Embracing the challenges

25 March 2009




WRAP, the Lead Sponsor of this year’s 50th Starpack Awards and Summit, has been working to develop ideas to reduce food waste throughout the retail supply chain, with a major focus on minimising packaging waste. Here we look at how WRAP and the packaging industry are collaborating to address the collective challenges faced.

The UK, as a whole, will face immense challenges in the future in the ongoing bid to tackle climate change, with a far-reaching objective of reducing the world’s carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. Soaring population figures, global food poverty and the dominance of the carbon agenda all place an increasing premium on rapid action to preserve natural resources by individuals, families and businesses alike.

Through collaboration with manufacturers, retailers and brands throughout the retail supply chain, WRAP is helping UK industry address some of the major contributors to global warming in coming decades – one of which is food waste.

Tackling the real problem

In May 2008 WRAP published The Food We Waste report, thought to be the first report of its kind, which found that a third of all food purchased in the UK is thrown away. A key reason for this is that recommended storage instructions are not always clear, ‘best-before’ dates can be confusing for consumers and packaging often fails to optimise shelf-life.

One vehicle for driving change in packaging and the reduction of food waste is the Courtauld Commitment, a voluntary agreement between WRAP and leading grocery organisations in the UK, launched in 2005. The Commitment now has more than 37 signatories and has successfully achieved its first objective, to halt the trend of packaging waste growth in the UK. Companies throughout the supply chain have been looking at their packaging design and developing new packaging solutions that not only aid consumer understanding, but limit waste to landfill and help reduce carbon emissions.

Killing two birds

For example, Marks & Spencer has replaced its traditional plastic tray packaging for beef joints and steaks with a ‘skin pack’, wrapped tightly around the product. The packaging weight has been reduced by 60 per cent, and the meat stays fresh for up to four days longer.

Similarly, Cadbury addressed Easter egg packaging and produced a box-less range of ‘eco-eggs’ for Easter 2008. The Cadbury Treasure Eggs reduced plastic packaging by 75 per cent and cartonboard packaging by 65 per cent, when compared with standard eggs.

Greater emphasis in the future will also be placed on reducing the amount of embodied water in products by introducing more concentrated liquids and refills – allowing packaging formats to be modified. Tesco has already started making headway in this area by introducing a double-concentrated squash. Working with its supplier, Prince’s, it has replaced the traditional 1, 2 and 3 litre bottles with 750ml and 1.5 litre containers, resulting in a 46 per cent reduction in packaging and a saving of 469 tonnes of plastic per year.

All these packaging solutions will help reduce raw materials use and minimise the carbon emissions associated with transporting the products.

The Courtauld signatories are now working towards establishing collective targets on food waste. WRAP has also hosted industry workshops to discuss the findings of The Food We Waste report and explore potential waste reduction solutions. These include more consistent date-labelling, a greater range of pack sizes and packaging changes to increase shelf-life. WRAP also invited tenders from the food industry to further develop these ideas and, having received a positive response, is now about to embark on exciting work in a number of key areas such as fresh fruit and vegetables, bakery products and ready-meals – categories which are responsible for some of the most significant contributions to food waste.

Success with glass

Steps have also been taken with the wine, beer, cider and spirits industries through WRAP’s GlassRite project, which has helped to build momentum for bottle lightweighting and bulk importation of wine in the UK. Collectively this work has prevented 43,000 tonnes of glass from entering the waste stream. This is the equivalent of removing nearly 1,000 cars from the road, reducing the harmful carbon emissions associated with transportation. GlassRite Wine is now entering its second phase and will be working with international partners to secure further significant results for the global wine supply chain.

Mark Barthel, Special Advisor, WRAP, comments: “Together with the packaging industry we’ve made great leaps forward in addressing the environmental challenges we face, but future action will need to be even more significant. The next phase of WRAP’s work will see us working with the grocery sector to explore the full potential of such concepts as smart labelling and RFID, using packaging and IT to improve chill-chain performance, improving seal integrity and options for new technologies and materials.”

“The Starpack Awards and Summit is a brilliant opportunity for us to recognise the achievements already being made, together with sharing experiences and driving further innovations,” he enthuses.


Reduced Easter egg packaging developed as part of the WRAP programme Some of the rationalised film packaging from Sealed Air

Some of the rationalised film packaging from Sealed Air Some of the rationalised film packaging from Sealed Air
Reduced Easter egg packaging developed as part of the WRAP programme Reduced Easter egg packaging developed as part of the WRAP programme


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