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Packaging's Role in Minimizing Food Loss and Waste Across the Supply Chain
Centre for Design, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Helen Lewis Research, Austinmer, New South Wales, Australia.
Centre for Design, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Karlstad University, Faculty of Technology and Science, Department of Energy, Environmental and Building Technology. (helen.williams@kau.se)ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6469-9947
2015 (English)In: Packaging technology & science, ISSN 0894-3214, E-ISSN 1099-1522, Vol. 28, no 7, p. 603-620Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

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 (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
John Wiley & Sons, 2015. Vol. 28, no 7, p. 603-620
Keywords [en]
food waste;packaging;life-cycle impacts;packaging innovation
National Category
Environmental Sciences
Research subject
Environmental and Energy Systems
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-37300DOI: 10.1002/pts.2127ISI: 000356518300004OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kau-37300DiVA, id: diva2:844542
Note

We would like to acknowledge CHEP Australia for funding the project – Dzintra Horder, Connie Sellaro, Renee Holbrook and Phillip Austin who managed the study and reviewed the drafts of the report. We also acknowledge Dr Stephen Clune’s (RMIT) background work into food waste and input into the project scope. The research team are also grateful to the stakeholders from the food and packaging supply chain who participated in the interviews.

Available from: 2015-08-06 Created: 2015-08-06 Last updated: 2017-12-06Bibliographically approved

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