Two billion tonnes of food never makes it on a plate – this was the headline that grabbed the nation’s attention mid-January, putting the food industry and its practices under the microscope again, re-igniting the debate on waste.
Quite rightly so given the figures, published by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IME), equate to almost half of the world’s food, which is a staggering amount especially when you consider the serious shortages of food in developing countries.
Waste, in its many manifestations, has long been recognised as a problem for the food and drink industry and one I believe should be taken seriously. Over the last decade progress has been made to educate consumers and reduce the amount of food, processing and packaging waste, but it is clear more still needs to be done.
However, we can no longer afford to treat each waste problem in isolation. WRAP’s vision for transforming the UK to a circular economy, whereby iniatives are linked throughout the supply chain, suggests that up to 30Mt fewer materials could be input into the economy with 20 per cent less waste produced by 2020.
Packaging cannot be separated from food waste, just as food waste must be tackled in conjunction with processing operations as well as the all-important task of making sure consumers play their part too. I was struck by one point made by IME that can be used to illustrate this.
In the report strict sell-by dates are highlighted as one factor that contributes to excessive food waste – some consumers take these by writ and as a result throw food away when it is perfectly edible. Meanwhile, packaging often comes under fire as being superfluous. Yet, packaging can in fact increase the shelf life of certain foods.
In October last year, Packaging News covered the launch of the book ‘Why shrink-wrap a cucumber?’ which makes the salient point that a wrapped cucumber lasts considerably longer than an unwrapped one. This not only reduces the likelihood of cucumbers being thrown away, but also reduces the number of journeys made from farm to retail thus reducing energy consumption and food miles.
On a similar theme, earlier in 2012 M&S announced its use of new packaging for strawberries that incorporated a plaster-style strip to absorb ethylene, which is the ripening hormone that makes fruit mouldy.
Both these examples demonstrate how lateral thinking can improve the functionality of packaging to help reduce the amount of food sent to landfill. It also shows how the increasingly common assumption that all packaging should be reduced could end up in having a negative impact elsewhere.
I was pleased to see that the IME report highlighted that waste is created at every point in the supply chain showing that the food and drink industry needs to collaborate more closely if the problem is to be solved.
Pro2Pac 2013 will address the complex issue of sustainability in the food and drink industry in both the new Sustainable Solutions Zone and during the Pro2Pac Live seminar sessions.
