Cats and kids love boxes, and everyone loves bubble wrap. Other than that, the packaging is a pain.
It is, of course, necessary, doing everything from protecting fragile goods to stopping sunlight from turning your milk rancid.
But thanks to boffins funded under the EU’s Horizon programme, it’s set to get downright interesting.
The Glopack project is investigating the prospects for food packaging that has no environmental footprint and yet still improves shelf life.
It focuses on three food packaging areas — biodegradable and home compostable food packaging made from agri-food residues; bio-packaging with advanced functionalities to improve food preservation and shelf life without additives; and battery-free RFID bio-sensors to track food freshness.
Forget smart fridges, this is intelligent packaging.
Glopack stands, contortedly, for Granting society with Low environmental impact innovative Packaging.
It’s all about active packaging, a subject that has food businesses and retailers salivating.
According to the scientists behind the project, consumer demand for natural products and the increasingly extended and diverse supply chains required to ship them to a growing population means that traditional packaging is becoming less capable of meeting functional demands.
Consumers don’t purchase packaging. They simply purchase the products that come in it. But at a time of looming food shortages, any prospects to help prolong food life, and reduce food waste, are to be seized on.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, one-third of all food produced globally for human consumption — 1.3 billion tonnes — is lost or wasted.
“While many food industries have already embraced loss reduction initiatives and have optimised their internal and external supply chain, the prevalence of retail and household waste suggests that the improved packaging’s ability in reducing spoilage and extending shelf life can play a large role in addressing this problem,” according to a Glopack position paper.
The increasing demand for fresh and quality packaged food, consumer convenience and manufacturers’ concern for longer shelf-life is driving the market for global active and intelligent packaging technologies.
But they also offer additional advantages over conventional packagings, such as reduced counterfeiting and safety.
Smart RFID tags could be integrated with a sensing element to detect any changes in the food that might indicate spoilage.
But it isn’t just food waste that is at issue. The wrong kind of packaging is a waste in itself or at least an opportunity cost.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in 2019, the most recent year for which figures are available, Ireland generated about 1.1 million tonnes of packaging waste. Given the volume of couriers whizzing around during the pandemic, and the rise in ecommerce since then, it may well have increased.
The largest increases to date have been in the generation of plastic and paper or cardboard packaging waste. Less than one-third of Ireland’s plastic packaging waste was recycled in 2019, with almost all of the remainder being sent for incineration.
And that doesn’t even take into consideration the environmental impact of making and transporting the packaging.
It’s why the EU is looking to reduce both overpackaging, and packaging waste, by setting targets and other waste prevention measures.
These include driving design for reuse and recyclability of packaging and restrictions on the use of some packaging materials for certain applications, in particular where alternative reusable products are possible, or where consumer goods can be handled safely without packaging at all.
It’s also considering reducing the complexity of packaging materials, including the number of materials and polymers used.
The intensifying focus on sustainability puts what was previously the supporting act of other products closer to centre stage. Even what was to previous generations the very definition of a commodity, the cardboard box, has now become a focus of serious innovation.
Box maker Smurfit Kappa is a case in point. It responded with its Better Planet Packaging. Launched in 2018, it seeks to reduce packaging waste through design, research and development and industry expertise.
It has led to a string of innovations, including AquaStop, a sustainable water-resistant paper with a special coating that allows it to be recycled in the same way as standard paper-based packaging.
All of the Better Planet Packaging portfolio of products offer sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics. As AquaStop is designed to withstand exposure to water without being damaged, it is suitable for eCommerce packaging and as packaging for products such as flowers, detergent and fruit and vegetables where temporary protection against water is needed.
The company has developed a sustainable solution for fast food too — a paper-based mono-material designed for food packaging, and a new packaging alternative to the traditional plastic boxes used for detergent pods. As well as offering a 40 per cent carbon footprint reduction compared to the plastic alternative, it’s childproof too. Call it doubly smart packaging.
