On-pack date and storage labeling is one of the direct information carriers used by the food industry to communicate product shelf-life attributes to consumers. However, it is also one of the major factors that contribute to consumer food waste issues. This study aims to systematically understand the existing tensions within the current date and storage labeling system and explore the potential opportunities for design to intervene. First, we conducted a literature review to identify tensions that the consumer encounters in their food edibility assessment system and summarize the corresponding proposal for actions. 12 tensions and 16 proposals for action were identified and further framed according to a conceptual model developed in this study. Following this, the literature findings were refined and grounded in co-creation sessions in consumer workshops and industry practitioner interviews to develop specific labeling-related design implications. The findings indicate the importance of investigating the role that date and storage labeling play from a system level. Furthermore, we suggest that the conceptual model developed in this study can be used not only as a framework that guides researchers to identify and analyze labeling-related food waste problems that each individual consumer encounters, but also as a guideline that assists packaging design practitioners in exploring potential design opportunities to solve the problem from a system perspective.

In an era where food packaging plays a dual role in both reducing food waste and contributing to global packaging waste, this study presents an analysis of packaging-free systems. As governments and organizations attempt to address the environmental impact of single-use packaging, packaging-free alternatives have emerged as a promising solution. However, there is a need for a comprehensive assessment of environmental sustainability and its alignment with consumer behaviours and preferences in this growing type of grocery system. Considering this need, this study employs an integrative literature review process, selecting 51 research articles. This selection was classified into three principal areas: the characteristics of packaging-free services, the dynamics of consumer behaviour and patterns from a household perspective. This review evaluates the effectiveness of packaging-free systems, exploring the factors that drive consumer adoption, the obstacles to transitioning and the relevance of theoretical frameworks like the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and practice theory (PT) in understanding and assessing the sustainability of these alternatives. The result of this study is the identification of significant research gaps and opportunities, leading to a comprehensive research agenda. This agenda emphasizes the need for a more refined understanding of consumer classifications that extend beyond standard demographic metrics, delving into aspects like household structures, dietary preferences and regional variations. The study highlights the limited scope of existing literature by advocating for a holistic grocery analysis that blends packaging-free and conventional shopping practices to understand more realistic grocery scenarios, as not all products are available in packaging-free alternatives. It also underscores the importance of integrating environmental assessments with consumer behaviour studies to see the sustainability of the systems beyond reusable containers. Additionally, this research sheds light on the relatively unexplored area of online packaging-free services, questioning the sustainable implication of incorporating online alternatives in grocery practices, and suggests a broader application of theoretical frameworks, including activity theory (AT) as a new perspective to achieve a new understanding of these systems. Lastly, contributing to the overall understanding of packaging-free systems, the study concludes with a SWOT analysis that briefly identifies strengths in environmental sustainability and consumer awareness, balanced against weaknesses like data gaps and complex consumer decision-making processes. 

Making service provisioning significantly more sustainable is crucial if humankind wants to make a serious effort to operate withinthe boundaries of what the planet can support. The purpose of this paper is to develop a systemic understanding of sustainability inservice provision and shed light on the mechanisms that drive unsustainability and hinder service providers in their efforts to bemore sustainable. To contextualize our study, we focus on a significant sustainability problem: food waste stemming from foodretail at the retailer-consumer interface. We make two theoretical contributions to the service research on sustainability. First, weoffer a systemic conceptualization of sustainability in service as a dynamic ability of a focal system (e.g., a servicefirm) to sustain thesystem(s) that contains it. Second, we explicate the mechanisms—stocks andflows, feedback and mindsets—that contribute to(un)sustainable service provision as a systemic behavior, and which can thus be used as intervention points when designingsustainability initiatives. Our work also has significant practical implications for food retailers and policymakers working towardsreaching UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, as we specify the feedback loops that drive food waste and hinder efforts toreduce it at the retailer-consumer interface.

Packaging has great potential to contribute to sustainable development through its functions. Previous research has indicated a need for increased knowledge among consumers, suppliers, authorities and media of how packaging functions and features influence sustainable development. Previous research also shows the need for a common terminology of packaging functions and features in order to facilitate and improve communication and understanding in development and decision processes. This conceptual paper sets out to identify, collect, analyse and systemize packaging functions and features and evaluate them based on their indirect contributions to sustainable development. The systemized functions and features are expressed in generic terminology. Three clusters of packaging functions were identified from the literature: protect, facilitate handling and communicate. Nineteen packaging features were also identified. They were grouped under the three functions and elaborated based on their indirect contributions to the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development. Fourteen potential positive indirect effects were identified including decreased product waste, reduced risk for human health hazards, increased handling and transport efficiency. Decreased product waste was generated by 13 of the features and was thus the most frequently appearing. Reducing waste is thereby indicated to be a manifold matter, but also one of great potential. The proposed terminology can contribute to an increased understanding of how packaging can actually contribute to sustainable development. In a theoretical context, this paper attempts to complement earlier work in sustainable packaging development by its emphasis on the indirect contributions of packaging to sustainable development.

Identifying causes of food waste at grocery retail level is crucial for the development of effective measures to reduce waste. Frontline employees manage food waste in their day-to-day operations; however, there is a paucity of research that draws attention to their knowledge of and approach to causes and measures to reduce food waste. In this empirical study, a mixed methods approach is adopted, using multiple interviews and participatory observations with employees, and primary quantitative data on fruit and vegetable waste for one year from the supermarkets. The results illuminate the fact that the role of employees is central for reducing food waste, and from their perspective, the causes and measures can be divided into four different main themes covering policy, practice, people and product. The analysis involves 73 different fruit and vegetables categories, and the fruit and vegetables waste at the three supermarkets is 60 tonnes. The results also reveal different causes for different fruit and vegetables categories, implying that generic descriptions of causes are not enough to use as bases for planning reduction measures. The paper provides a base for planning and implementing reduction measures for the grocery retail sector, which contribute to a sustainable food supply chain. 

Food waste is a significant problem for environmental, economic and food security reasons. The retailer, food service and consumers have been recognised as the parts of the food supply chain where the possibility of reducing food waste is greatest in industrialised countries. In this study, primary data on fresh fruit and vegetables (FFV) waste collected through direct measurements in three large retail stores in Sweden were analysed from the perspectives of wasted mass, economic cost and climate impact. A method of measuring and calculating the economic cost of FFV waste was developed and includes the cost of wasted produce, the cost of personnel time for waste management and the cost of waste collection and disposal. The results show that seven FFV categories, which have been termed "hotspot categories", contributed to the majority of the waste, both in terms of wasted mass, economic cost and climate impact. The "hotspot categories" are apple, banana, grape, lettuce, pear, sweet pepper, and tomato. The cost benefit analysis conducted showed that it is economically wise to invest in more working time for employees in waste management to accomplish a reduction of wasted mass and climate impact without an economic loss for the store. These results are relevant for supporting the implementation of policies and initiatives aimed at food waste reduction at retail level.

PurposeDue to the urgency and the magnitude of the environmental problems caused by food supply chains, it is important that the recommendations for packaging improvements given in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies of food rest on a balanced consideration of all relevant environmental impacts of packaging. The purpose of this article is to analyse the extent to which food LCAs include the indirect environmental impact of packaging in parallel to its direct impact. While the direct environmental impact of food packaging is the impact caused by packaging materials' production and end-of-life, its indirect environmental impact is caused by its influence on the food product's life cycle, e.g. by its influence on food waste and on logistical efficiency.MethodsThe article presents a review of 32 food LCAs published in peer-reviewed scientific journals over the last decade. The steps of the food product's life cycle that contribute to the direct and indirect environmental impacts of packaging provide the overall structure of the analytical framework used for the review. Three aspects in the selected food LCAs were analysed: (1) the defined scope of the LCAs, (2) the sensitivity and/or scenario analyses and (3) the conclusions and recommendations.Results and discussionWhile in packaging LCA literature, there is a trend towards a more systematic consideration of the indirect environmental impact of packaging, it is unclear how food LCAs handle this aspect. The results of the review show that the choices regarding scope and sensitivities/scenarios made in food LCAs and their conclusions about packaging focus on the direct environmental impact of packaging. While it is clear that not all food LCAs need to analyse packaging in detail, this article identifies opportunities to increase the validity of packaging-related conclusions in food LCAs and provides specific recommendations for packaging-related food LCA methodology.ConclusionsOverall, we conclude that the indirect environmental impact of packaging is insufficiently considered in current food LCA practice. Based on these results, this article calls for a more systematic consideration of the indirect environmental impact of packaging in future food LCAs. In addition, it identifies a need for more packaging research that can provide the empirical data that many food LCA practitioners currently lack. In particular, LCA practitioners would benefit if there were more knowledge and data available about the influence of certain packaging characteristics (e.g. shape, weight and type of material) on consumer behaviour.

PurposeThere are several LCA methods in existence today that solve for the multifunctionality of recycling at the product level for determining the burden profiles of individual products. These product-level methods, however, often give varying environmental burden profiles and occasionally different conclusions for determining whether recycling causes greater or lesser burdens than linear product strategies. Such ambiguous results and findings across LCA methods confuse the public and decision-makers regarding the environmental implication of recycling compared to other material strategies. In this paper system expansion with multiple functions (SEMF) is investigated as a possible solution to the multifunctionality issue of recycling within life cycle assessment (LCA) whilst also providing a product-level perspective.MethodsThe background life cycle inventory (LCI) is based on ecoinvent 3.9 and the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) method is based on ReCiPe 2016 (H). The study investigates the use of product-level methods and SEMF, both as separate approaches and as a proposal to combine them for addressing recycling in LCA. Simplified material flow assessment (MFA) is employed for calculating the foreground life cycle inventories (LCIs).Results/discussionProduct-level LCA methods of recycling strategies lead to a wide range of global warming potential (GWP) results for the same case scenario. This ambiguity prevents a uniform conclusion as to whether recycling causes lesser or greater burdens than linear material strategies. By contrast, it is demonstrated that SEMF finds one GWP for each recycling scenario, allowing for a less methodologically uncertain comparison with linear material strategies. It is also shown that attributional LCA (ALCA) in combination with MFA, can be used to build the SEMF study, bridging the informational gap between the product level and SEMF scopes of recycling in LCA.ConclusionThe sum of each product level ALCA can be used to assemble an LCA with the SEMF perspective. In this way, one can easily transition between the product level whilst comparing material strategies within a SEMF scope. To perform a SEMF-based LCA, it is necessary to include the number of times a recycled material is utilised and to employ MFA to track resource use, mass flows, and check balances. From this research further investigation is recommended into existing methods for establishing how many times a recycled material is or can be used. The authors also recommend further testing and use of the SEMF LCA method through its application in real-life scenarios.

The use of renewable resources for bioenergy should be performed to support sustainable development. Since the use of bioenergy has increased significantly worldwide in recent years and biomass is made of limited resources it must be used efficiently and with a low environmental impact The wood fuel pellet industry has the possibility to meet these criteria; however, it also has the potential for improvements. This work investigates how the additives, cornstarch and molasses, affect: the electricity consumption of the pellet press, the emission of Carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2 eq.) from the production of wood fuel pellets in three different countries with different emissions from electricity, the durability of the pellets and its effects on energy efficiency. The results show that pellet production is more energy efficient when additives are used, and that the amount of CO2 eq. increases with an increased use of additives. In countries with a low usage of fossil fuels for electricity production, the global warming impact gets higher due to the additives; while in countries that use a lot of fossil fuels to produce electricity, the global warming impact will be reduced because of the additives by up to 1%. The increased global warming impact from the additives can be balanced by the decrease in the reduced amount of rejected material within the production. That is because the durability of the pellets increases with an increasing amount of additive.

A path towards sustainability should include growth with sustainable means such as the concept of Bioeconomy. The use of renewable resources for bioenergy should be performed to support sustainable development; however, biomass is made of limited resources and must be used efficiently and with a low environmental impact. The wood fuel pellet industry has the possibility to meet these criteria, but also has the potential for improvements. Earlier work on wood fuel pellet production has concluded that using oxidised cornstarch as an additive during pellet production decreases the energy used and also produces pellets with high durability. This work presents how additives such as cornstarch and molasses, affect the electricity use of the pellet press and also affect the emission of CO2 eq. from wood fuel pellet production. The results are presented for two different locations of the pellet plant, since the results will depend on how the electricity used is produced, e.g. using more or less renewable or fossil fuels in the electricity mix. 

This article argues that citizens play a key role in sustainability transitions: Citizens have unique knowledge on why social problems occur and experiment with possible solutions to these problems. Yet transformative innovation policy - a policy frame that promotes socio-technical systems change - is guided by a producer-centric innovation paradigm, which focuses on technological breakthroughs rather than social changes driven by citizens. By drawing on multiple research fields, and by using the example of household food waste, this article challenges this paradigm and asserts that addressing sustainability challenges requires a policy frame that defines citizens as an innovation source.

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.

Food security is an emerging challenge for policy makers and companies in the food supply chain. The global population is expected to grow to 9 billion and demand for food by 77% by 2050. Over the same period food production will be under threat from climate change, competing land uses, erosion and diminishing supplies of clean water. One of the solutions to this dilemma is increased efficiency and waste reduction in the food supply chain.

This report focuses on packaging opportunities that may help to reduce or recover food waste. Packaging has a vital role to play in containing and protecting food as it moves through the supply chain to the consumer. It already reduces food waste in transport and storage, and innovations in packaging materials, design and labelling provide new opportunities to improve efficiencies. Product protection needs to be the primary goal for packaging sustainability, and sometimes this requires trade-offs between packaging and food waste.

The report draws on an international literature review and interviews with representatives from 15 organisations in the Australian food and packaging supply chain. It considers food waste along the entire food supply chain, but with a particular emphasis on food waste that occurs prior to consumption, i.e. during agriculture production, post-harvest handling and storage of raw materials, and in the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector consisting of food manufacturing, wholesale trade, food retail and distribution and food services. Food rescue through charities is also a focus of the report.

Over 4.2 million tonnes of food waste is disposed to landfill in Australia each year. Around 1.5 million tonnes of this is from the commercial and industrial sector (the focus of this report), costing around $10.5 billion in waste disposal charges and lost product. The largest single contributor in the commercial and industrial sector is food service activities (e.g., cafes, restaurants, fast food outlets), which generate 661,000 tonnes of food waste per year, followed by food manufacturing (312,000 tonnes) and food retail (179,000 tonnes). Most waste in food manufacturing is unavoidable, and almost 90% is already recovered as animal feed, compost or energy.

The reasons for food loss and waste at each stage of the supply chain include:

• Agricultural production: damage from pests and disease; unpredictable weather conditions; not meeting quality specifications

• Post-harvest handling and storage: not meeting specifications for quality and/or appearance; pest damage; spillage and degradation

• Processing and packaging: trimmings and other food preparation waste; production line start up; batch mistakes; inadequate remaining shelf life

• Distribution (wholesale and retail): damage in transit/storage due to packaging failures; product spoilage; fresh produce not meeting specifications or damaged during handling; inadequate remaining shelf life due to poor stock rotation or low sales

• Food service: trimmings and other food preparation waste; poor inventory management (e.g. over-ordering); improper food handling; confusion over use-by and best-before dates; plate leftovers

• At home: trimmings and other food preparation waste; food spoilage; preparing too much food; past use-by or best-before dates; plate leftovers.

  A number of opportunities to reduce food waste through packaging improvements were identified, including:

  1)  Distribution packaging that provides better protection and shelf life for fresh produce as it moves from the farm to the processor, wholesaler or retailer. This may require the development of tailored solutions for individual products.

  2)  Distribution packaging that supports recovery of surplus and unsaleable fresh produce from farms and redirects it to food rescue organisations.

  3)  Improved design of secondary packaging to ensure that it is fit-for-purpose, i.e. that it adequately protects food products as they move through the supply chain. Packaging developers need to understand the distribution process and where and why waste occurs.

  4)  A continuing shift to pre-packed and processed foods to extend the shelf life of food products and reduce waste in distribution and at the point of consumption (the home or food services provider). The packaging itself also needs to be recoverable to minimise overall environmental impacts.

  5)  Adoption of new packaging materials and technologies, such as modified atmosphere packaging and oxygen scavengers, to extend the shelf life of food

  6)  Education of manufacturers, retailers and consumers about the meaning of use-by and best- before date marks on primary packaging to ensure that these are used appropriately. Confusion about date marking results in food being thrown away when it is still safe to eat

  7)  Product and packaging development to cater for changing consumption patterns and smaller households. Single and smaller serve products will reduce waste by meeting the needs of single and two person households.

  8)  Collaboration between manufacturers and retailers to improve the industry’s understanding of food waste in the supply chain. Greater attention to be given to where and why this occurs, tracking over time, will reduce the costs and environmental impacts of waste.

  9)  More synchronised supply chains that use intelligent packaging and data sharing to reduce excess or out-of-date stock.

  10)  Increased use of retail ready packaging to reduce double handling and damage and improve stock turnover, while ensuring that it is designed for effective product protection and recoverability (reuse or recycling) at end of life.

The implementation of these initiatives could be supported by further research and communication activities to highlight the critical links and trade-offs between packaging, product protection and food waste. Study recommendations include:

• Detailed analysis of food waste using direct observations and sampling at key aggregation points, such as post-harvest grading, sorting and packing. The reasons for waste would be documented and analysed to identify opportunities for improvement.

• Collaborative research into the potential for packaging systems to be improved to reduce food waste in specific food supply chains. Agricultural products and processed food items could be selected based on their contribution to the economy, unit sales value, environmental impact, or waste volumes in the supply chain.

• Analysis of food waste in different food service premises (e.g., hotel, café, restaurant, take away) to identify opportunities for packaging innovation and increased food recovery.

• Life cycle assessment of primary packaging formats (e.g., modified atmosphere packaging) that extend shelf life to better understand the trade-offs between packaging use and food waste generation.

• Life cycle assessment of packaging formats (e.g., single serves, bulk packaging) to understand their impact on product protection and food waste.

• Education and communication to raise awareness and educate stakeholders in the food and packaging supply chain on opportunities to further reduce food waste through packaging innovation.

• Education and communication to improve consumer understanding of the role that packaging can play in keeping a product safe and fresh. 

Food waste occurs at all stages of the food supply chain and in developed countries around 40% of all food intended for human consumption is estimated to end up as waste. Food waste is a significant concern for local government (Councils), as it comprises up to 50% of municipal waste bins. In Australia it is estimated that households throw out 2.7 million tonnes of food into landfill. 

Food waste occurs through everyday practices of buying, cooking and storing. To reduce food waste, it has been suggested that these everyday practices may need to be shifted. Therefore understanding food waste is less about what is being put in the bin, and more about the upstream practices that are being performed that generate the waste. 

The study investigated practices relating to the purchase, storage, preparation and disposal of food, over one week, in twenty-four households within three key districts in Banyule City Council (Ivanhoe, West Heidelberg and Greensborough) in order to gain insights to develop targeted programs to strategically reduce food waste across municipalities. Households were recruited through Banyule City Council via a range of mediums (i.e., newspaper, the waste education networks and social media) and participated through a mix of face to face interviews and completion of a household food and food waste diary and data collection kit over one week in 2013.

The distributed paper-based data collection kit consisted of a household food and food waste diary with 6 key exercises including: how they shop for food; auditing of food in the kitchen, pantry and fridge; what is cooked and what is not eaten through day 2-6; follow up audit of uneaten food on day 7; reflection; and changes they will make. 

The project’s success can be measured in a) the development of a food and food waste diary questionnaire and research kit; b) the engagement of 24 households; c) the level of detail in completed diaries; and d) the interest from other municipalities in the study’s findings at a post-project workshop. Data was collected under fresh fruit and vegetables, processed fruit and vegetables, meat, fish, pre-prepared meals, take away meals and home grown food. 

Similar insights and trends from this study have also been observed as per studies in other advanced economies regarding food categories wasted (vegetables, fruit, prepared meals and breads and cereals); and reasons for food waste (‘forgot about item it looks or smells spoiled’, ‘it’s now out of date’, ‘didn’t get around to eating and its spoilt’, ‘didn’t eat left overs’). 

The ‘hands-on’ approach (the actual observation of waste and recording) had a positive impact upon many of the households. Providing residents with the ability to observe; record and report their daily activities, practices and actions around food planning, procurement, storage, cooking and eating may be beneficial (e.g., in accessible ways such as online, web-application (app), hard copy). There appeared little to no difference between socioeconomic groups thus suggesting that there is little evidence for communicating in different ways. Planning of meals is crucial to reducing food waste. Education programs should emphasize this including not falling into the trap of purchasing store specials or buying extra when it is not needed.

Increasing population and environmental changes poses a significant pressure on the global food supply chain. With the large quantities of food waste that’s been reported over the past couple of years packaging can play a more significant role in reducing the food wastage. Together with actors along the entire value chain we are developing new innovative packaging solutions to reduce food waste throughout the value chain, from food producers to consumers. The purpose of the study is to design and optimize new packaging system solutions so that no part of the chain is optimized at the expense of any other part. In the fall of 2015 the food wastage was examined in three supply chains, salsa in glass jar (A), rice pudding in plastic packaging (B) and lettuce in plastic packaging (C), by using waste audits in the businesses, collecting, comparing and analyzing data. For consumer insights ethnographic studies was used in ten Swedish households. Interviews have also been conducted with consumers in retail stores. The supply chain study indicates little wastage for A and B and higher for C. Consumer report some handling difficulties with the food packaging and reasons why food is wasted. The main reasons being that the food gets bad, difficulties to empty the packaging and that the amount of food is higher than their needs. A majority of the consumer state that they often view packaging as something unnecessary. Consumers do not give packaging functions many thoughts in general and many have difficulties in judging the packaging functions.

Summary Thoroughly considering and optimizing packaging systems can avoid food loss and waste. We suggest a number of issues that must be explored and review the associated challenges. Five main issues were recognized through the extensive experience of the authors and engagement of multiple stakeholders. The issues promoted are classified as follows: (1) identify and obtain specific data of packaging functions that influence food waste; (2) understand the total environmental burden of product/package by considering the trade‐off between product protection and preservation and environmental footprint; (3) develop understanding of how these functions should be treated in environmental footprint evaluations; (4) improve packaging design processes to also consider reducing food waste; and (5) analyze stakeholder incentives to reduce food loss and waste. Packaging measures that save food will be important to fulfill the United Nations Sustainable Development goal to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and to reduce food losses along production and supply chains.

Packaging saves food by protecting the content from physical and chemical degradation during the distribution and storage processes. However, packaging can do much more than that. This article explores how the design of a package may help, or indeed hinder, the consumer to avoid wasting food. A number of packaging attributes influence consumer behavior. The influence is different depending on the product‘s characteristics and the needs of the consumer. For many products, it might be better to add packaging material, for example, by creating smaller sizes of the product to reduce food waste and the overall environmental impact.

The environmental concern and development issues regarding packaging has for 20 years to a high extent been on packaging when it has become waste. To reduce the environmental impact from the whole food packaging system it is also important to develop the packaging’s ability to reduce food waste. In some cases it may be necessary to increase the environmental impact of packaging in order to reduce food waste. In this paper, the environmental impact of packaging and food losses and the balance between the two has been examined for five different food items. The results show that packaging’s that reduce food waste can be an important tool to reduce the total environmental impact, even if there is an increase in impact from the packaging itself. This is especially true for food items where the environ- mental impact of the food is high relative the packaging, for example cheese, and for food items with high losses, for example bread. It is important to analyse the risk of increasing food losses when pack- aging design changes, for example, when the aim is less packaging material, which is the main intention of the packaging and packaging waste directive of the European Union.

This paper analyses how user behaviour influences the environmental comparison of two different packages for minced meat - a lightweight tube and a tray. The direct and indirect environmental effects are evaluated using simplified LCA. A number of packaging attributes with regard to food waste and recycling behaviour are analysed for the packages, and then used for the scenario calculations. The results show that the tube is the superior environmental alternative when only the direct effects are considered. When indirect effects and user behaviour are included in the comparison, the tray is the better alternative due to higher recycling rates and, most importantly, less food waste during the process of emptying. However, the environmental impacts due to the food waste in the tube may be compensated for, if the longer shelf-life of the tube results in lower wastage in the households. It is concluded that indirect environmental effects and user behaviour should be included in environmental assessments of packaging to obtain meaningful results.

The United Nations sustainability goal SDG 12.3 is to reduce the amount of food that is wasted by half, due to environmental and social reasons. This paper aims to analyse the most important packaging functions that affect food waste in households for different products, as the reason for wastage can be expected to differ between different products. The reasons for food wastage of different categories and products have been compiled through literature studies, and possible improvements of packaging functions to reduce food waste have been identified. In addition, an expert workshop judged the most important packaging functions to reduce food waste for a number of products. They also discussed the obstacles and possibilities to realise the packaging improvements. This study confirms that how packaging functions influence food waste on the product level is a highly unexplored question. Most likely, there is high potential to reduce food waste through better adaptions of packaging functions to user needs and habits. Both the literature study and the expert workshop show that less food per pack and better information regarding food safety and storage have high potential to reduce food waste, but also that product specific considerations are necessary.

The role of packaging systems to reduce food waste is rarely modelled in life cycle assessment (LCA) studies. This means that a packaging system format with a lower environmental impact that causes high food waste, may appear to be a better alternative than a packaging system with a higher environmental impact that reduces food waste. This can be contradictory to the purpose of using LCA to reduce overall environmental impacts, because food generally has a higher environmental impact than the packaging system. This paper highlights packaging attributes that may influence food waste, and demonstrates via six packaging scenarios how the environmental impact for the functional unit of “eaten food” can be calculated when food waste is included. The results show that the function of “avoiding food waste” is a critical packaging issue. The connection between packaging design and food waste should be acknowledged and valued by relevant stakeholders such as: food producers, manufacturers, brand owners, retailers and consumers, and also in packaging regulations. To fully explore the potential for packaging systems to reduce their overall environmental impact, food waste should be included. 

Packaging has been on the environmental agenda for decades. It has been discussed and debated within the society mainly as an environmental problem. Production, distribution and consumption of food and drinks contribute significant to the environmental impact. However, consumers in the EU waste about 20% of the food they buy. The function of packaging in reducing the amount of food losses is an important but often neglected environmental issue.

This thesis focuses on the functions of packaging that can be used to preserve resources efficiently and reduce the environmental impact of the food-packaging system. The service perspective is used to increase knowledge about consumer interaction with packages. Fifteen packaging attributes, for example, ‘easy to empty’, ‘hygienic’ and ‘contain the right quantity’, were identified as influencing the amount of food losses at the consumer. The result showed that there are potentials to both increase consumer satisfaction and decrease the environmental impact of the food-packaging system, when new packaging design reduces food losses. A model was developed that calculates the balance of environmental impact between reduction of food losses, and more packaging material. The result showed that it can be environmentally motivated to increase the environmental impact of packaging, if the amount of food losses is reduced. This is especially true for food items with high environmental impact, e.g. meat and dairy products, and for food items that have a high share of loss, e.g. bread.

I have also explored to what extent packaging can influence food losses in households. The study showed that about 20% to 25% of household food waste was related to packaging. The households noted three packaging attributes as the main causes for food losses; ‘too big packaging’, ‘difficult to empty’ and ‘best-before-date’.

Finally there is a discussion of packaging research in the context of sustainability principles, and suggestions for further research.

In order to feed an increasing world population with good and safe food it is important to reduce the amount of food waste. The global population is expected to grow to 9 billion and over the same period food production will be under threat from climate change, competing land uses, erosion and diminishing supplies of clean water. Packaging plays an important role in containing and protecting the food as it moves from agriculture to households. This work is a summary from an international literature review and interviews from 15 organisations in the Australian food and packaging supply chain. It considers food waste in the supply chain with emphasis on food waste prior to consumption, and also food rescue through charities.

A number of global trends and there effect on packaging development for reducing food waste was identified and analysed, these include:

Longer supply chains-With longer supply chains there are increased risks of product damage which make the packaging even more critical. Distribution packaging should provide better protection and shelf life for fresh produce as it moves from the farm to the processor, wholesaler or retailer. This may require the development of tailored solutions for individual products. This also requires more collaboration between manufacturers and retailers to improve the industry’s understanding of food waste in the supply chain. More use of intelligent packaging and data sharing can be useful .

More on-line shopping- Online expenditure in Australia was estimated to be around $8.4 billion in 2010 and is forecast to reach $26.9 billion by 2016. Online shopping requires more secondary packaging to protect the product during transport from the retail or manufacturer to the household, but it doesn’t need to be ‘shelf ready’ which may save resources. This increases the amount of packaging requiring recycling in the home but there could be some potential benefits for food waste.

Consumption of meals out of the home- This trend shifts waste away from the home to a restaurant and/or processing facility and may give both pros and cons for reducing food waste and how packaging are recycled.    

More small households- Product and packaging development need to cater for smaller households. Single and smaller serve products will reduce waste by meeting the needs of single and two person households, however this need to be environmentally analysed in relation to increased amount of packaging. . 

More convenience- The trend from loose fresh produce to more pre-packed and processed food products has implications for packaging. With a better primary packaging a simpler and less robust secondary packaging may be sufficient. This may require adoption of new packaging materials and technologies, such as modified atmosphere packaging and oxygen scavengers, to extend the shelf life of foods.

Food recovery for charity- It is important with distribution packaging that supports recovery of surplus and unsaleable fresh produce from farms and redirects it to food rescue organisations. These packaging systems will need to be flexible to accommodate the transport of bulk quantities from farm to food recovery organisations, as well as smaller orders from distribution centres to individual charities. The issue need to be addressed when developing new secondary packaging.

The packaging itself also needs to be recoverable to minimise overall environmental impacts in the country where it is consumed.  

Vad händer med miljöpåverkan om man lyssnar mer på konsumenterna i förpackningsutvecklingen?



Konsumenten i fokus är en trend som har ökat i betydelses för många verksamheter de senaste åren, detta gäller också för förpackningsindustrin. Vi har undersökt vad som händer med miljöpåverkan om förpackningsutvecklare lyssnar mer till vad konsumenten har för behov när det gäller förpackningars funktion.



Förpackningar har varit med i miljödebatten sedan början på 1990-talet. Särskilt uppmärksammad har förpackningen varit när den används färdigt och blivit avfall. Myndigheterna styr att mängden material i förpackningar ska minska samt hur förpackningar ska återvinnas. Kunskapen om förpackningens miljöpåverkan har sedan dess ökat eftersom många livscykelanalyser presenterats. Förpackningar står för 5-10% av miljöpåverkan från produkter (Tempelman, Joore et al. 2004). Många av livscykelanalyserna har gjorts på själva förpackningen och inte systemet med produkt/förpackning. Det finns risk att ett sådant arbetssätt leder till subotimering i det större systemet som rör förpackning/produkt (Williams, Wikström et al. 2008).



Förpackningar används för att skydda varor under lagring och transporter från producent till konsument. Förpackningen spelar också en viktig roll i att skapa varumärken och informera konsumenten (Löfgren 2006). Genom att utgå från vad konsumenten tycker är viktigt och samtidigt undersöka miljöpåverkan i hela värdekedjan med mat/förpackning så kunde vi se att förpackningar som medför mindre förluster av mat kan förväntas ge nöjdare kunder och mindre miljöpåverkan. Mat och dryck står för 20-30 % av den totala miljöpåverkan i EU (Tukker, Huppes et al. 2005). I en brittisk studie konstaterades att nästan 30 % av maten som bärs hem till hushållen slängs (Ventour 2008). Att så mycket mat slängs bidrar till en onödig och stor miljöpåverkan.



Om varumärkesägare och förpackningsutvecklare ser mer till hur förpackningen kan förhindra uppkomst av matspill så kan det innebära att nya förpackningslösningar introduceras. Åtgärder i förpackningsutformningen som påverkar spill är till exempel, hur den skyddar, hur lätt den är att tömma, storleken (konsumenten kan köpa den mängd den har behov av), dosering, information om innehåll eller instruktioner kring förvaring. Dessa lösningar kan medföra, nya tekniska lösningar i produktionen av förpackningen, nya material i ytor och ibland ökad mängd förpackningsmaterial. För att minska miljöpåverkan i hela systemet med mat/förpackning finns det utrymme för att till och med öka miljöbelastningen av förpackningar, då nya lösningar leder till minskade förluster av livsmedel (Williams, Wikström et al. 2008).



När man vill kartlägga miljöpåverkan på förpackningar genom att göra livscykelanalyser bör dessa alltid också omfatta innehållet i förpackningen samt brukarbeteende/behov.

Consumer-in-focus is a trend that is important for many businesses. We have explored what happens with the environmental impact in the food-packaging systems if packaging developers and brand-owners listen more to what the consumer finds important about packaging. We found that it is possible to increase customer satisfaction and at the same time decrease the environmental impact, especially when the new packaging design reduces food losses

Packaging has great potential to contribute to sustainable development. This is due to its primary role to protect products. This paper reports on how Swedish consumers perceive and select food packages in general, and how environmental aspects of conventional and organic food packaging are perceived in particular. The study is based on a consumer survey. The findings indicate that contrary to research that emphasizes the protective function of packaging as most important, consumers almost exclusively refer to the packaging material when it comes to the environmental impact of packaging. This indicates a lack of knowledge among consumers on sustainable packaging.

Packaging has a fundamental role in ensuring safe delivery of goods throughout supply chains to the end consumer in good condition. It also has great potential to contribute to sustainable development. This paper explores and provides insights on Swedish consumer perceptions and knowledge of environmental aspects of food packaging and elaborates on how these can contribute to or counteract environmentally sustainable development. A study based on a consumer survey carried out in Sweden is presented. A review of recent packaging research emphasizes the protective function of packaging as its most important contribution to the environmental dimension of sustainable development. Contrary to this, consumers almost exclusively refer to the packaging material when it comes to their perceptions of the environmental impact of packaging. Paper-based packaging is strongly understood by the surveyed consumers to be environmentally advantageous, whereas plastic and metal are not. This study further indicates that a majority of the Swedish consumers surveyed are aware of their shortcomings in judging the environmental status of food packaging, indicating a need for guidance; otherwise, consumer choices can unintendedly counteract environmentally sustainable intentions

Food wastage in households remains a sustainability challenge that poses both environmental and social problems. Among the many factors contributing to this problem, the packaging, including its design and functions, can either leverage or reduce food waste. Yet packaging is often considered an environmental villain, which can lead to missed opportunities for reducing food waste. Against this background, this study explored and quantified the packaging–food waste relationship in households. To explore this relationship, a multi-step method was applied to grasp the role of packaging in consumers’ everyday practices and routines. The method incorporated a questionnaire, food waste diary and in-depth interview to measure food waste across different food categories and explore the underlying reasons for food wastage. According to an analysis of 37 households, packaging played a significant role especially in bread, dairy, meat and staple food wastage. For countering this problem, the most important factors related to packaging are its size and display of detailed information about product safety and storage. This study's theoretical contribution lies in offering a service lens and an ‘outside-in’ approach for exploring the consumer's value creation process and providing a context for better understanding why food wastage occurs in households. For policymakers and packaging designers, this study provides new insights into the relationship between consumer food practices and packaging, thus informing future food waste reduction initiatives.

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) have estimated that 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted across the supply chain, while food security emerges as one of the leading challenges facing a growing global population. Life cycle assessment (LCA) can illustrate the environmental implications of food production, consumption and waste. In 2005, Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio presented a photographic study in “Hungry Planet – What the World Eats” documenting what thirty families across twenty-four countries ate during the course of one week. The weekly food purchasing inventories of three of these families have been combined with LCA data to report the greenhouse gas intensity of these food purchases. The greenhouse gas emission profile including those of 128 varieties of fresh food, along with data on packaging material production and household food waste, have been used in the calculations. The paper will present the findings illustrating the contribution each component has: food, packaging and food waste; and will also discuss the implications for food packaging design. 

The intention of this paper is to learn more about why consumers choose whether or not to recycle, with special attention given to the functions of the packaging itself, in order to provide suggestions for improvements in packaging design, recycling systems and the environmental assessment of different packaging designs. The study focussed on ten households in Sweden that where motivated to participate in the study in order to gain an understanding of the complex matter of this decision-making process. The intention of implementing an interview-based qualitative study was to gain rich data and to reach beyond the respondents' immediate verbal responses. The respondents were interviewed with open-ended questions, which were supported with pictures of packaging; additionally, their waste bins were examined. This explorative study suggests a set of obstacles that cause consumers to dispose of packaging relating to the functions of packaging. The different obstacles that determine whether or not packaging is recycled were organised according to three different themes: the attitude towards cleanliness, the effort required to clean and sort and uncertainties about the best environmental alternative. The different functions of packaging do in fact influence all of the identified themes and; therefore, influence the decisions consumers make with regards to the recycling of specific packaging. The identified packaging functions were easy toseparate different materials, easy to separate different parts, easy to clean,easy to empty, easy to reseal, easy to compress and communication regarding recycling. Consumer behaviour with regards to specific packaging functions and recycling should be further investigated. It should also be considered for inclusion in design processes, to increase the chance of materials being recycled, and in food-packaging life-cycle assessments, to provide results that align more closely with reality.

The environmental concern and development issues regarding packaging has for 20 years to a high extent been on packaging when it has become waste. To reduce the environmentalimpact from the whole foodpackaging system it is also important to develop the packaging’s ability to reduce food waste. In some cases it may be necessary to increase the environmentalimpactofpackagingin order to reduce food waste. In this paper, the environmentalimpactofpackagingandfoodlossesand the balance between the two has been examined for five different food items. The results show that packaging’s that reduce food waste can be an important tool to reduce the total environmentalimpact, even if there is an increase inimpact from the packaging itself. This is especially true for food items where the environmentalimpactof the food is high relative the packaging, for example cheese, and for food items with high losses, for example bread. It is important to analyse the risk of increasing foodlosses when packaging design changes, for example, when the aim is less packaging material, which is the main intention of the packagingandpackaging waste directive of the European Union.

From sustainable packaging to packaging for sustainable development

By moving from:

Packaging waste, Production-oriented, Product-oriented (packaging), Selective and Regulations on packaging reduction

to:

Food waste, Consumption-oriented, Service-oriented(packaging functions), Comprehensive and

Regulations on packaging optimization

Food losses are seldom included in life cycle analyses of the food packaging system, nor are they included in the debat on sustainable packaging. The development of packaging that decreases food losses does, however, provide an opportunity to reduce the overall environmental impact. In this paper, we present a model that calculates the environmental impact of the food packaging system as a function of food losses. The model can be used to analyse the potential environmental gains from developing packaging that reduce food losses. The model includes food production and processing, transports, packaging, retailer and consumer issues and waste handling. The results show that it can be environmentally motivated to increase the environmental impact of packaging, if necessary, when new packaging design helps to reduce food losses. However, the waste handling systems of food and packaging are important to consider if packaging are developed in order to reduce the environmental impact of the food-packaging system

A wide range of measures is required to tackle the global food waste problem. Innovative packaging, which helps to reduce food waste, is one important measure. The data for food waste is often presented in a summarised way. However, different food products are wasted for different reasons. In a Swedish project, actors along the entire value chain collaborated to develop new packaging solutions to reduce food waste of three products: salsa in glass jars, mixed lettuce in plastic packaging and rice pudding in plastic packaging. Waste levels and reasons for waste were examined in waste audits of the businesses, in ethnographic studies and in interviews with consumers at retail stores.

This study showed that consumers wasted the products to a much higher extent than the waste which occurred during filling, transport and retail. Waste levels among consumers varied from 0-75%, which is notably high, given that consumers tend to underestimate or not admit to wasting food. The mixed lettuce and rice pudding are both intended to be packaged in appropriate serving sizes; however, only 27% of the mixed lettuce and 50% of the rice pudding was consumed in one sitting. Respondents mentioned some material features and several handling functions of packaging, but very few commented on the protection that the packaging provides. Few, if any, expressed any recognition of packaging attributes, which helped to avoid food waste.

The respondents mentioned that wasting food was a waste of money and that it can have a negative effect on conscience; despite that, respondents also said that they wanted a variety of meals and to not have the same food several days during the same week.

This study explores the possibilities of increasing customer satisfaction and reducing the environmental impact from food-packaging systems in alifecycleperspective using results from a study on consumers' demands on packaging based on Kano's Theory of Attractive Quality. It assesses the environmentaleffects of potential improvements in quality attributes. The results show that there are obvious potentials to increase customer satisfaction and at the same time decrease in the environmental impact of the food-packaging system, especially when the packaging design helps to decrease food losses. There were many connections between quality attributes and environmental impacts.

The amount of food waste needs to be reduced in order to sustain the world's limited resources and secure enough food to all humans. Packaging plays an important role in reducing food waste. The knowledge about how packaging affects food waste in households, however, is scarce. This exploratory study examines reasons for food waste in household and especially how and to what extent packaging influences the amount of food waste. Sixty-one families measured their amount of food waste during seven days and noted in a diary why each item was wasted. Thirty of the families had participated earlier in an environmental project including education in environmental issues of everyday life. About 20-25% of the households' food waste could be related to packaging. Three packaging aspects dominate the packaging related waste: packages that the consumer noted as being too big and packages that were difficult to empty, and wastage because of passed "best before date". The environmentally educated households wasted less, especially of prepared food. They also wasted less food due to passed "best before date". These households were more observant to packaging aspects in relation to food waste. The observations made could be used to learn more about packaging attributes that affect food waste. Although they recognised packaging influence on food waste, these households expressed lower satisfaction with packaging functions and wanted packaging to a lower extent. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.