Consumer perceptions of the role of packaging in reducing food waste

The challenge

Packaging is often viewed as having a negative impact on the environment because it is left over once a product is consumed and has to be disposed of in the bin or through recycling. However, in many cases, packaging protects food and prolongs its shelf-life, with an overall reduction in environmental impact by reducing food waste. Food packaging can contribute to household food waste reduction by being designed to extend the shelf-life of food products, being available in numerous sizes for different sized households, communicating on-pack the best way to use and store a food item, assisting households to use date labels to better manage their food, and slowing the degradation of perishable foods.

Our plan

Understanding the perception and use of packaging by consumers and how this plays a role in household food waste generation is an important first step in this project. With a greater understanding of how people appreciate and use packaging, along with the food waste they generate, we can design improved packaging and communications on food waste avoidance that will ultimately reduce food waste.

This project aims to understand consumer perceptions of the role of packaging in reducing food waste by:

• discovering target areas that will help drive packaging design decisions.
• discovering key consumer behaviours that may be adapted to reduce food waste.
• determining potential consumer responses to labelling and packaging alternatives in relation to food packaging.
• providing formative information for partners’ new product development processes.
• designing packaging solutions to reduce food waste.
• designing more effective consumer education campaigns to reduce food waste.

This Fight Food Waste CRC project is led by Sustainability Victoria in partnership with Woolworths and RMIT University.