The disposable plates, cups, bowls, tumblers, spoons, bags, covers, sheets, films are made from plastics such as polythene, polypropylene, polyester, polyethylene terephthalate, polystyrene, polycarbonate, epoxy resins, polysulfone, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, and melamine formaldehyde.
These plastics can release toxic substances including bisphenol A, melamine, vinyl chloride, phthalates, etc. into the food during usage. For example, bisphenol A, a starting material for the synthesis of plastics such as polycarbonate, epoxy resins, and polysulfone, is a possible carcinogen and causes prostrate and breast cancers, insulin resistance, and heart diseases. It is classified as xenoestrogen and being an endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC), it exhibits hormone mimicking properties and affects the male and female fertility in humans and animals.
The compound melamine is toxic and causes kidney damage. Whereas, polystyrene, one of the most used plastics, is nonbiodegradable, photooxidation-resistant, cancer suspect agent, and also affects the thyroid hormone levels. The phthalates used as plasticizers to improve the flexibility, transparency and durability of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are classified under EDC and affect hormone levels, male fertility and cause birth defects. They are also metabolic disruptors and possible carcinogens. The vinyl chloride monomer, a precursor to PVC, is also a recognized human carcinogen. Notably, most of these plastics are produced from nonrenewable fossil fuels such as petroleum or natural gas, which are going to be exhausted with increasing demand and show definitive impact on human health and environment. The carbon emissions released
In the context of global environmental challenges, the relevance of research aimed at obtaining ecofriendly packaging materials is growing. A modern “green” trend is the development of various types of biodegradable packaging for food industry. Special interest in the World in recent years has been shown to biodegradable food packaging materials that have both eco-properties and progressive consumer qualities.
The conclusions of scientific research confirm the possibility of using some of plant and animal components as a proper alternative to synthetic materials derived from petroleum products. Films and containers made of biodegradable polymers are used for packaging meat, dairy products, baking and other products. Another common use is disposable bottles and cups for various drinks, plates and pallets. The intended consumer market for such materials may be the production of bags for collecting and composting food waste, as well as bags for supermarkets.
Despite the advantages, the production of bio-polymers has economic barriers and negative environmental effects. The purpose of this study is to analyze the features of modern biodegradable food materials and problematic aspects of their production. The objectives of the study are to uncover the evolutionary stages of improving biodegradable plastic; to identify new generation of biodegradable food packaging based on a review of scientific research; to analyze adverse effects of the production and use of packaging made of natural materials. The Shivalik Hills is one of the biodiversity-rich forest regions of India, and limited information is available on the NTFPs of this region. Therefore, this study was undertaken in Haridwar district (Uttarakhand), with the following objectives.
- To prepare an inventory of the NTFPs extracted in the region.
- To estimate the quantity of NTFPs extracted by locals and the
Forest Department, and
- To estimate the income derived from NTFP gathering.
Environmental importance of leaf plates
The impact of disposable plasticware utilization in our day to day has led to a search for alternate renewable resource, i.e., use of plant leaves as dining plates and food wraps, a traditional practice in India. The long-standing tradition has its own cultural, religious, medicinal, socioeconomic importance in India.
The leaves are one of the non-timers forest produce (NTFP) and collected from the forests by the tribal people of India. The plates and cups made out of leaves are known as patravali, pattal, vistari, vistaraku; and done, dona, respectively, in various Indian languages. The leaf plates are environment friendly, biodegradable, amenable for longer duration storage and can be easily disposed off. They are economical and don’t require cleaning with phosphate-rich soaps and detergents, a time taking, labor intensive process.
The nutrient-rich detergents released into the water bodies lead to a phenomenon known as eutrophication, in which excessive growth of algae and its anaerobic decomposition depletes dissolved oxygen leading to fish kill. The leaves exhibit significant antibacterial and antifungal properties against various bacteria and fungi, thus protect us from the environmental and food borne pathogens. The abundance of polyphenols, which could probably be leached into the food make them as ideal natural antioxidants.
Leaf plate trade in India
The normal steps involved in leaf plate making are leaf collection, leaf drying, hand or machine stitching into plates and bundling for transport. Usually, the leaf collection from nearby forests is done by women and far distance by men. But, the stitching work is carried out mostly by women at home. The plates are manufactured in small scale and cottage industries.
The single-layered hand and sewing machine stitched plates known as khali are directly used by the consumers for dining purpose or further pressed into thick plates by heat pressing machines, which are procured by the commission agents, dealers and traders. The amenability of leaves to machine compression depends upon unfurling nature, fibrous content mechanical strength, type, and venation orientation of the leaves. Among the locally available resources, leaves from sal, addaku, and palasa are amenable for commercial leaf plate making.
The pedal operated and hydraulic heat pressing plate making machines perform the function of molding, trimming, pressing, and drying of the product. The machines are widely used in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. The plates are made into water and leak proof by sandwiching a low-density polyethylene (LDPE)-binding layer in between the leaves and the underlying cardboard paper or leaves.
The cardboard paper is generally made from cotton and old cloths. The leaf plates are available in the size of 11–18” diameter; cups and bowls in the size of 3–8” diameter; partitioned trays and buffet plates based on market and customer requirement, as there is no fixed standard set by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The cups are used for serving liquid food items such as soups, cereals, raita, and dal.
Cultural and religious significance of leaf plates in India
There are many ways of worshipping gods for Hindus, in which puja is the most popular form. The puja is performed by offering shodopachara, i.e., a standard system of 16 services to be executed to the god at temples and homes. Among the 16 services, offering naivedyam is one of the forms of expressing reverence and naivedyam is offered to the god either on a single broad leaf or plate made up of leaves. After offering the naivedyam to the deity, it becomes prasadam that is distributed on god’s name to the devotees. It is a popular belief that eating prasadam cures the diseases and controls the wrongdoing acts of humans. According to Acharya Charaka, the leaves are extremely modest and during the practice of eating food on leaf plate with hands, the sparsh (touch) connects all the sense organs with mind.
The practice of eating with hands by sitting on the floor is very apt for the present generation for controlling gastritis and obesity (Hegde et al. 2018). The custom of serving meal on leaves and leaf plates is considered as pure and good practice during various occasions such as marriages and birth day; and free food offered during community feasts and religious festivals. For example, during dham, the food is served in leaf plates for people sitting in lines on the ground.
The dham is a popular, traditional feast prepared during marriages and local festivals in Himachal Pradesh in which nutritionally rich food cooked in a traditional way is served. It symbolizes the universal brotherhood, as people seated in lines irrespective of their status during such traditional feasts (Tanwar et al. 2018).
Also, in the month of Karthika and during Ayyappa deeksha, it is customary to use leaves and leaf plates for serving food. During deeksha period, the devotees offer naivedyam to god Ayyappa in leaf plates, take satvika (non-stimulating, energy providing) food served on leaf platters and distribute prasadam in leaf plates and cups. In olden days, the leaves are extensively used for packing breakfast, meals, and groceries and the practice is continued in villages even now.
Varieties of plant leaves employed as plates, wraps, and packing material in India
Plant and tree leaves belonging to a variety of families of the plant kingdom are used as single leaf plates, stitched dining leaf plates, food wraps, and food packing materials. The current review provides information on plant local names, their distribution, cultural and religious significance, medicinal values, biological properties, and applications of leaves with specific reference to dining, wrapping, and packaging.
FORESTRY BEYOND TIMBER
The initiation of a new forest development strategy in India based in part on non-wood forest resources has attracted international attention (Campbell, 1993). It is now widely recognized that non-timber forest products (NTFPs) provide substantial inputs to the livelihoods of forest dependent populations, many of whom have limited non-agricultural income earning opportunities (Chandrasekharan, 1994; FAO, 1991).
These socio-economic concerns, together with a concern for forest loss and a decline in timber extraction potential, have necessitated changes in India’s forest management systems. India is beginning to experiment with forest management strategies already in place in parts of the Amazon region (Gradwohl and Greenberg, 1988) and which place livelihood and ecological considerations before revenue maximization concerns (Falconer, 1990; Hobley, 1996; Nepsted and Schwartzman, 1992; Peters et al., 1989; Schwartzman, 1989). Although timber extraction and allied subjects have been extensively studied in the past, basic research on, and analysis of, NTFP systems has been limited. The subject of tropical forest management for NTFP use is a complex one, characterized by multiple objectives, multiple products and multiple users. The complex patterns of use and change created by human demands on forests add a further complicating element (Arnold and Perez, 1996), as does the interaction of timber and non-timber forest management objectives.
FOREST POLICIES IN INDIA
State initiated forest management in India dates back to 1855 and the declaration of a Charter of Indian Forests. The Forest Policies of 1894, 1927, and 1952, all enacted since the first Forest Act of 1865, were largely directed towards timber production (Guha, 1983, 1989). Despite some cosmetic changes, the focus of the post colonial state’s forest policies has also been timber, and policies have been motivated by revenue and industrial concerns.
While Reserved Forests (RF) were and often are managed for timber, firewood and bamboo production on mainly commercial grounds, other categories of state-controlled forest lands – variously, ‘Protected Forests’, ‘Village forests’, ‘Zamindari forests’ and ‘Private forests’ amounting to 34 million hectares – were left to meet the forest needs of local people, usually without the systems of scientific management practised in the Reserved Forests or investment to enrich the depleting stock. The contribution of the misleadingly named ‘Minor Forest Products’ (MFPs, the umbrella term for forest products other than timber and firewood) was not yet appreciated in the forestry sector in India, and ‘timber’ continued to be the major tradable forest item on which management relied to generate revenue. Although Community Forestry in India developed impressively in the 1980s, it was primarily structured around the production of small timber and fuel wood (Nesmith, 1991). It was only in the 1988 Forest Policy that definite guidelines for developing NTFPs were issued.
These policy guidelines will not achieve their objectives unless they are translated into specific goal-oriented strategies at the State level forestry, where national forest policies are implemented and where many previous policy recommendations have not been pursued with vigour or success. The forestry sector in India is part of the ‘Concurrent List’ of the Constitution, which is to say that it is a subject under the dual control of State and Central Government, where State forestry units control and manage the forests within the constraints of a National Forest Policy. Prior to 1970, very few States had procedures to govern the exploitation of NTFPs, although most had rules for timber extraction and marketing.
There was plenty of official activity, or talk, about the importance of what are now called NTFPs. As early as 1961, the report of the Devar Commission urged State governments to make provision for intensive collection and local processing of MFPs. The Committee on Tribal Economy in Forest Areas (1967) also recommended the establishment of Forest Corporations and Tribal Development Co-operative Corporations for the collection, processing, and marketing of MFPs, and the National Commission on Development of Backward Areas (1981) emphasized the necessity of research on MPFs and the propagation of selected NTFP species.
The National Report of the Committee on Forestry and Poverty Alleviation (1984) likewise recommended identification of new MFP resources, tapping techniques, refining chemical modification and the introduction of superior varieties of plants yielding so-called minor forest products (Tewari, 1993). But these recommendations had very little impact on forest planning and managementin most States where, until recently, the priority was on accumulation of revenues through logging of natural and planted forests.
The contribution of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) to the forestry sector in most countries is significant, and studies are showing that they have been undervalued in the past. A recent valuation undertaken by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in India estimates that 220 million tonnes of fuelwood, 250 million tonnes of grass, leaves and green fodder and 12 million m³ of timber are removed from India’s forests annually. These products are estimated to be worth US$ 10 billion (Mukherjee, 1994).
In India, NTFPs provide about 40 percent of total official forest revenues and 55 percent of forest-based employment. Nearly 500 million people living in and around forests in India rely on NTFPs as a critical component for their sustenance (World Resources Institute, 1990). In Uttarakhand the NTFPs which are primarily collected by tribal (i.e. members of local indigenous groups) women are worth more than Rs 21 billion annually. Based on a study of ten forest protection committees under the Joint Forest Management programme, it was found that the income from NTFPs ranges from Rs 234 to Rs. 5569 per hectare per year with a mean of Rs 2299.
NTFPs have been growing faster than revenues from timber in the past. For example, compound growth rates in revenue from NTFPs in India during the 1968/69 to 1976/77 period were 40 percent higher than those for timber. Export earnings from NTFPs on average account for about 60 to 70 percent of total export earnings from forest products, and this proportion has been rising. Moreover, there is considerable scope for increasing exports further by exploiting untapped resources as the current production of most NTFPs is estimated to be about 60 percent of the potential production. In the case of non-edible fibres and flowers, production is only 7 and 12 percent, respectively, of the potential production (Gupta, Banerji and Guleria, 1982).
