The Importance of Packaging Functions for Food Waste of Different Products in Households
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Environmental and Energy Systems, CTF Service Research Center, Karlstad University, S-651 88 Karlstad, Sweden
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Sustainability 2019, 11(9), 2641; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11092641
Received: 23 April 2019 / Revised: 3 May 2019 / Accepted: 3 May 2019 / Published: 8 May 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Packaging Sustainability - The Role of Packaging in Reducing Food Waste)
The United Nations sustainability goal SDG 12.3 is to reduce the amount of food that is wasted by half, due to environmental and social reasons. This paper aims to analyse the most important packaging functions that affect food waste in households for different products, as the reason for wastage can be expected to differ between different products. The reasons for food wastage of different categories and products have been compiled through literature studies, and possible improvements of packaging functions to reduce food waste have been identified. In addition, an expert workshop judged the most important packaging functions to reduce food waste for a number of products. They also discussed the obstacles and possibilities to realise the packaging improvements. This study confirms that how packaging functions influence food waste on the product level is a highly unexplored question. Most likely, there is high potential to reduce food waste through better adaptions of packaging functions to user needs and habits. Both the literature study and the expert workshop show that less food per pack and better information regarding food safety and storage have high potential to reduce food waste, but also that product specific considerations are necessary.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Wikström, F.; Williams, H.; Trischler, J.; Rowe, Z. The Importance of Packaging Functions for Food Waste of Different Products in Households. Sustainability 2019, 11, 2641. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11092641
AMA Style
Wikström F, Williams H, Trischler J, Rowe Z. The Importance of Packaging Functions for Food Waste of Different Products in Households. Sustainability. 2019; 11(9):2641. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11092641
Chicago/Turabian StyleWikström, Fredrik, Helén Williams, Jakob Trischler, and Zane Rowe. 2019. "The Importance of Packaging Functions for Food Waste of Different Products in Households" Sustainability 11, no. 9: 2641. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11092641
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