BPF Explains Role of Plastics in Packaging Fruit and Vegetables to The Metro

The BPF recent wrote to The Metro informing the paper explaining the role plastic packaging plays in society, full text of the letter below:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Further to ‘It’s time to have a supermarket sweep on plastic’ (Letters, July 29), plastic packaging plays a vital role in our society. If you wrap a cucumber in plastic film, it increases the shelf life by 14 days. Global food wastage is estimated at 1.4 billion tonnes, which could feed 2 billion people. The reason unpackaged products are sometimes more expensive in supermarkets is partly due to the cost of food waste. Also, plastic packaging is lightweight and uses less resources than alternative materials. Let’s not remove the packaging to the detriment of the environment and society.

Angela Fredericks, British Plastics Federation, London