Plastics matter in the food system

Joe Yates; Megan Deeney; Jane Muncke; Bethanie Carney Almroth; Marie-France Dignac; Arturo Castillo Castillo; Winnie Courtene-Jones; Suneetha Kadiyala; Eva Kumar; Peter Stoett; Mengjiao Wang; Trisia Farrelly

doi:10.1038/s43247-025-02105-7

Plastics matter in the food system

Joe Yates^*, Megan Deeney, Jane Muncke, Bethanie Carney Almroth, Marie-France Dignac, Arturo Castillo Castillo, Winnie Courtene-Jones, Suneetha Kadiyala, Eva Kumar, Peter Stoett, Mengjiao Wang, Trisia Farrelly

^*Corresponding author for this work

Energy, Resources & Technological Change

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Abstract

Agriculture and food systems are major sources of plastic pollution but they are also vulnerable to their diverse lifecycle impacts. However, this problem is not well-recognized in global policy and scientific discourse, agendas, and monitoring of food systems. The United Nations-led Global Plastics Treaty, which has been under negotiation since 2022, is a critical opportunity to address pollution across the entire plastics lifecycle for more sustainable and resilient food systems. Here, we offer aspirational indicators for future monitoring of food systems' plastics related to (1) plastic polymers and chemicals, (2) land use, (3) trade and waste, and (4) environmental and human health. We call for interdisciplinary research collaborations to continue improving and harmonising the evidence base necessary to track and trace plastics and plastic chemicals in food systems. We also highlight the need for collaboration across disciplines and sectors to tackle this urgent challenge for biodiversity, climate change, food security and nutrition, health and human rights at a whole systems level.

Original language	English
Article number	176
Number of pages	5
Journal	Communications Earth & Environment
Volume	6
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02105-7
Publication status	Published - 6 Mar 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025.

Funding

The coordination of this paper was funded through UK Aid from the UK Government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation via the Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions (IMMANA) programme, based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.\u00A0Authors would like to thank the reviewers for their valuable inputs and suggestions.

Funders	Funder number
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Keywords

Impacts

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1038/s43247-025-02105-7Licence: CC BY

s43247-025-02105-7Final published version, 512 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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AU - Courtene-Jones, Winnie

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Plastics matter in the food system

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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Cite this