Packaging-Related Food Losses and Waste: An Overview of Drivers and Issues

In the paper

“Although a systematic analysis and quantification of packaging design aspects has not yet been performed, optimal product protection and optimization of the shelf life can be considered essential.”

In the paper

“Although FLW and packaging are getting attention in the scientific literature, packaging-related FLW (PFLW) is largely unexplored.”

In the paper

“However, in the reviewed research articles, there is agreement on the importance of PFLW and a number of authors already support the call for further research on this topic [39,40,84,87,92,97].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [39] source
• Not checked yetcites [40] source
• Not checked yetcites [84] source
• Not checked yetcites [87] source
• Not checked yetcites [92] source
• Not checked yetcites [97]

In the paper

“FLW-related features of the communication function consist mostly of product and packaging information and instructions, as in how to properly store, open, and dispose of the package [18].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [18]

In the paper

“as long as consumers are not aware of the importance of FLW reduction by appropriate packaging, this represents a conflict of objectives and, hence, the main challenge for all stakeholders in the packaging design process.”

In the paper

“consumers with high amounts of food waste tend to be less environmentally aware with regard to packaging solutions (i.e., recyclability, material perceived as eco-friendly) than 'no-wasters', but show a higher willingness to pay more for packaging that helps to keep food fresh than no-wasters.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [22]

In the paper

“The 'facilitate handling' function includes features, such as unitization, apportionment, resealability, and emptying.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [18]
• Not checked yetcites [19] source

In the paper

“The main functions of packaging are to contain, to protect, to facilitate handling, and to communicate information (Figure 1) [18,19].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [18]
• Not checked yetcites [19] source

In the paper

“When discussing the sustainability of packaging, its protective function is often neglected and only revolves around the type and amount of material used for production.”

In the paper

“There has been relatively little research on whether more, less, or different types of packaging cause FLW in relation to the available literature on FLW.”

In the paper

“While consumers often confuse best before and use by dates, they state that they need more information about the shelf life of food once a package has been opened [42].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [42]

In the paper

“packaging can contain instructions on how to prolong the shelf life of the packaged food by encouraging consumers to freeze leftovers [20].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [20] source

In the paper

“The protective function includes FLW-related features, such as mechanical protection, barrier (e.g., against oxygen or water vapor), and thermal and sealing properties.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [18]
• Not checked yetcites [19] source

In the paper

“At the processing stage, the main causes of FLW are overproduction, misshaped food, and packaging damage [63,64].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [63] source
• Not checked yetcites [64]

In the paper

“a sector which is responsible for around 5% of FLW in Europe [67].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [67]

In the paper

“Further important factors that influenced the emptying behavior could be attributed to the presence of a fold at the bottom of the package and corrugations in its internal wall, as well as the shape of the package itself [54].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [54] source

In the paper

“Buying large packages contributes significantly to excessive purchasing, which is true in particular for low-income households, where this leads to over-preparing and thus to the generation of FLW [57].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [57] source

In the paper

“While in distribution, food losses may occur due to damage of the packaging, the exceedance of expiration dates, or poor stock management [65].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [65]

In the paper

“Currently, both packaging and future developments in material technology have a huge potential to minimize FLW [15,17] and to contribute to food safety and security [45].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [15] source
• Not checked yetcites [17] source
• Not checked yetcites [45]

In the paper

“Active packaging contains 'deliberately incorporated components intended to release or absorb substances into or from the packaged food or from the environment surrounding the food' [79] and has, therefore, the purpose to extend the shelf life of food [80,81].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [79] source
• Not checked yetcites [80]
• Not checked yetcites [81] source

In the paper

“food-contaminated packaging reduces the possibility of a potential mechanical recycling of the packaging, further contributing to a higher environmental impact [71].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [71]

In the paper

“Such packages contain a modified gas composition, mainly nitrogen, carbon dioxide, or oxygen, which aims to reduce microbial growth and chemical deterioration of the packaged food and therefore increases its shelf life [77].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [77] source

In the paper

“In an automatic filling process, losses can occur when packaging and filling machines are not well matched or if there is a malfunction of the machinery, e.g., resulting in bottle overfilling [46].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [46]

In the paper

“consumers in Germany and Italy point out that the packaging sizes of many types of fresh produce, as well as dairy products, baking ingredients, meat products, and pasta, are too big, while complaining about the higher price of smaller packages in comparison to larger ones [56].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [56] source

In the paper

“Single households generate the most food waste per capita and by comparison, people in four-person households waste less than half than a person in a single household [56].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [56] source

In the paper

“In a comparative assessment of two different product and transport packages (corrugated cardboard and plastic crates) for eggs, an average breakage rate of 1.1% was observed while the results of the four different packaging scenarios varied between 0.56% and 2.38%.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [51] source

In the paper

“Packaging damage is rather rare and may just mean that the imprinted barcodes are unreadable [45].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [45]

In the paper

“As material technology is always making advances, more and more polymer-based multilayer packaging is used, which extends the shelf life of food while reducing packaging weight [76].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [76]

In the paper

“Waste composition analyses have limitations on information about specific waste quantities by food category and do not include alternative disposal routes of households, such as a separate bio-waste collection, home composting, or the use as pet food [103], but above all, there is no generation of information about the causes of the FLW.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [103] source

In the paper

“Furthermore, packaging can contain instructions about how best to store the food and to encourage people to freeze leftovers [20], as well as how to serve food to avoid residues in the package [54].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [20] source
• Not checked yetcites [54] source

In the paper

“If a packaging is already on the market, research suggests that the integration of the emptying behavior of a package in its LCA is feasible as well as advisable [54].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [54] source

In the paper

“Intelligent packaging is comprised of 'materials and articles that monitor the condition of packaged food or the environment surrounding the food' [79]”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [79] source

In the paper

“Packaging saves food by mechanical protection or prolong its shelf life by a material with good barrier properties [76], through the use of modified atmosphere packaging [77] and, in the future, by intelligent or active packaging through the dynamic display of its microbiological status [82].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [76]
• Not checked yetcites [77] source
• Not checked yetcites [82] source

In the paper

“Medium and larger supermarkets can benefit from faster turnovers, while for smaller supermarkets, it is better to place fewer orders and have products with a longer shelf life [96].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [96]

In the paper

“In industrialized countries, the contribution of packaging to FLW is less clear-cut.”

In the paper

“Examples include non-adequate packaging (too large packaging sizes, inappropriate material, contaminated packaging, technical failures in the packaging process) [43][44][45]48,50,51,[55][56][57][58][59][60] or packaging that is too difficult to open [52,53] or to empty [39,54] so that its contents spill or are left in the package.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [43] source
• Not checked yetcites [44]
• Not checked yetcites [45]

In the paper

“The best before date can have a significant impact on the purchase decision [95] and depends not only on the product category, but also on the size of the retailer.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [96]

In the paper

“These causes are rather complex and are often the result of multiple interacting activities [104] so it is challenging to identify FLW as (at least partially) packaging-related, even when interviewing consumers directly about whether their FLW is connected in any way with packaging [39].”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites [104] source

In the paper

“Packaging plays an essential part in food protection and thus can reduce FLW.”