No, don’t do that. The whole idea of food packaging is to make sure the food stays fresh for a longer time without moisture or leaks. Plastics are leak-proof since they’re molded products. Plastics also create a vacuum so that no moisture enters the package from outside air. This makes the food stay fresh for longer.
Now what’s eco-friendly? Anything that decomposes naturally is eco-friendly. How does decomposition happen? By degradation due to moisture. So no matter how eco-friendly your food packaging container is, it will attract moisture, reducing the freshness of the food.
This is food packed in a banana leaf.
After a while, the heat or steam in the hot food will attract water from the fresh banana leaf. The steam is nothing but vapor that, when condensed, turns into water. Meanwhile, the steam affects the freshness of the banana leaf and extracts water. This spoils the freshness of the dry food, turning it into a semi-liquid state.
What about dry lotus leaf packaging?
This has no moisture, good… but without moisture, it is dry and breaks when not folded properly. So there’s a chance of food leaking after packing. Also, it’s not suitable for packing gravies and chutneys that are in a liquid state. We need airtight containers, which are nothing but - glass or SS containers
This is an eco-friendly, leak-proof sambhar container which cost a few hundred at an online store.
Imagine the cost of the food is LESS than the cost of the container. Would the customer be happy to pay for it???
Being eco-friendly is a style-statement luxury for individuals. But when it comes to business, you need customers who are willing to pay extra to share your ideology. Its ok to go for eco-friendly in garment stores because the product is non-edible. But food is edible and is subject to decomposition.
So we need to invest in “smart packaging” that requires less time and effort to pack, retains the freshness of the food for a longer time, while also being cost-friendly to the end consumer. For these reasons, restaurants depend on plastic containers for food packaging.