ProSweets 2023: The importance of packaging protection in food waste fight

03 May 2023 --- At ProSweets 2023, Dr. Markus Schmid, institute director of the Sustainable Packaging Institute (SPI) at the Albstadt-Sigmaringen University of Applied Sciences, Germany, gave a presentation about the importance of packaging protection to reduce food waste.

ProSweets took place between April 23 to 25 in Cologne, Germany, focusing on the confectionery and snack sectors. 

Schmid says SPI is working on biogenic raw materials that are not in competition with food but instead maintain a path toward a circular economy while keeping the contents of the packaging fresh. 

He recommends that packaging companies in the confectionery and snack sectors focus on keeping the product inside the wrapping as fresh as possible while using raw materials to create the packaging. The two together aim to reduce the impact of food waste and packaging. 

“The objectives are optimizing bio-based packaging, developing new technologies, using post-consumer waste to upcycle them in different applications, and developing new standard and certification systems for recyclable, biodegradable plastics,” says Schmid.

Consumer perspectives
Schmid highlights about 93% of the resources on the climate impact are from products inside the package, while 7% are from the packaging. 

“However, what you read in big letters, the packaging is communicated as recyclable, biodegradable, bio-based, even though the share of climate impact actually isn’t the packaging,” he asserts. 

Schmid says that from an investigation, more than 50% of consumers believe there is more climate impact from packaging than the food products it contains. 

“So the majority of the consumers think that the packaging has a higher climate impact than the product and this is a very important message because reducing the functionality of pathogens will lead to more food loss and central waste.”

Fifty percent of consumers believe that packaging has a greater environmental impact than its food contents. Schmid uses the example of frozen vegetables to explain when more environmentally friendly packaging may not be best to reduce food waste, creating more climate impact. 

“A paper-based solution will significantly impact shelf life significance because suddenly the functionality of water vapor transmission rate variable is not there. Therefore we have a shorter shelf life and I assume that this will lead to quite a high increase in interest rates,” he explains. 

Packagings biggest enemy
Schmid tells the audience at ProSweets 2023 that the number one role of packaging is to protect what is inside. The presentation continues about how oxygen harms food packaging and causes spoiling and hence packagers should be working on protecting contents from oxygen. 

“Focus on creating packaging that increases shelf life and communicates spoilage is more important than the environmental sustainability credentials of the packaging itself. That is where the packaging industry needs to focus.”

He adds that some more ecological packaging solutions reduce the food’s shelf life and contribute more to food waste. 

“This is a huge mission, as you may see, and that’s certainly something we can’t do alone. We do that with many partners in different research areas and partners from the snack industry,” says Schmid. 

Importance of functionality
Schmid also names functionality as a critical component in packaging and says it should be prioritized when discussing environmental sustainability.

“It does not help to have a packaging material that does not serve the primary function. The first priority is protection. So without functionality, we do not have sufficient protection,” he voices.

One way SPI is looking into using raw materials is through olive oil production. It is exploring using discarded olive oil leaves.The institute director of the SPI at the Albstadt-Sigmaringen University of Applied Sciences says oxygen is a threat to food packaging.

“They are not used in Tunisia, where the olive oil comes from, and we extract different components of secondary plant components out of this byproduct modified in a certain way to introduce active packaging functionalities for olive oil packaging.”

One idea is to put the olive oil materials into a closure so that when oxygen enters the packaging, it is absorbed by the closure and thus prolongs the shelf life. 

“What we are looking for is to detect biogenic amines or other products produced during deterioration so that before the human being can detect a spoiled food product, the packaging tells maybe you should eat it soon or maybe even totally good anymore,” continues Schmid. 

“The use of residue of materials byproducts as an alternative material and food packaging concept should not be in direct competition with food and feed production.”

“We are looking for raw materials which are not in competition and can increase the potential for value creation, could complement or replace conventional polymers and coatings in the future and can offer additional benefits, such as based on renewable raw materials, but they could be wholly compostable in the future while maintaining recyclability so to comply with legislation,” Schmid concludes.

By Sabine Waldeck