Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jul 18;12(14):2737.
doi: 10.3390/foods12142737.

Towards Less Plastic in Food Contact Materials: An In-Depth Overview of the Belgian Market

Salvatore Ciano  1 , Mélanie Di Mario  1 , Séverine Goscinny  1 , Els Van Hoeck  1
Affiliations

Towards Less Plastic in Food Contact Materials: An In-Depth Overview of the Belgian Market

Salvatore Ciano et al. Foods. .

Abstract

The food contact materials (FCMs) industry is forced to develop substitute materials due to constant pressure from consumers and authorities to reduce fossil-based plastic. Several alternatives are available on the market. However, market share, trends, and consumer preferences are still unclear. Therefore, this study aims to provide an overview of the Belgian FCMs market, the available substitute materials, and their uses. The market analysis was performed with an integrated web-based approach. Fifty-two sources were investigated, covering e-shops selling materials intended to replace disposable plastic materials or being advertised as environmentally friendly and websites describing homemade FCMs. The first screening identified 10,523 articles. The following data cleaning process resulted in a homogeneous dataset containing 2688 unique entries, systematically categorised into fifteen material categories and seven utilisation classes. Paper and board was the most popular material category (i.e., 37% of the entries), followed by bagasse, accounting for 9% of the entries. Takeaway and food serving (44.4% and 22.8% of the entries) were the most common usage categories. The study pursued to provide insights into current trends and consumer preferences, highlighting priorities for safety assessment and future policy making.

Keywords: bioplastic; consumer preferences; disposable plastic; food contact materials; market study; packaging; paper and board packaging; plastic alternatives; recycled plastic; silicones.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Biofutura website, sitemap selector graph, obtained with “Web Scraper” browser extension.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Overview of the materials used to manufacture alternative FCMs. (a) Number of samples per material. Bagasse and wheat pulp were grouped in the “paper analogues” category. Bamboo, palm leaves, coconut, reed, straw, and wheat were grouped in the “wood analogues” category. (b) Distribution of the paper analogues. (c) Distribution of the wood analogues.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Results according to the item’s intended use.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Takeaway/disposable FCM, percentage of material distribution.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Sonego E., Di Filippo P., Riccardi C., Pomata D., Bannò A., Simonetti G., Buiarelli F. Occurrence and migration study of chemicals from baking paper and aluminium foil. Food Chem. 2023;409:135260. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2022.135260. - DOI - PubMed
    1. European Commission . Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. European Commission; Brussels, Belgium: 2018. A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy.
    1. Ali A., Bahadar A., Khan A., Sanaullah K. 8-Role of agricultural waste in recycled plastic biocomposites. In: Rahman M.R., Bakri M.K.B., editors. Recycled Plastic Biocomposites. Woodhead Publishing; Cambridge, UK: 2022. pp. 165–194. (Woodhead Publishing Series in Composites Science and Engineering).
    1. Plastics Europe . Plastics—The Facts 2022. Plastics Europe; Bruxelles, Belgium: 2022.
    1. Kan M., Miller S.A. Environmental impacts of plastic packaging of food products. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 2022;180:106156. doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2022.106156. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources