Abstract:

Packaging is a major side issue in the consumption of products, mainly food goods. According to Fuher et al (2019), in the European Union, 1,130 billion items of packaging come from the food and beverage market. Therefore, the introduction of more eco-friendly packaging has been one of the strongest trends in the packaging sector in recent years. The observed increase in consumers’ environmentally friendly attitudes has been manifested by, among other things, their interest in products which contribute to a reduction in their negative impact on the environment. Ecological neutrality, i.e. innocuousness to the environment and recyclability after use, is an important function of packaging (Dajnaka, 2011). The consumer as a decision-maker in the purchase of a given product plays an important role in the market penetration of harmless or environmentally friendly packaging (Ketelsen, Janssen, Hamm 2020), which is pushing changes in the packaging industry towards the use of environmentally friendly solutions. In addition, companies are under pressure from governments and consumers to use eco-friendly packaging for their products (Nguyen et. al 2019, Parker et al. 2020). Therefore, the importance of biodegradable packaging, and that made from recycled raw materials, is increasing. According to Żakowska (2015), it is crucial to design, produce, and use packaging in accordance with the principle of sustainable development. There are many synonyms for the environmentally friendly attributes of packaging – “environmentally friendly”, “sustainable”, and “green packaging” (Prakash i Pathak, 2017). The environmental impact of packaging should be considered and taken into account throughout its life cycle, and not only in the waste phase. The short life cycle of packaging means, among other things, that it is necessary to constantly obtain raw materials for its production, and is associated with the generation of waste for disposal Joachimiak-Lechman (2015). Therefore, Steenis et al (2017) define sustainable packaging as “packaging which has a relatively low environmental impact, as measured by the packaging life cycle model”. Some claim that there is no eco-friendly packaging, but sustainable packaging can be said to be packaging which has the least environmental impact over its life cycle to fulfil its function. Increasingly, totally eco-friendly packaging is regarded as simply the absence of packaging (Dejnaka 2011). The role and functions of packaging are a dynamic category https://foodfakty.pl/czy-istnieje-ekologiczne-opakowanie. Today, packaging has informational, utilitarian, marketing, and environmental protection functions, among others. In these times of environmental degradation and climate change, the production and use of eco-friendly packaging is clearly vital. However, in many markets, especially developing ones, environmentally friendly or “green” packaging is still a niche market, and often the perception of packaging as environmentally friendly is not entirely clear (Nguyen et. al. 2020).