Packaging on the podium: AIP wins Food Waste Action Award

The AIP Save Food Packaging consortium, which includes the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) as the project lead, RMIT University as the research arm and an industry-led consortium that brought together experts in the field including Sealed Air, Zipform Packaging, Multivac, Result Group and Plantic, has won the inaugural End Food Waste Australia Food Waste Action Award for Collaboration for the ‘Save Food Packaging Criteria and Framework’ project.

One of the objectives of this project was for the AIP to establish a voice for Save Food Packaging within the greater realm of sustainability and packaging design. The AIP wanted to start talking to the industry about ‘Getting the Balance Right’ between food waste and packaging waste when discussing environmental impacts of product and packaging.

The project, which is a part of the End Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre, has developed a set of Save Food Packaging Design Criteria including:

1. Resource Booklets
2. Criteria Checklists
3. Design Icons
4. Training Modules
5. Academic Papers.

The project resources provide training and education materials that are designed to lead to better packaging design, material selection and format selection using appropriate portioning, sealability, resealability features, date labelling, shelf life and information required to assist retail, foodservice and consumers to minimise food waste.

The next step is for the AIP to help guide businesses into embedding the five Save Food Packaging Design principles into their business practices.

Image credit: AIP.