World Packaging Organisation (WPO)

1. How can packaging technologists ensure that sustainability goals are achieved without compromising the core functionality of packaging in protecting and preserving food?

Packaging Plays an Important Role in Minimizing Food Loss and Waste

First and foremost, the true role of packaging is its functionality. Packaging needs to be designed to ensure that a product is protected, preserved, contained, and transported all the way through the value chain from production until it is used in the household.

Packaging also plays a vital role in ensuring the health and safety of the products and consumers, that product waste is kept to a minimum, and the efficiency of the packaging can withstand the rigors of transport.

When re-designing packaging to meet global and local packaging waste and sustainability targets, the functionality simply cannot be ignored. ‘Sustainable Packaging’, in the simplest of terms, is packaging that performs the primary role of functionality but is also designed with the lowest possible environmental impact when compared to an existing or conventional pack. Finding the balance between functionality, commercial reality, consumer demands, and environmental criteria is the real challenge for packaging technologists and engineers across the globe.

With so much focus right now on plastic and packaging waste, we must not lose sight of the key role packaging plays in the protection of a product. Inadequate packaging that results in wasted food defeats the whole purpose and is a much bigger waste of resources and environmental impact. 

2. In your view, is the environmental cost of packaging waste truly greater than that of food waste, or does inadequate packaging pose a larger hidden challenge?

It is important to look at the product and packaging together across the entire value chain when discussing environmental impacts. If Food Waste were a country, it would be the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, so we do need to start elevating this discussion in all countries. When a country or government looks at all environmental impacts, food loss and waste must be included in the discussion, and not just packaging. 

The challenge for packaging technologists & engineers is to be able to design optimum packaging with the lowest environmental impact at the start. It is about finding the balance between meeting food waste targets, at the same time as achieving packaging waste targets.

If the balance is tipped either way, it will create unintended consequences which could see overpacking (wasting packaging materials) or underpacking (wasting food). Finding the perfect balance can be challenging and requires technical knowledge and understanding of packaging design.

3. What are the most critical technical considerations when designing packaging that both extends shelf life and meets sustainable packaging standards?

All businesses need to use the 10x Sustainable Packaging Design Guidelines, the 5x Save Food Packaging Guidelines, the 19x Accessible & Inclusive Guidelines, and also look at designing packaging to be recycle-ready. A great guide for recycling-readiness is the WPO Global Packaging Design for Recycling Guide.

The Sustainable Packaging Guidelines are to assist the design and manufacture of packaging that meets the sometimes-conflicting demands of the market, consumer protection, and the environment.

The 10 Sustainable Packaging Principles that make up the SPGs are:

1. Design for recovery
2. Optimize material efficiency
3. Design to reduce product waste
4. Eliminate hazardous materials
5. Use recycled materials
6. Use renewable materials
7. Design to minimize litter
8. Design for transport efficiency
9. Design for accessibility
10. Provide consumer information on sustainability

The 5x Save Food Packaging Design Guidelines (Francis, C., Kelton, N., Ryder, M., Lowenstern, B. Lockrey, S., Verghese, K) have been developed to help Packaging Technologists to design Save Food Packaging to minimize food waste from paddock to plate using innovative and intuitive design features that can contain & protect, preserve, extend shelf life, easily open and reseal, provide consumer convenience and portion control; all the while meeting global and local sustainable packaging targets. 

There are 5x Save Food Packaging Guidelines

1. Design to contain & protect the product
2. Design to preserve & extend shelf life
3. Design to provide a consumer experience
4. Design to communicate to consumers
5. Design to balance food & packaging waste targets

4. Consumers often demand convenience features like resealable packs, portion control, and easy-to-open designs. How can packaging engineers align these demands with minimizing environmental impact?

You need to find the balance as mentioned above. If your product is a food or beverage and your customer can’t open the pack or reseal it properly, you will inevitably waste edible food. That is a tradeoff that needs to be considered when designing your packaging. Are you prepared to not design to meet the Save Food Packaging design guidelines at the start, and be okay with wasting food in a household?

Resealable Packaging to minimize food waste

A very important Save Food Packaging criterion is Resealable Packaging. Under the umbrella of Resealable packaging, there are many intuitive technologies, including resealable zippers, resealable lidding films, extrudable reseal adhesives, resealable packaging, sliders, resealable zipper tapes & labels, valves, and more.

Resealable packaging provides a myriad of benefits, including extension of shelf life, reduction in spillages, retention of nutritional value and freshness of product, ingress of flavours, prevention of further product contamination, consumer convenience, controlled dispensing and pouring, allowance for multiple uses of the same pack, and easy storage. 

Through this innovative packaging design, consumers can retain the product in the original pack and not add additional plastic film, foil, bags, or containers to maintain the freshness and quality of the product. All of these benefits, in turn, ensure the prevention of unnecessary food waste and loss.

Reseal vs Reclose

When selecting the best resealable technologies, ensure that the pack can, in fact, reseal and not simply reclose. There is a significant difference between intuitive resealable designs that guarantee seal integrity and a closure that could compromise the quality of the product. Choosing the wrong solution can potentially stand in the way of preventing food waste in the household and also damage consumer perceptions of your product.

Undertaking Trials

Just like for any other style of packaging, trials need to be undertaken before the resealable packs are commercialized to ensure that the design provides the required freshness, nutritional, and food waste objectives for the product. Integrity of seals, freshness, shelf life, barrier, oxygen, contamination, leakage, etc, can be assessed during trials. 

On-pack communication

Consider incorporating on-pack communication that explains the key benefits of the resealable option to the consumer. Extension of shelf life, freshness, quality, and the ability to minimize food waste in the home are important for consumers. Food manufacturers need to actively engage consumers in the journey and to explain the important role that packaging plays in minimizing food waste.

Resealable packaging, easy-to-open packaging, and overhang tabs are key features of intuitive Save Food packaging Design and should be built into all food packaging.  

How many times have we all grabbed a knife to open a pack of ham, spilled food across the kitchen because the pack was too hard to open, been unable to read the text on the pack (even with glasses on), and then vowed to never buy that brand again? Now imagine if you were the ageing population, hospitalized, a consumer with a disability, an arthritis sufferer, or a child. 

All too often, Accessible Packaging is not considered when designing products, which in turn leads to unnecessary frustration when opening & closing packs, reading the ingredients, and opening instructions on packaging. It is important that Packaging Technologists consider how their packaging design could affect someone’s ability to eat, drink, and reduce food.

So, I ask you, do you consider Accessible Design and Ease of Use critical design elements on your packaging? Are your Packaging Technologists using available resources and training to better understand the needs of this consumer market?

Key Guidelines include that Packaging must be easy to open and use for those with limited functional abilities, packaging labelling must be highly legible, packaging shall be fit-for-purpose, and must be able to demonstrate accessibility.

5. How do global sustainable packaging targets differ from local regulatory requirements, and what strategies can companies adopt to harmonize both?

From a Global Perspective

The 64 World Packaging Organization Members across the globe are all faced with similar challenges and changes to country regulations that come in the form of mandated eco-design standards, developing Sustainable Packaging design guidelines, eco-modulation design tools, mandated and voluntary Extended Producer Responsibility programs, Product Stewardship programs, recycling and reprocessing infrastructure, container deposit schemes, and more. Looking at the way that packaging is designed at the start, to ensure that it is truly recyclable, is critical for the future. We want to see packaging become ‘Recycle Ready’.

What is clear is that there is no silver bullet, and each country has to try to localize global standards to suit its country or region. In saying that, we do need to ensure, wherever possible, that we try to follow the same global standards and regulations and then tailor them for each country.  

We also need to ensure that when we talk about ‘Sustainability’, we find the balance between food waste and packaging waste to ensure that there are no unintended consequences or trade-offs. There needs to be more elevated discussions across the globe around food waste and the true role that packaging can play in minimizing food loss and waste.

The key areas that the industry is looking at include the ability to reduce and reuse packaging and materials, the reduction and removal of any harmful chemicals from packaging, such as PFAs, looking at how we increase the amount of recycled content to help drive domestic end markets, and how to improve consumer and business education and training around packaging.

6. What emerging materials or technologies do you see as game changers in the development of “Save Food Packaging”?

The primary purpose of packaging is to contain, protect, preserve, promote, communicate, handle, transport, and provide convenience for a product; all the while ensuring the safe delivery of food to the consumer. Without adequate packaging design features and fit-for-purpose packaging, food can potentially be wasted all the way through the supply chain to the consumer. By modifying packaging designs and ensuring that same food packaging guidelines are followed, food waste and loss can be minimized.     

Two Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design (PIDA) award winners from 2024, Don Deli Cuts (George Weston Foods) and Naked Rivals, have taken out three WorldStar Packaging Special Awards.

Deli Cuts (George Weston Foods) won in two separate award categories 1. Accessible Packaging Design special award - they won Silver and 2. The Save Food Packaging Design special award – they won GOLD. Naked Rivals won bronze in the Save Food Packaging special award.  

The winners of the WorldStar Special Awards were announced live on the 30th of May at the 2025 WorldStar Packaging Awards that were held alongside the I-Pack Ima tradeshow, Milan, Italy. 

Don Deli Cuts enveloped in innovation

DON has brought a new innovative and intuitive flow wrapped (envelope pack) with reseal functionality to Australia. The secondary seal and reseal functionality is secured on the reverse of the pack with a resealable label with clear instructions on how to open and close the pack for optimal freshness, removing the need to decant product into sealed containers or using secondary plastic for wrapping in the moisture and flavour.

When designing the pack and adhesive label, there was consideration for the area to grip to open. Optimal grip area has been considered, and the pack is easy to grip, control and manoeuvre between hands. The textured finish on the film provides friction for grip and opening. The opening does not require an excessive number of actions to open; it does not cause pain or discomfort, and there are no sharp edges or awkward hand movements. No tools are required to open the pack.

The pack has been designed to make it obvious where and how to open the pack. The aqua blue sash across the top of the pack with a picture of the back of the pack, aims to direct consumers to turn over for opening. Once turned over, the label has a four-step process with legible and easy-to-understand opening instructions with images for opening and resealing the product.

The colours and print have been used for high contrast. The font is large, and the images support the directions to assist the consumer. The expiry on the back of the pack is black against a transparent film for visibility.

This innovative packaging solution delivers on providing consumers with a convenient easy open/easy close pack that is compact, provides product visibility, minimizes the mess of liquid in the pack, is more sustainable but does not compromise food quality and freshness.

The reseal functionality preserves food freshness, sealing in moisture and flavour, thus reducing wastage due to dry, spoiled product. The packaging enables consumers to retain the product in its original packaging for fridge storage, thus product information, such as use-by dates, is visible to consumers. It also prevents wasteful double packaging through the use of cling wrap and, therefore, reduces packaging disposal and, of course, minimizes food waste in the household through its innovative design features.

Design to provide consumer convenience consideration:

• Is your packaging accessible and inclusive for all ages and abilities?
• Is your re-close solution maximizing in-home shelf life? i.e. many over-caps used for re-closure don’t provide good pack seal integrity.
• Have you reviewed your portion sizes?
• Have you considered designing multi-packs that could be placed in the freezer for storage?
• Do you know how much of your product is wasted by consumers after purchase?
• Are there any opportunities to improve packaging to reduce the amount of product wasted by consumers? For example, does the design of the package allow the product to be completely dispensed? Could the package be designed to dispense a more exact dosage or a more appropriate serving size (e.g., a single serving of meat or fish)?

Naked Rivals was created to save imperfect fruit

Naked Rivals is on a mission to save imperfect fruit and also end food waste at home, providing consumers with convenient food options that don’t compromise their need for great-tasting, healthy ingredients that are sustainably packaged.

Naked Rivals provides consumers with access to frozen 100% fresh lemon and 100% lime juice cubes. In each pack, consumers receive the juice from 6 lemons or limes, conveniently portioned into cubes – with each cube equal to the juice from half a lemon or lime. The product has a shelf life of 2.5 years, extending the shelf life of the fruit, and the product reduces the amount of citrus waste being disposed of in landfills.

Naked Rivals ensures that any fruit damaged in unforeseen weather events can be saved and consumed through the new product range. The new and unique product ensures that consumers, and also food service professionals, do not over purchase the ingredient and that it is always on hand. Naked Rivals also reduces reliance on importing the ingredients of juices out of season, which lowers the overall environmental impact of the product.

The world-first product offers single-serve, portion-controlled, Naked Rivals are taking imperfect fruit and making pure juice cubes in precise volumes of liquid. The juice is sealed and frozen immediately once it has been filled in the bespoke 100% sustainable packaging, which includes an rPET tray and a kerbside recyclable cardboard outer. The printing on the outer uses ink from vegetable oil extract. The packaging is unique with the easy-peel film and tray allowing consumers to pop out cubes with ease.

The bespoke recyclable rPET tray with tamper-proof features is a unique sustainable packaging for juice. This product uses only Australian fruit, so producers receive a good price for their imperfect fruit, and their produce doesn’t end up in landfill.

Naked Rivals was born from a simple idea: that even the most natural of ingredients can still be improved with a dash of ingenuity. Their mission is to fight food waste at home, promoting healthier lifestyles more sustainably. Naked Rivals saves imperfect fruit from being wasted and reduces the environmental impact of 600 million lemons and limes being thrown into landfills. Citrus is just the beginning for the Naked Rivals brand, and they plan to execute other ingredients, such as stock and herbs, in the future. There is no other product like this globally, so they have created a new food category focused on health, sustainability, and convenience at an affordable price.

7. Often, sustainable solutions are considered more expensive. How can companies reconcile the commercial pressures of cost efficiency with the investment required for innovative, sustainable packaging?

Lifecycle Assessment

To optimize circular and sustainable design, packaging technologists need to look at the potential environmental impacts of the product across its lifetime. Environmental impact categories can include carbon and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, water depletion, mineral consumption, land transformation, eutrophication, toxicity, and many more, and can be undertaken through an LCA. 

The LCA assessment can look holistically at the environmental impacts of products, and associated packaging, from raw materials, to production, through to household, and then at end-of-life.

Now more than ever, science-driven information that is derived from LCA is such an important step in ensuring that products and packaging have the lowest environmental impact wherever possible across the entire value chain. LCA can eliminate second-guessing and assumptions about ‘Sustainable Packaging’ choices and can provide concrete information that crosses all areas of the supply chain.

8. Packaging must endure the rigors of transportation. What design features are most effective in ensuring durability while also reducing material use?

If you look at the Save Food packaging Design guidelines, it will help guide the designer or technologists through redesigning primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging

The first guideline in the Save Food Packaging design principles is Design to contain & protect the product from spoilage and damage through the manufacturer, warehouse, and the various stages of distribution.

Design to contain and protect needs to cover primary, secondary, and tertiary applications, and how it is transported to the consumer. Considerations need to include palletization & stabilization, transport packaging, load utilization, tamper evidence, shocks, vibrations, temperature, moisture, infestation, and chemical contamination. 

Design to Contain & Protect considerations:

• Do you know how much of your product is damaged and wasted in the supply chain, e.g., due to inadequate packaging, storage, or handling?
• Are there any opportunities to improve packaging to reduce waste in the supply chain?
• Are you considering the design of the total package? This means your primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging work as a system to protect the product from spoilage and damage throughout the supply chain.
• Have you ensured the product’s original quality, safety, and hygiene are protected through the supply chain, and the consumer receives the product in an acceptable, desirable, and usable condition?
• Is your packaging mechanically and structurally sound for the purposes of encasing the product, protecting against unwanted damage, spoilage, and contamination?

9. Could you share an example where attempts to reduce packaging waste led to increased food waste - or vice versa - and what lessons were learned?

Junee Prime Lamb – premium meat for export markets

The Meat category generates 21% of the total food waste carbon footprint globally, which is a substantial impact on the environment. Junee Lamb is one of Australia’s leading producers of premium quality lamb. Export a large amount of their products and were finding that they had 40% food waste in their export value chain due to the meat with bones puncturing the packaging material during transportation. The food waste was at a significant cost to the business, and every time a pack failed, it cost all the stakeholders across the value chain and was also a burden on the environment. The challenge was about understanding where the damage occurred and why, and then coming up with a new innovative design that could provide robustness to prevent future damage and losses.

The new customized Built-in bone guard protection vacuum pack is designed to be tear and puncture-proof, which in turn protects the bones from splitting through the packaging material. There are no more leaking packs during the export value chain, and the new pack can withstand the rigours of storage & transport. The new design extends the shelf life of the product to 90 days, which is a significant improvement. In addition, the packaging-to-product ratio has been improved so that it meets both food waste and packaging waste targets and extends the shelf life of the product to 90 days.

10. How important is collaboration between producers, packaging manufacturers, retailers, and consumers in achieving the balance between food preservation and packaging waste reduction?

Critical. No company can do this on its own. To create a truly Sustainable Food System, all stakeholders across the value chain must work together. Everyone has a role to play. Consumer Education and consumer buy-in are also paramount, and every country should be investing in improving consumer education when it comes to food loss and waste, as it is a global issue, not a local one. 

The first step is to see more governments mandate Food Loss and Waste Targets for their country and start to target, measure, and act across the value chain. A country can't know where the food loss and waste are occurring without a baseline. The baseline then helps to guide the stakeholders to review their areas of the chain. 

The second step is to encourage all brands to build Food Loss and Waste targets into their Sustainability reporting and modelling. 

The third step is to ban food waste from going into landfills.

The fourth step is consumer education campaigns to raise the awareness of how serious Food loss and waste really is..

11. Beyond design, how can packaging be used as a communication tool to educate consumers about portion control, storage practices, and sustainability?

Information is essential to ensure the household and/or consumer understands the most appropriate ways to store, handle, and prepare food to stop possible spoilage and food being thrown away.

Consistent communication to consumers on a range of information is needed, i.e., recipe ideas for leftovers could be provided to ensure all the product is used in multiple meals.

Use-by & Best Before

The selection and understanding of ‘Best Before’ or ‘Use By’ dates needs to reflect the manufacturers and retailers’ warehouse and distribution timing and provide the consumer with an understanding of when the product is no longer suitable or safe to consume. It’s a complex issue and needs focus and increased levels of understanding.

Date Labelling and Food Waste go hand-in-hand 

Are you guilty of throwing away items like condiments, flour, and rice, all because you don’t know the difference between date labelling codes? If you answered yes, and you work in the industry, then imagine how challenging this is for consumers. 

Accurate and consistent date labelling on-pack ensures that food is not only safe to eat but at its best quality throughout its entire life, and getting this right can help to minimize unnecessary food waste in the household.

Food Manufacturers need to ensure that they are communicating the correct information and advice on pack, the messaging is clear, intuitive, and easy for consumers to 

So what is Date Labelling?

Date labelling is designed to guide consumers on how long food can be kept before the quality deteriorates, or once the item is unsafe to eat. 

Use-by Dates and best-before Dates are the next step in date labelling and are the responsibility of the food manufacturer.

Use by Date

In the simplest of terms, a Use by Date is designed for the health and safety of a consumer and you should not eat the item after this date. Items are also not legally permitted to be sold after this date as they pose health risks.

Best before Date

A best-before Date, however, does not mean that you cannot eat the food after that; it simply means that the quality or taste may not be at its best after the recommended date. This style of date-labelling is determined by the manufacturer's recommendation of ‘optimum consumption’ to achieve the best quality product. 

Storage & Freezing Advice

If there are additional ways to extend the shelf life of the product, such as freezing the product, preferred methods of storage, such as a specific area in the refrigerator, or at room temperature, then let the consumers know this information on-pack. 

Ensure that you are clear on-pack about whether the food is also best kept stored in the packaging so that the product can remain fresh for longer. 

Communicate to consumers how long a product should be kept frozen, including defrosting explanations and how to cook from frozen.

As an industry, we need to ensure that the date labelling used on pack is consistent across all categories and is easy for consumers to make informed and conscious decisions before wasting food unnecessarily. 

We encourage you to educate everyone within your tribe about the differences and help make a contribution to minimizing food waste.

12. Do you think packaging companies carry a moral responsibility beyond regulatory compliance to ensure their designs actively contribute to reducing food waste?

Avoiding food loss and waste across a value chain is a critical packaging issue and one that food producers, manufacturers, brand owners, retailers, and consumers need to better understand. 
The intersection between innovative and intuitive Save Food Packaging design and food loss and waste needs to be discussed more openly in the industry across the globe. 

If Packaging Technologists and Designers across the globe follow the Save Food Packaging design guidelines, the industry can design better packaging for more people that will ultimately contribute to minimizing food loss and waste. Everyone has a role to play.