Reduce, Reuse, Recycle a Mantra for Food Packaging

How a circular approach to packaging can reduce food loss and waste and respect the environment

In recent years, there has been a growing concern about the environmental impact of food packaging. As the world grapples with the challenges of waste management and climate change, the need for sustainable food packaging solutions has become more critical than ever. Fortunately, innovative approaches are emerging to address this issue, focusing on the principles of reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Whether it's made from glass, metal, paper or plastic, bamboo, packaging plays an important role in keeping food fresh, ensuring it is safe as well as extending its shelf-life to reduce loss and waste.

In primary packaging, or packaging which comes in direct contact with food, plastic is very common, being lightweight, flexible and comparatively low cost. While some plastics can be easily recycled and reused, others cannot, and, as we know, the impact of plastic on the environment is huge when it is not reused or recycled. At the same time, food loss and food waste also carry a huge environmental burden. Lost and wasted food means a loss of all the resources that go into making it, such as water, soil, energy and more. Using adequate packaging to avoid losses and waste of food products can benefit the environment more than not using packaging at all.

A circular approach is key. Circular packaging solutions focus on a reduce-reuse-recycle approach, including minimising single-use plastic, encouraging the reuse and recycling of materials and improving the economics and quality of recycled plastic materials.

Here are four better packaging solutions we can leverage to reduce food loss and waste:

1) Re-useable packaging