Is Plant Based Packaging a Good Idea?

An emerging trend in the packaging world is to use plant-based packaging or ‘bio-based’ packaging. This material has sparked academic, industry, and philosophical debate about whether adding “packaging” to the many uses for food stuffs is a good idea.  Yes, plants are a renewable resource, but with the several competing uses of these resources (food for human consumption, feed for animals, ethanol, biodiesel, and traditional burning fuel), is packaging the best use for possible food or energy products? Most corn and soy in the U.S. is also of a genetically modified variety, leading to a whole other set of questions about what is a “sustainable” bio-material for packaging.

A good article “The Challenges of Using the Earth to Grow Energy”  by sustainability consultant, Alan AtKisson talks in more depth about these packaging challenges with bio-based materials.

To learn about some of the companies that are using bio-based materials see this article by GreenBiz, “Five Global Companies to Push Plant Based Packaging” .