How Food Waste Can Be Reduced Using Packaging
Food waste is a far-reaching problem, which has huge implications financially, environmentally and ethically throughout the world. Basic causes of food waste are multiple, from something as simple as bumpy roads to picky customers. Despite what feels like a never-ending global problem, there are things we can do to combat this complicated issue.
Statistics show that around one-third of the world’s food is wasted year on year. On a global scale, that’s estimated to be around 1.3 billion tonnes according to the Food & Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).
To really put this into perspective, the amount of food that we waste each and every year costs around 2.6 trillion US dollars and would be enough to feed more than the 815 million hungry people we currently have in the world, not just once, but four times over. The question is, why is food getting wasted so much?
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Why Are We Wasting So Much Food?
One of the biggest reasons food gets wasted so much is for the simple fact that supply chains have become longer. Our world has come together and the food industry has become far more globalised than ever before and as a result, some food travels much further than it ever has done.
Think Indian Mangoes in Germany and even American sweets in the UK – and this continues all year round. During those incredibly long journeys, food is often lost or damaged. Fresh foods like vegetables and fruit become vulnerable to rotting, the longer they’re left between being picked or harvested and eaten.
While many may feel differently, food is actually far more abundant than we realise and it’s this abundance that can contribute to food waste. In fact, consumers are just as much to blame as those along the supply chain. Food waste itself occurs along the latter half of the supply chain. Distributors, retailers, supermarkets and restaurants play a part, as do consumers.
Places that offer all-you-can-eat buffets and buy-one-get-one-free deals produce way more food than they actually sell. Supermarkets refuse to stock food that looks even in the slightest bit odd, despite being perfectly fresh and edible, because, they argue, consumers prefer to purchase perfect looking produce.
By better understanding these interrelated problems we can then begin to explore ways to prevent food waste. One of the biggest ways to do that is through exploring better packaging technologies.
Let Packaging Become Part Of The Solution
While many see plastic packaging as being a huge part of the wider environmental problem, it plays a hugely important role in preventing damage and food from spoiling too quickly. Not only does the right packaging offer physical protection, but can help with longer shelf lives, prevent tampering with food and even provide better marketing that will encourage food sales of certain products.
Protecting Food Safety & Quality
As we mentioned above, food packaging plays a very important role in protecting the food from becoming damaged and spoiled. When used correctly, it can also help maximise the shelf life of the food in question too. In order to truly benefit from this, it’s imperative that you seek out the right packaging solution.
Shrinkwrap can help provide physical protection. It can also create a seal to prevent loss of moisture and much more. By utilising the correct packaging, you ultimately maximise the window of time food has to be used. This is one of the key aspects of food security that packaging is helping to address.
The Ultimate Packaging Choice
Shrink wrap film generally has a bad reputation thanks to the associations with single use plastics. Having said that, it provides many benefits in terms of securing and protecting the food. This goes some way to offsetting the consequent effects it has on the environment.
Organisations such as Kempner are now proud to boast ultra thin, compostable shrink wrap materials that are addressing the key environmental concerns. This means shrink wrap is well on it’s way to becoming more environmentally friendly, as well as helping lower the amount of food waste we see around the world.
In conclusion, with the likes of Kempner’s compostable shrink wrap, you can provide protection by keeping food steady and together during transit. This will reduce bumps and bruises and allow food to reach its destination in the best shape possible. On top of that, you can also use shrink wrap to prevent moisture from entering your food while also preventing moisture from leaving your food. This allows food to stay fresher for longer.
Contact The Experts
Food waste is a very real problem that needs addressing now. While there are a multitude of contributing factors, having the right packaging is without a doubt one of the most important aspects possible. If you’d like more information on Kempner’s compostable shrink wrap that could help you protect your food, we recommend contacting them today on 020 8952 5262.
