Eco-friendly tableware and packaging for catering goods: realities and prospects

The article is devoted to the problems of using eco-friendly dishes and packaging in mass-catering enterprises as an alternative to plastic dishes. Due to the extreme urgency of the stated problem, the paper highlights materials on replacing plastic dishes and packaging for mass-food products with the most modern eco-friendly versions of biodegradable dishes and packaging. The paper analyzes ways to solve the problem of replacing plastic with eco-friendly materials in Russia and abroad, analyzes the advantages of packaging made of eco-friendly materials, and considers the possibilities and advantages of using disposable tableware made of biodegradable materials in various segments of mass food. The authors present the advantages of biodegradable tableware and packaging made of natural biodegradable materials over plastic, and outline the prospective prospects of using biodegradable tableware and packaging at the present stage of society development. The authors investigated the possibilities of solutions to the problem stated and existing in the system of providing tableware and packaging, based on the experience of domestic and foreign manufacturers. Alternative options are more appropriate to use in the realities of our time. The study concretizes the author's position that it is necessary to pay closer attention to the demand for more modern versions of plastic dishes and packaging in catering. In particular, there is a complete analysis of available data on the use of biodegradable analogues, which is the theoretical novelty of the information presented in the article.