Packaging solutions for household food waste in the context of the food/beverage–packaging industry: A comparative review of empirical literature and industry press releases
Ruby Bo Yiu Chan
Abstract
Interest is increasing among researchers and industry regarding packaging's potential to reduce household food waste (HFW). Researchers have recommended packaging solutions and the food/beverage–packaging industry have developed packaging solutions; are the recommendations and developments related? This review paper connects academic recommendations to industry practice by identifying and comparing packaging solutions from industry press-release articles to the HFW drivers and packaging solutions identified in primary consumer empirical studies. The review covers a 16-year timespan from 2006–2021, globally, to collect data on packaging functions/formats, materials, and food groups. The analysis shows that industry developments differ from research recommendations. While most of the packaging functions/formats suggested in the empirical literature have precedence for commercial availability, many packaging solutions developed by industry are not acknowledged in the empirical literature. Combining the unique contributions of research within and external to industry creates a fuller picture of HFW, supporting more effective implementation of packaging solutions to help reduce it. There is an opportunity for industry to implement a greater number of packaging formats aligned to the most frequently reported HFW drivers. Enabling greater collaboration between the research community and industry by bringing together this literature in a critical review is a major contribution of this paper.