spoilage and extends shelf life. It mainly comprises films or biopolymer-based packaging that release or absorb pathogens or spoilage microorganisms, prevent moisture loss from food or the headspace of food packaging, and perform oxygen scavenging.
- Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP): Here, the product’s internal atmosphere is modified to limit microbial spoilage and extend its shelf-life.
- Smart packaging – Technology such as radiofrequency identification (RFID) helps identify and track a product package’s location throughout the supply chain for food safety and transparency. RFID tags store details that can also aid in traceability.
- Intelligent packaging – It uses sensors or freshness indicators to monitor the food environment inside and outside the package and transmits real-time information about product conditions, such as temperature, pH, or freshness, to the user.
- The use of blockchain for tracking packaging and artificial intelligence for optimizing packaging design are emerging trends that enhance efficiency and transparency in the supply chain.
While designing a package, some things to consider are packaging recyclability, using fewer materials to produce it, and the final package’s ecological footprint. Lifecycle analysis needs to be performed on these packaging to assess the environmental impact from raw material to end-of-life. Being able to evacuate all food contents from a package is essential in minimising food waste. Focusing on resealability (using zippered closures, screw caps, or pressure sensitivity adhesive strips) helps in convenience and maintaining product quality. Biodegradable gums and adhesives add to the sustainability factor.
When companies make an effort by investing in research and development, collaborating with others, and adopting more sustainable packaging solutions, they build a positive brand image.
Regulatory support: This is one of the major factors that would promote sustainable packaging. The Indian government has implemented several policies to promote sustainable packaging and reduce plastic waste. These include the 2022 ban on single-use plastics including items such as straws, cutlery, and certain types of bags; establishing the plastic waste management rules and extended producer responsibility (EPR) framework; FSSAI’s packaging regulations, 2018; and incentives for sustainable practices.
Role of food product delivery platforms: Apart from physical stores and restaurants, food delivery, e-commerce and quick commerce companies also have an important role to play for sustainable packaging adoption to grow in the future. In recent years, Zomato has offered the option of opting out of receiving cutlery and recycling more plastic waste than usage. Also, as part of its “Plastic Free Future” initiative, it seeks to incentivise eco-conscious brands to use sustainable packaging by enhancing their visibility on its portal, thereby encouraging the restaurant industry to transition to plastic-free alternatives for food delivery packaging.
In conclusion, continuous innovation, collaborative industry efforts, and proactive policy support are essential to advancing sustainable food packaging practices and ensuring environmental responsibility without compromising functionality or affordability.
About the author:
Sanjana is a Research Associate at Firstmr, holds a Master’s in Food and Nutritional Sciences, and a Bachelor’s in Food Science and Management. Her interests include vegan foods and sustainable nutrition. She has worked on research projects in potato starch, savory ingredients, protein ingredients, and OSA-modified starch.