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Packaging WasteJad Aboulhosn1 min read

The packaging paradox: cutting plastic without spoiling food

In a region where ambient temperatures routinely test the limits of packaging, sustainability and food safety are locked in a delicate balancing act.

The packaging paradox: cutting plastic without spoiling food

Cutting packaging waste is an easy goal to state and a hard one to engineer — especially in markets where products spend long hours in heat during distribution and storage.

The mono-material push

Recyclable single-polymer structures are gaining ground, but matching the barrier performance of multi-layer laminates is non-trivial.

Shelf life is the constraint

Every gram of material removed must be weighed against spoilage risk and the far larger carbon cost of wasted food.

Where regulation is heading

Extended producer responsibility schemes under discussion across the region would shift cost calculus toward designs that are genuinely recyclable at scale.