Packaging's Role in Helping Reduce Food Waste

SCA Packaging recently participated at the “Combating food Waste in the EU” conference in Brussels.

Every year, as much as one third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted along the supply chain, according to a study commissioned by the United Nations food agency. This report also estimates that the per capita food waste by consumers in Europe and North-America is 95-115 kg per year.

John Swift, SCA Packaging’s Director of Regulatory Affairs, was one of the chairmen at the ”Combating Food Waste in the EU” conference that took place on November 8-9 in Brussels. The main aim of the conference was to bring together EU institutions, national governments, NGO’s, retailers, food and drink industry, packaging industry, compliance schemes and waste management industry to assess and develop strategies to prevent and reduce food waste in the EU.

“In the last few years, consumers and the industry alike are recognising packaging’s role in helping reduce food waste,” says John Swift. ”By optimising food packaging and being innovative, we actually contribute to finding a solution to this issue,” he adds.

One great example of how SCA Packaging is looking at ways of minimising food waste through innovation is the fruit fresh + prototype developed in partnership between SCA Packaging and the Fraunhofer Institut in Freising, Germany. The fruit fresh + concept aims at slowing down fruit and vegetable ripening by utilising an ethylene-absorbing agent on the corrugated board used to manufacture fruit and vegetable trays. Ethylene is a naturally occurring gas that triggers the ripening process in certain fruits and vegetables. The valleys of the corrugated board’s medium are covered with a binder and the ethylene absorber is dispersed onto the binder as a powder or granulate. Finally a liner is glued on the medium.

This SCA innovation is still a prototype and more testing will be necessary before going to market, to ensure that it is compatible with all existing regulations on product safety. The market is already curious about the concept. The German Packaging Awards (Deutscher Verpackungspreis) has recently awarded fruit fresh + on the prototypes category and is also in competition for a Worldstar Award.

For more information, contact:

John Swift
Regulatory Affairs Director
SCA Packaging
john.swift@sca.com

Anja Roehrle
Marketing Manager
SCA Packaging Germany & Switzerland
anja.roehrle@sca.om

Marina Pascuzzi
External Communications
SCA Packaging
marina.pascuzzi@sca.com