Waste Not,
Package Smart
This article is featured in the Magazine “Exploring Origin – The Importance of Knowing Where Food Comes From”, created in collaboration with Global Retail Brands. You can find more insights about the Magazine and additional articles here.
A growing demand for sustainable food packaging
People have a growing desire to deeply understand what they usually eat or drink. They are seriously interested in knowing where products come from, and whether they were produced in an eco-friendly and socially responsible way. Moreover, each brand should provide services and involve processes that support the environment. For this reason, a good question concerns what an honest approach means when a brand must clearly communicate its actions directly to the consumer.
This special issue invited me to reflect about the stories behind food brands. However, food brands have the task of including large amounts of information on labels, such as: ingredients, flavors, and traditions that shape meals, and which draws attention to the importance of fostering a connection between consumers and producers of our nutrition. Packaging represents the strategies through which producers can reinforce their contact with consumers, especially regarding proper utilization practices and safeguarding the environment.
Much attention was therefore paid to the recycling regulations based on the country of destination, product life cycle, and carbon footprint. Taking a closer look at new technologies, we can change the traditional functions of packaging, making it more than just a protective casing, but also a way to interact with the consumer and support sustainable habits.
Defining sustainability and its role in packaging innovation
In recent years, the topic of sustainability has become increasingly important. So, what do we mean by sustainability? And especially, why do we associate it with innovation in order to orient packaging design? A new approach to development is required, with the aim of meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising those of future generations.
In this sense, sustainability could be considered as the intersection of the three sets: environmental, economic, and social. Food trends pointing to the future are centered around themes of innovation and sustainability for contributing to reducing the over marketing services and taking positions against a production system that is not compatible with the well-being of the planet. So what can a food company do in the future to create circularity through a packaging solution?
The circular economy approach to food packaging
Several research and innovation projects are focusing on the utilization of raw material waste, possibly that the company itself produces. According to recent data shown by the DNV (Det Norske Veritas), more than 43% of the companies’ sampled including those in the food sector from Europe, America, and Asia, are integrating the Circular Economy into their strategies with the scope of protecting the environment.
Perhaps it is precisely in analyzing the meaning of the word “protection” that the need to review packaging begins, not only as a communication tool or medium. Thus, the objective is not only that of preserving and protecting products, but also to identify products of the same type and favor their choice within an increasingly competitive market, where the customer has less and less time to devote to product selection, and which communicates at a glance the consumer’s needs.
Specifically, food packaging is the application of protection to foodstuffs, allowing them to avoid contamination from the external environment and maintain their characteristics. Additionally, packaging design provides the customer with a quality experience and strengthens the bond between the consumer and the brand.
Rethinking the characteristics and life cycle of packaging
Packaging capable of adapting to the objectives of the circular economy, capable of reducing environmental impact, both at the stage of its production by reducing CO2 emissions and at the end of its use thanks to the possibility of recycling or reuse.
But what do we mean by Eco-Packaging or sustainable packaging? We mean sustainable packaging made from renewable, natural, or recycled materials- without additional packaging and with a focus on size so that smaller products can be packaged in flexible packaging. However, eco-packaging must not lose sight of the main mission: the packaging must protect the content and at the same time inform and attract the consumer, enticing them to buy.
Innovative alternatives to plastics
The issue of sustainable packaging has taken center stage in the policies of the European Union and most industrialized countries, leading to a re-evaluation of certain areas of the industry, seeking alternative methods to minimize environmental impact; in particular the use of plastics- or polymers- in packaging, as it accounts for 40% of European plastics production (Plastic Europe Market Research Group data for 2012). Numerous projects are already doing research to develop innovative and alternative materials for different types of packaging for food products, i.e. food packaging.
This represents a key component in the food and beverage preservation system, however, to be used for this purpose, alternative materials must meet the same requirements as traditional materials. For example, in Italy there are research groups working on ways to transform fruit and vegetable waste into 100% biodegradable plastic. Thus, waste such as orange peels, coffee grounds, chaff (a by-product of cereal processing) from rice- even parsley, maize, or tomatoes – can be used to produce bioplastics.
The agro-food industry produces tons of waste from vegetable peels and seeds which can be used to make bioplastics and other sustainable materials for 100% compostable packaging (compostable bioplastics, according to UNI/EN13432, can be recycled as organic waste in wet waste).
Food waste as a valuable resource
The selection of raw materials with high added value, and the identification of vegetable waste and industrial pollutants as a harmonious source of alternative products, is a challenge that will add additional value to the product. Currently, the drying of processing waste from the canning industry is the most popular approach for fertilizer production. Thus, processing waste from food processing companies is a great source for alternative raw materials such as paper for example. Various projects have been initiated to reduce waste in this production system, for example, paper derived from agro-food waste to have boxes with recycled food fiber Implementing a high-quality paper line: (or FSC™ certified and zero-emission thanks to the neutralization of residual CO2).
Another product that we can make from the waste of agri-food companies are bio-paints, which can be used to protect food packaging made of metal. To date, the paints used are derived from synthetic compounds made from petroleum, materials that are unsustainable and polluting, but also unsafe for human health. Some companies in Europe, in order to make their products more environmentally friendly and reduce their environmental impact, have come up with new solutions starting with their raw material production food waste, such as orange peels or coffee and maize processing residues, is reused to make green paint.
The new idea led to the creation of packaging that addresses the need to change our lifestyles by paying more and more attention to sustainability. e.g., how to replace a glass bottle with a new cylindrical container made of pressed paper made of vegetable fiber from industrial processing waste, basically peels, seeds, and other inedible waste. It is then coated with bio-paints that make it impermeable to contain liquid products without damage. This results in packaging derived entirely from waste material, without the use of new raw materials, totally biodegradable and 100% recyclable; a packaging that can be thrown in the waste bin and that if it were to be dispersed in the environment, it would neither be harmful nor damaging to the ecosystem.
My primary goal was to highlight how utilization and production practices represent a willingness on our part as citizens to change how we relate to packaging and the products contained therein. Our relationship to packaging can be a useful lens through which we view our consumption and waste. From here, we can truly begin to innovate food packaging in function, material, and design.
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