The facts below got Sergei Plishka of Outerspace Design thinking:
"Australians are among the most prolific waste producers in the world at 1.9 tonnes per person per year.
"While consumers are increasingly concerned about the environmental consequences of packaging choices, incremental improvements made by the food industry struggle to keep up. Packaging covenants are widely adopted by big brands, but are voluntary and self-regulated.
"Meanwhile, profit margins of Australian suppliers fall well short of international peers making eco-friendly food packaging hard to justify if not accompanied by a significant cost saving.
"Perhaps incremental improvements are not what we need,” he postulated, “but a complete rethinking of the food distribution system...”
And Plishka's thinking got PKN wondering too what a completely redesigned food processing and distribution system might look like, and how that would affect food branding and packaging. So we asked Plishka to write down his ideas. Some are:
A fleet of unmanned electric powered vehicles making nightly deliveries of groceries, to minimise the number of individual shopping trips Australia householders make each week. The smart kitchen that knows what food is in your home, how much, and for how long it’s been there. Automated centralised delivery centres for all food processors - like FedEx, but for food.
