Opportunities For Australia's Packaging And Processing Machinery Sector To Reduce Food Waste

Across the food supply chain, the use of some technologies and processes can directly result in food waste generation, including during harvesting and processing, in customising portion sizes, through product and date labelling, shelf-life extension and product packaging. For food producers often the type of packaging and processing machinery available dictates how effectively resources are used and the volumes of food waste produced. Equipment manufacturers may not be aware of the critical role they play in reducing food waste.

Understanding how the Australian packaging and processing machinery sector can promote these technologies and services to the food industry to realise new opportunities to reduce and/or transform food waste is the challenge being addressed. The aim of this project is to consolidate the ways that Australian packaging and processing machinery can reduce and/or transform food waste and to provide equipment manufacturers with improved knowledge and understanding of the food waste challenges. In isolation, a single initiative will not address the issue at scale, however, driving collaboration across the Australian Packaging and Processing Machinery Association (APPMA) with the various packaging providers and processing companies can achieve this.

This new report presents a global baseline literature review across academic and industry publications for the APPMA and provides a landscape study of relevant technologies and their (potential) impact on food waste and loss.