Packaging's Role in Minimizing Food Loss and Waste Across the Supply Chain

TLDR

Food waste incurs significant economic, social, and environmental costs, particularly in the fresh produce sector. This study aims to identify opportunities for reducing or recovering food loss and waste through improved packaging. Packaging reduces waste by enhancing product protection, ventilation, and temperature control, and by redesigning distribution, primary, and retail‑ready packaging to lower transport damage, home waste, and handling inefficiencies. The Australian research shows that packaging can substantially lower food waste across the supply chain, sometimes requiring more packaging to achieve waste reduction, and emphasizes the need for a product–packaging system approach to sustainability. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

This paper presents the results of Australian research that explored the role of packaging in minimizing food waste in the supply chain. The economic, social and environmental costs of food waste have been well documented elsewhere. This research contributes to the debate by identifying opportunities to reduce or recover food loss and waste through improved packaging. In the fresh produce sector, e.g. waste can be reduced through the use of packaging that improves product protection, ventilation and temperature control. Other opportunities include improved design of distribution packaging to reduce damage in transport and handling; design of primary packaging to reduce waste in the home, e.g. through appropriate portion sizes and by reducing confusion over date labels; and the use of retail-ready packaging that minimizes handling and improves stock rotation in stores. An important conclusion of the study is that packaging can have a significant impact on reducing food waste in the food supply chain; and in some cases, a focus on reducing food waste will require more rather than less packaging. Packaging developers must therefore consider the product and its packaging as a complete system to optimize sustainability. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.