Food packaging: why pizza boxes and French fry cones are doomed to disappear ?

Des polluants éternels sont omniprésents dans les boîtes de pizzas. ILLUSTRATION UNSPLASH

Several packaging used in catering will be banned by 2030. Although common for a long time, certain containers such as pizza boxes are particularly harmful to the environment but also to health, due to the eternal pollutants that ;rsquo;they contain.

The European Parliament adopted this Wednesday, April 24, a law aimed at reducing packaging waste in the European Union, including the ban, by 2030, of plastic containers for use unique in cafes and restaurants. Voted by 476 votes for and 129 against, this law also prohibits the use of "eternal pollutants" PFAS in packaging in contact with food.

Among this packaging, pizza boxes, fries cones and other disposable boxes in which sandwiches are sold are concerned.

While they are practical for transporting fatty foods, while retaining heat, these packages present health risks, due to the eternal pollutants they contain. These molecules, invisible to the naked eye, are lodged in the shiny film inside the bags, in direct contact with the food, explain our colleagues from TF1.

Harmful to health and the environment

Faced with warnings from scientists about the harmful effects of PFAS, the European Parliament therefore adopted regulations to prohibit their intentional addition in food packaging from 2026.

"This is a world first that we are achieving here for these eternal, particularly polluting chemicals that are harmful to health and the environment, c’ ;rsquo;is also a victory for European consumers" greeted Belgian MEP Frédérique Ries (Renew), rapporteur of the text.