IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i9p2641-d229280.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Importance of Packaging Functions for Food Waste of Different Products in Households

Author

Listed:
  • Fredrik Wikström

    (Environmental and Energy Systems, CTF Service Research Center, Karlstad University, S-651 88 Karlstad, Sweden)

  • Helén Williams

    (Environmental and Energy Systems, CTF Service Research Center, Karlstad University, S-651 88 Karlstad, Sweden)

  • Jakob Trischler

    (Environmental and Energy Systems, CTF Service Research Center, Karlstad University, S-651 88 Karlstad, Sweden)

  • Zane Rowe

    (Environmental and Energy Systems, CTF Service Research Center, Karlstad University, S-651 88 Karlstad, Sweden)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Fredrik Wikström & Helén Williams & Jakob Trischler & Zane Rowe, 2019. "The Importance of Packaging Functions for Food Waste of Different Products in Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-16, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:9:p:2641-:d:229280
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/9/2641/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/9/2641/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sofie Østergaard & Ole Jørgen Hanssen, 2018. "Wasting of Fresh-Packed Bread by Consumers—Influence of Shopping Behavior, Storing, Handling, and Consumer Preferences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-16, June.
    2. Juliane Jörissen & Carmen Priefer & Klaus-Rainer Bräutigam, 2015. "Food Waste Generation at Household Level: Results of a Survey among Employees of Two European Research Centers in Italy and Germany," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-21, March.
    3. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    4. Jessica Aschemann-Witzel & Ilona De Hooge & Pegah Amani & Tino Bech-Larsen & Marije Oostindjer, 2015. "Consumer-Related Food Waste: Causes and Potential for Action," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-21, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zeng, Tian & Durif, Fabien & Robinot, Elisabeth, 2021. "Can eco-design packaging reduce consumer food waste? an experimental study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    2. Wanjun Chu & Helén Williams & Karli Verghese & Renee Wever & Wiktoria Glad, 2020. "Tensions and Opportunities: An Activity Theory Perspective on Date and Storage Label Design through a Literature Review and Co-Creation Sessions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-37, February.
    3. Ahmad Aiman Zulkifli & Mohd Zulkhairi Mohd Yusoff & Latifah Abd Manaf & Mohd Rafein Zakaria & Ahmad Muhaimin Roslan & Hidayah Ariffin & Yoshihito Shirai & Mohd Ali Hassan, 2019. "Assessment of Municipal Solid Waste Generation in Universiti Putra Malaysia and Its Potential for Green Energy Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-15, July.
    4. Tian Zeng & Fabien Durif, 2019. "The Influence of Consumers’ Perceived Risks towards Eco-Design Packaging upon the Purchasing Decision Process: An Exploratory Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-29, November.
    5. Babak Nemat & Mohammad Razzaghi & Kim Bolton & Kamran Rousta, 2020. "The Potential of Food Packaging Attributes to Influence Consumers’ Decisions to Sort Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-22, March.
    6. Sophie Langley & Nhat Tram Phan-Le & Linda Brennan & Lukas Parker & Michaela Jackson & Caroline Francis & Simon Lockrey & Karli Verghese & Natalia Alessi, 2021. "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Food Packaging and Consumers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-24, November.
    7. Lubna Rashid, 2019. "Entrepreneurship Education and Sustainable Development Goals: A literature Review and a Closer Look at Fragile States and Technology-Enabled Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-23, September.
    8. Linda Brennan & Caroline Francis & Eva L. Jenkins & Bruno Schivinski & Michaela Jackson & Eloise Florence & Lukas Parker & Sophie Langley & Simon Lockrey & Karli Verghese & Nhat Tram Phan-Le & Alliste, 2023. "Consumer Perceptions of Food Packaging in Its Role in Fighting Food Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-16, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vera Amicarelli & Christian Bux, 2021. "Food waste in Italian households during the Covid-19 pandemic: a self-reporting approach," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(1), pages 25-37, February.
    2. Heng, Yan & House, Lisa, 2022. "Consumers’ perceptions and behavior toward food waste across countries," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 25(2), March.
    3. Bianca Cezara Archip & Ioan Banatean-Dunea & Dacinia Crina Petrescu & Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag, 2023. "Determinants of Food Waste in Cluj-Napoca (Romania): A Community-Based System Dynamics Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-22, January.
    4. Chen Liu & Trung Thang Nguyen, 2020. "Evaluation of Household Food Waste Generation in Hanoi and Policy Implications towards SDGs Target 12.3," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-20, August.
    5. Lingfei Wang & Yuqin Yang & Guoyan Wang, 2022. "The Clean Your Plate Campaign: Resisting Table Food Waste in an Unstable World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-17, April.
    6. Elżbieta Goryńska-Goldmann & Michał Gazdecki & Krystyna Rejman & Joanna Kobus-Cisowska & Sylwia Łaba & Robert Łaba, 2020. "How to Prevent Bread Losses in the Baking and Confectionery Industry?—Measurement, Causes, Management and Prevention," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-24, December.
    7. Principato, Ludovica & Secondi, Luca & Cicatiello, Clara & Mattia, Giovanni, 2022. "Caring more about food: The unexpected positive effect of the Covid-19 lockdown on household food management and waste," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PA).
    8. Efrat Elimelech & Eyal Ert & Ofira Ayalon, 2019. "Exploring the Drivers behind Self-Reported and Measured Food Wastage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-19, October.
    9. Bernhard Wohner & Erik Pauer & Victoria Heinrich & Manfred Tacker, 2019. "Packaging-Related Food Losses and Waste: An Overview of Drivers and Issues," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, January.
    10. Ovidija Eičaitė & Gitana Alenčikienė & Ingrida Pauliukaitytė & Alvija Šalaševičienė, 2021. "Eat or Throw Away? Factors Differentiating High Food Wasters from Low Food Wasters," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-16, September.
    11. Delley, Mathilde & Brunner, Thomas A., 2017. "Foodwaste within Swiss households: A segmentation of the population and suggestions for preventive measures," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 172-184.
    12. Massimiliano Cerciello & Massimiliano Agovino & Antonio Garofalo, 2019. "Estimating food waste under the FUSIONS definition: What are the driving factors of food waste in the Italian provinces?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 1139-1152, June.
    13. Sarra Jribi & Hanen Ben Ismail & Darine Doggui & Hajer Debbabi, 2020. "COVID-19 virus outbreak lockdown: What impacts on household food wastage?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 3939-3955, June.
    14. Massimiliano Cerciello & Massimiliano Agovino & Antonio Garofalo, 2019. "Estimating urban food waste at the local level: are good practices in food consumption persistent?," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 36(3), pages 863-886, October.
    15. Thanos Ioannou & Katerina Bazigou & Afroditi Katsigianni & Michalis Fotiadis & Christina Chroni & Thrassyvoulos Manios & Ioannis Daliakopoulos & Christos Tsompanidis & Eleni Michalodimitraki & Katia L, 2022. "The “A2UFood Training Kit”: Participatory Workshops to Minimize Food Loss and Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, February.
    16. Claudia Giordano & Fabrizio Alboni & Luca Falasconi, 2019. "Quantities, Determinants, and Awareness of Households’ Food Waste in Italy: A Comparison between Diary and Questionnaires Quantities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-15, June.
    17. Kazuki Nakamura & Daizo Kojima & Mitsuyoshi Ando, 2022. "What Reduces Household Food Waste in Japan? Nation-Wide and Region-Specific Contributing Factors in Urban and Rural Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-14, March.
    18. Lucie K. Ozanne & Paul W. Ballantine & Aimee McMaster, 2022. "Understanding Food Waste Produced by University Students: A Social Practice Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-20, August.
    19. George Tsalis & Birger Boutrup Jensen & S. Wiley Wakeman & Jessica Aschemann-Witzel, 2021. "Promoting Food for the Trash Bin? A Review of the Literature on Retail Price Promotions and Household-Level Food Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-21, April.
    20. Tomaszewska, Marzena & Bilska, Beata & Kołożyn-Krajewska, Danuta, 2021. "Segmentation of Households Taking Into Account Their Structure in Terms of Meals Waste," Problems of Agricultural Economics / Zagadnienia Ekonomiki Rolnej 319783, Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics - National Research Institute (IAFE-NRI).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:9:p:2641-:d:229280. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.