That means the resources that went into producing that food aren't wasted. In fact, packaging experts have estimated that each pound of plastic packaging can reduce up to 1.7 pounds of food waste. Plastics can also help you bring home more product with less packaging. Not only do plastic bags require less total energy to produce than paper bags, they conserve fuel in shipping. It takes seven trucks to carry the same number of paper bags as fits in one truckload of plastic bags.
Plastics make packaging more efficient, which ultimately conserves resources.
Lightweighting Plastics engineers are always working to do even more with less material. Since 1977, the 2-liter plastic soft drink bottle has gone from weighing 68 grams to just 51 grams today, representing a 25 percent reduction per bottle. That saves more than 206 million pounds of packaging each year. The 1-gallon plastic milk jug has undergone an even greater reduction, weighing 30 percent less than what it did 20 years ago. Doing more with less helps conserve resources in another way.