Lifted Bans and Single-Use Plastic

On the whole, the battle for reducing plastic waste has been a very hot initiative. Many countries around the world started banning single-use plastics.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, people started to think more about the overall hygiene of the products they were consuming.Majority of the companies had decided to put hygiene and food-safety issues on top of their list.To assist with overseeing cleanliness worries during the pandemic crisis, single-use packaging has rose up, while reusable bundling has gone down the drain.

During the lock down, more Malaysians prefer to order food via online delivery platforms. To maximise customers’ experience in enjoying takeaway food, many food and beverage (F&B) outlets first put the cooked food in a plastic container and wrap the plastic container with multiple layers of plastic to avoid spillage.

Coupled with the rise of online delivery services, Malaysia has the highest annual per capita plastic use recorded at 16.78kg per person before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is relatively higher than other neighbouring ASEAN countries such as Singapore (12.5kg), Philippines (12.4kg), Thailand (15.52kg) and Vietnam (12.93kg), according to a 2020 World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia report.

The situation is getting worse when more Malaysians are purchasing online or receiving food aid in plastic bags. As a result, Malaysia used 148,000 tonnes of plastic packaging for food in 2020 alone. [extracted from the article by Amanda Yeo published on Bernama 2 August 2021]

E-Commerce Demands and Consumer Preferences

Online client base has expanded during the pandemic and numerous customers say they intend to proceed with e-commerce shopping in any event, even when physical stores are open.

E-commerce or internet shopping will continue to increase as there are more customers searching for items on the web because we don’t have the foggiest idea when this pandemic will end.

Direct to buyer has been the concentration through an e-commerce platform with the stay at home requests in all parts of a purchaser spending. Because of this trend, there is an expansion with single-use packaging and wrapping for packages delivered by online business providers.

With e-commerce at a record-breaking high, new businesses in the retail business are using information innovation to further develop purchaser retail encounters on the web and may have to utilize sustainable packaging to limit waste.

Sustainability Redefined or Reconsidered

Food safety and packaging became one the most talked-about topics after COVID-19 hit in Malaysia, particularly when information started circulating about the possibility of infection after contact with contaminated food packaging.

Food safety concerns have now gained pace to overtake sustainability as a major concern for consumers when it comes to food packaging, leading to the rise of a ‘Food safety-environmental dilemma’.

More consumers are realizing that it’s not just the reuse or recycling of the product that’s important but the impact of the product’s entire lifecycle.

Modern sustainability initiatives are embracing all three of the Rs. While the recyclability of packaging materials has long been a priority, packaging design goals now also involve reducing the amount of packaging used and creating packages that serve secondary purposes.

Balancing Food Safety and Sustainability

COVID-19 won’t stop the transition to more sustainable packaging. Developments towards making more environmentally-friendly packaging choices and minimising the environmental footprint of packed food products including avoiding food waste are top of mind. Besides reducing the carbon footprint of packaging manufacturing, environmentally-friendly packaging could protect the ocean habitat.

Environmentally-friendly packaging could come from agricultural waste (i.e., plant starch from corn, sugarcane or beet pulp), biodegradable packing peanuts, corrugated bubble wrap, mushroom-based packaging, recycled cardboard and paper, post-consumer recycled plastics and organic fabrics.

Our carton packaging solutions are able to help keep food safe from harmful bacteria, provide good protection, help to maintain freshness and are 100% recyclable and responsibly sourced.

For more information about our sustainable carton packaging solutions, kindly contact us at packtalk@kym.com.my.