how packaging contributes to food waste prevention unpackaged goods seen to have greater environmental footprint study by austrian thinktank denkstatt and industry partnerspackaged fresh goods have a smaller environmental footprint than unpackaged food products &ndash even if the packaging is not recycled photo pactivabout 30 of the average european&rsquos carbon footprint is linked to the production and distribution of foodstuffs and nutrition in general. however, many food products spoil without appropriate protection and end up as waste. in europe alone, 100m t per year is estimated to be thrown away. the role plastic or other packaging can play in significantly reducing food waste is the subject of the new study &ldquohow packaging contributes to food waste prevention" by austrian thinktank denkstatt vienna www.denkstatt.at compiled in cooperation with project partners from along the value chain. participants included altstoff recycling austria ara, vienna www.ara.at, food retailers rewe, hofer and lidl, packaging producers südpack and sealed air and the austrian subgroup of the plastics manufacturers association plasticseurope austria.in a nutshell, the study&rsquos conclusion is "more packaging, less co2". this means that despite more packaging being used and disposed of, less food is being wasted, and this leads to a lower carbon footprint overall. in 2014, the austrian consultancy examined, on the basis of six case studies, how innovative food packaging can impact waste volumes and lessen the food industry&rsquos impact on the environment. the project partners&rsquo common objective was to present facts that would contribute to the discussion of how to further improve food packaging and prevent waste. for example, the use of a plastic tray with a film lid to package sliced cheese might be expected to produce more waste than selling unpackaged cheese at the counter, but in fact the study showed that the retailer&rsquos spoilage rate for packaged cheese is only 0.14 while fresh goods sold unpackaged at the counters generate 5 of waste.the researchers calculated that producing the packaging generates 28 g of co2 equivalent co2e while the prevention of spoilt food reduces the co2 equivalent by 69 g. for example, a pastry that was packaged in plastic film rather than a paper bag with a plastic window would save 12 g co2e for the packaging and an additional 136 g co2e in food waste because the retailer&rsquos waste volume dropped from 11 to 0.8. the same was seen to be true for meat, fruits and vegetables.in total, denkstatt says, the carbon footprint of the packaging itself was shown to be smaller by a factor of 10100 than that of the packaged food. food packaging therefore creates benefits that exceed the cost of its production and utilisation. however, the researchers note that a lack of quantitative data makes it difficult for this concept to be accepted. the protective function of the food packaging is usually considered to be more important than its impact on the climate, and the recyclability of the packaging."as the ecofootprint of the packaging is smaller by far than the environmental imprint of food production, the objective must be to protect foods in the best way possible and to extend their shelf life,&rdquo denkstatt&39s project leader harald pilz said in a detailed presentation at the &ldquoidentiplast&rdquo trade fair in rome at the end of april.proposal for revising the eu waste framework directivethe partners in the denkstatt project have called on brussels to standardise collection and reporting of data on food waste among eu member states as well as for the development of national strategies to prevent food waste, toward the goal of reducing its volume in europe by 30 up to 2025. the current study deals only with food waste at retailers. if consumers were included in the figures, pilz said in his presentation, the difference between spoilage rates of unpackaged and optimally packaged goods would be even greater. &ldquowhat appears to be the best solution on the surface is not always the right one,&rdquo he asserted. &ldquofood packaging can make an important contribution to environmental protection, especially if it is the right packaging for the right application.&rdquoeserviceidentiplast presentation by harald pilz "the potential for plastic packaging to contribute to a circular and resourceefficient economy" as a pdf filepublished on 19.05.2015 
