Leaf-Based Packaging Innovation: Bridging Indigenous Practices and Sustainable Biomimetic Solutions

Abstract

Current food packaging systems made mainly from plastics are derived from exhaustible petroleum sources. They are unrenewable, nonbiodegradable and unsustainable. Plastic production processes emit harmful greenhouse gases threatening climate health and potentially undermining our civilization. In developing countries, such as Ghana, end users wholly dumped plastics disfigure the aesthetics of the environment, blocking drains causing perennial flooding resulting in thousands of hospitalizations and hundreds of deaths. Microplastics persist in the environment, accumulating in aquatic, freshwater animals and plants destroying biodiversity and posing serious health risks to consumers. There is therefore a growing interest in adopting sustainable food packaging systems that maintain food quality in the food supply chain while safeguarding the health of the environment and the climate. Native leaf packaging once considered primitive is re-emerging as a biorenewable and sustainable system of food packaging. This review therefore seeks to observe the trend of leaf food packaging from its native form to modern day with the view to examining the application of native plant leaves for traditional food packaging/wrappings and identifying the inherent challenges of using native plant leaves for food wrapping. The review also seeks to provide a discussion on the modern physical transformative process of native leaves into containers for food use, while examining their cosbenefit, scalability and comparing the traditional package system to modern packaging system. The research also observed that scientists can seek bio-inspiration by the superhydrophobic surface properties of Lotus leaves and successfully replicate this natural phenomenon to develop advanced packaging films with enhanced moisture resistance. The review concludes by making recommendations for future research directions and policy implications.