At first thought of the concept, edible packaging might incite interesting reactions and questions like: “Isn’t the point of packaging to protect the food inside?” or “Won’t it get dirty?” In fact, it is probably even more difficult for people to understand eating the container that their food comes in as it is to eat insects. But if we take a moment to think, we as humans have consumed “edible” containers as long as our existence.
Let us look at the way that we treat our fruits and vegetables. We have been eating apples and kumquats with their skins since their cultivation. The skin of an apple is filled with vital nutrients from fiber and vitamins to powerful antioxidants such as quercetin, shown to fight off brain tissue damage in rats. The skins are even containers of antimicrobials against Gramnegative bacteria. As a species, we have not disregarded all peels that coat the produce we consume.
We even see edible containers in foods of our own creation. The ice cream cone, the tortilla, even the pizza, are all examples of edible containers that we have created to carry other foods within them. We can take great inspiration from both natural and artificial sources when we are creating new items that
are traditionally made from petroleum-based plastics.
Now to the problem: surely a great many people already know how big of a problem plastic is for our environment and our surroundings. Plastic takes a millennium to break down regardless of where is it discarded, and is most often thrown into landfills. That means that all of the plastic that has ever been created is still around, somewhere, except for the miniscule amount that has been recycled. Only about 5% of all plastic is actually recycled, and every year enough plastic is discarded to circle the entire earth four times. Still worse, several additives are involved in the generation of plastic that have been shown to have toxic effects on hormonal balance. One of the most notorious, Bisphenol A (BPA), was found in the bodies of 93% of Americans ages six or older.
There are several approaches that aim to solve the plastic problem. This essay is going to focus on food-based packaging and plastic rather than all packaging and plastic as a larger concept. First and foremost, we can increase the percentage of recyclable materials that we use. Similarly, we can also increase the percentage of compostable