A systematic scoping review of environmental, food security and health impacts of food system plastics

Yates, Joe; Deeney, Megan; Rolker, Heike; White, Howard; Kalamatianou, Sofia; Kadiyala, Suneetha

doi:10.1038/s43016-021-00221-z

Cited by 99 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…1 Generally, fresh drinks can easily spoil at ambient temperature. 2 With the increasing public awareness of foodborne illnesses, there is a strong need to develop versatile inspection tools. During the spoilage process, viscosity is an important physical factor, and is closely related to the extent of the spoilage.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Naphthalene anhydride triphenylamine as a viscosity-sensitive molecular rotor for liquid safety inspection

Peng

et al. 2022

New J. Chem.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Naphthalene anhydride triphenylamine as a viscosity-sensitive molecular rotor for liquid safety inspection

Peng

et al. 2022

New J. Chem.

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“…Plastics are used extensively across food systems, particularly for packaging. 59 A handful of companies dominate global food and beverage markets, including Coca-Cola, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever. Together, these topped Break Free from Plastic's 2020 brand pollution audit 60 and generate an estimated 83 football pitches worth of unmanaged plastic waste each day.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trust and responsibility in food systems transformation. Engaging with Big Food: marriage or mirage?

et al. 2021

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Concentration of power among transnational ‘Big Food’ companies has contributed to food systems that are unsustainable, unhealthy and inequitable for people and planet. Given these commercial determinants of health, if ‘food systems transformation’ is to be authentic—more than a passing narrative—then leveraging Big Food is paramount. To this end, researchers, practitioners and policy-makers are increasingly encouraged to engage with these powerful entities. However, given the conflicts of interest at stake, engagement relies on trust and transparency, that all stakeholders take responsibility for their actions and demonstrate commitment to do no harm. Given Big Food’s track record in influencing policy, shifting costs and responsibility for their harms—and while profit primarily drives business decision making—we question whether it is logical to expect trust.This analysis explores concepts of responsibility and trust in relation to food systems transformation involving public-private partnerships. Through short cautionary case studies—looking at the United Nations Food Systems Summit, and Big Food’s plastic burden—it argues that unless such companies take responsibility for their cross-cutting effects and earn authentic trust through demonstrably doing no harm, their participation in evidence generation and policy processes should be limited to responding to information requests and adhering to regulation. Any involvement in research agenda-setting or formulating policy solutions introduces conflicts of interest, legitimises corporate irresponsibility and jeopardises scientific integrity. Big Food has dynamism and power to address food system problems, but while it contributes to so many of these problems it should follow—not formulate—transformational evidence, policies and regulations.

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“…The makers of Seabin estimated that each 20 L bin is able to capture 1.4 tons of debris per year, while the current network of 860 bins worldwide captures more than 3.5 tons per day (~1,200 tons per year) and more than 2,000 tons have been collected since their deployment ( 61 , 62 ). However, capacity needs to be substantially increased to meet current rates of plastic pollution, which have been estimated to average 8 million tons per year with a standing stock of >200 million tons, and is increasing at an alarming rate ( 63 ). Given the rapid increase in use of plastics, and the fact it also hinders the carbon sequestering capacity of oceans, its future impact on climate change is projected to become more dominant.…”

Section: Programmatic Detailmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grassroots and Youth-Led Climate Solutions From The Gambia

Bonell

Badjie

Jammeh

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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Climate change and environmental degradation are among the greatest threats to human health. Youth campaigners have very effectively focused global attention on the crisis, however children from the Global South are often under-represented (sometimes deliberately) in the dialogue. In The Gambia, West Africa, the impacts of climate change are already being directly experienced by the population, and this will worsen in coming years. There is strong government and community commitment to adapt to these challenges, as evidenced by The Gambia currently being the only country on target to meet the Paris agreement according to the Nationally Determined Contributions, but again children's voices are often missing—while their views could yield valuable additional insights. Here, we describe a “Climate Change Solutions Festival” that targeted and engaged school children from 13 to 18 years, and is to our knowledge, the first peer-to-peer (and student-to-professional) learning festival on climate change solutions for students in The Gambia. The event gave a unique insight into perceived climate change problems and scalable, affordable and sometimes very creative solutions that could be implemented in the local area. Logistical and practical methods for running the festival are shared, as well as details on all solutions demonstrated in enough detail to be duplicated. We also performed a narrative review of the most popular stalls to explore the scientific basis of these solutions and discuss these in a global context. Overall, we find extremely strong, grass-roots and student engagement in the Gambia and clear evidence of learning about climate change and the impacts of environmental degradation more broadly. Nevertheless, we reflect that in order to enact these proposed local solutions further steps to evaluate acceptability of adoption, feasibility within the communities, cost-benefit analyses and ability to scale solutions are needed. This could be the focus of future experiential learning activities with students and partnering stakeholders.

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A systematic scoping review of environmental, food security and health impacts of food system plastics

Cited by 99 publications

References 30 publications

Naphthalene anhydride triphenylamine as a viscosity-sensitive molecular rotor for liquid safety inspection

Naphthalene anhydride triphenylamine as a viscosity-sensitive molecular rotor for liquid safety inspection

Trust and responsibility in food systems transformation. Engaging with Big Food: marriage or mirage?

Grassroots and Youth-Led Climate Solutions From The Gambia

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