In Australia, the 2025 National Packaging Targets are unknown or poorly understood by the food and beverage industry. Food South Australia know this through their day-to-day discussions with manufacturers and enquiries received about its various business and export growth programs. There is a lack of understanding amongst the industry around packaging that can reduce or prevent food waste, optimise shelf-life and improve overall product storage. There is also a clear need to raise awareness amongst the industry about smart, intelligent packaging design and the impact innovation could have on creating a more efficient supply chain. The overall role of packaging in reducing food waste needs to be discussed more openly in the industry. A better understanding of this will empower food and beverage businesses to drive change with packaging technologists, designers and engineers.
By connecting food businesses with the technical knowledge and experience of the Australian Institute of Packaging, this project will enhance their understanding of the relationship between packaging and food waste. The project participants will assess the key barriers and associated costs of changing packaging and equipment.
This project provides industry with an opportunity to discuss issues around packaging materials with industry experts and will assist industry to understand where they should focus their efforts. The benefits to individual businesses from the project include the following:
Useful information will also be provided on the up-skilling and training needs of industry to enable other Australian food manufacturers to adopt practices of minimising food waste through packaging.
As this project progresses and achieves its milestones, we’ll share the good news on this page by adding information, links, images, interviews and more.
February 2020 – December 2020
Samara Miller, Food South Australia