A review of packaging‐related studies in the context of household food waste: Drivers, solutions and avenues for future research

Abstract

Packaging has the potential to reduce food waste and contribute to the United Nations sustainable development goal 12.3. Yet packaging is also a household food waste (FW) driver, necessitating packaging improvements. Through a review of primary consumer studies on household FW and packaging published 2006-2020, this study mapped the effects of packaging functions on different food categories to identify packaging-related FW drivers, solutions and research opportunities. Relevant studies are increasing, yet packaging yields less attention than factors including domestic routines. Many studies limit packaging discussion to the aspects attributed to wasted food, with date-labels and overly large pack sizes the most mentioned.Suggested solutions by extant literature include clearer date-labels and more pack size variety. However, research showing the effectiveness of these suggested solutions in households is lacking. Packaging formats and materials may affect packaging functionality and therefore household FW, but studies are lacking. There is therefore scope for household studies to collect more packaging related FW data. In particular, focussing on the effects of specific packaging functions on domestic food practices, with an effort to gather food-group-specific data. More studies in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Middle East and the Pacific/Oceania will provide insights beyond the current Eurocentric focus. These findings contribute to theory and practice within the focus of household FW and packaging literature, helping to extend existing research to support the development and implementation of packaging that considers regional differences in food systems, food routines and preferences for a better chance at reducing FW.

Scoring methodology for comparing the environmental performance of food packaging

“…Packaging contributes to decreasing FLW and the corresponding negative impact that producing and distributing uneaten or inedible food has on our environment and economy. FLW reduction is first a matter of packaging functionality (e.g., barrier properties) that maintain a modified atmosphere suitable for food preservation (e.g., avoid the remoistening of a crispy, dry product), 2 but also a matter of ease of use (e.g., individual‐serving portions, the packaging should be easy to open, to empty) 38 . Using packaging of individual serving sizes reduces the risk that leftovers from a larger family‐size package are incorrectly stored after the first use and finally never consumed and discarded 37,39 .…”

“…properties) that maintain a modified atmosphere suitable for food preservation (e.g., avoid the remoistening of a crispy, dry product), 2 but also a matter of ease of use (e.g., individual-serving portions, the packaging should be easy to open, to empty). 38 Using packaging of individual serving sizes reduces the risk that leftovers from a larger family-size package are incorrectly stored after the first use and finally never consumed and discarded. 37,39 However, individual-serving packaging also uses more material proportionally to pack the same quantity of food and thus has a higher environmental impact than larger packages.…”

Unpacking Behaviours: A Literature Study and Research Agenda on Consumer Behaviour in Packaging‐Free Systems

“…In the selected literature reviews can be found some reviews on food waste, such as the study published by Chan [56], which looks into packaging-related studies in the context of household food waste, or another of his studies [51], which explores the different packaging solutions available to address household food waste.…”

Consumer behaviour in relation to food waste: a systematic literature review

“…Brennan et al (2021) performs its systematic review based on the discussion of academic and industrial food waste, focusing on packaging technologies as a way to promote the reduction of food waste in consumers' homes. In a similar study on packaging, Chan (2021) considers mapping functions of packaging across different food categories to identify packaging-related food waste drivers; as a result, the author suggests a greater variety of packaging sizes, labels and clearer dates to help reduce waste.…”