Why organic food uses so much enviro-unfriendly plastic.

To differentiate themselves, organic companies are searching for ways to meet the demand for food and packaging variety while incorporating further sustainability. Recent developments in the packaging industry have made this goal more achievable. Oil-based polymers can already be substituted with sugar cane, corn, soy, and potatoes to make bioplastics. The products range in their disposal capacity from traditional land-filling to recyclable, biodegradable, and even compost-ready material. With these materials, you still get the luxury, convenience, and luster of plastic, but you lessen the environmental drawbacks.

Still, the alternative-plastic industry is just emerging from its infancy. Beyond the simple cost of manufacturing, there is the question of how the materials will fit into normal waste streams. Experts are debating whether switching to bio materials—which need oil during the production process—will have a net green effect. Plus, creating more demand for these staple foods has the potential to drive up the price of those products for people who need them to survive.

The ideal answer to our packaging hang-ups is to buy local food fresh and in bulk, so it's light on the packaging. A growing number of locavores are expressing more concern over the fuel used to get food to their table than the synthetics involved in its creation. Those engaged in this loose movement hope that it will go the route of organics, eventually becoming a mainstream paradigm.

This is not a realistic solution. Consumers expect variety and affordability above all else. The organics industry succeeded at exploiting the existing system and our profligate habits. Eating local requires the opposite—the self-discipline of individual consumers. It means giving up things like avocados and bananas for part, if not all, of the year. That's not to mention the higher prices that local goods, especially organic, can run compared with multinational brands, which is especially prevalent in this shrinking economy.

We are left with no one good answer. Yet, there is still room for hope. Shopping at co-ops and growing food in our backyards may never become a major trend. However, the desire to see less waste on our shelves is spreading, and producers are responding. By the end of this decade, clear egg cartons will likely have disappeared, a relic of an age of excess.