Reducing Food Waste With Smart Packaging Solutions

Packaging waste is a significant issue that should be considered together with food waste. Food preservation has always been important, and packaging ensures that your products reach the customers safely.
Smart packaging is a type of packaging that goes beyond the traditional purpose of simply containing, protecting, and preserving products. This innovative packaging is classified into two distinct categories:
Active Packaging:
A type of smart packaging that employs interactive technology to actively impact the product or its surroundings. It is usually utilized for collecting data, and modifying the product or the environment.
Active Packaging manages moisture levels, regulating oxygen and carbon dioxide levels through oxygen absorbers, controlling temperature, eradicating bacteria through antimicrobial packaging, and prolonging the product's shelf life.

• Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP)
• Controlled atmosphere packaging (CAP)
• Time-temperature indicator labels (TTIs)
• Reversible indicator labels (RILs)

Intelligent Packaging:
Is the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to keep an eye on the status of a product. It involves the utilization of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies but does not have any direct interaction with the product or its surroundings.
The data collected through intelligent packaging can serve various purposes, including confirming the product's authenticity, monitoring its condition, tracking its location, and furnishing information to consumers.

How Plastic and Food Waste Damage The Environment

Despite all the progress made, statistics on food waste and plastic waste remain an alarming issue. Every year, nearly 30% of the agri-food supply chain, or approximately 100 million tons of food, is wasted, leading to severe environmental damage.
To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve resources, both packaging and food waste must be addressed. Companies should use a balanced scorecard approach to make informed decisions for protecting the environment.

How Smart Packaging Reduces Waste

Enhanced shelf life: Smart packaging provides benefits such as regulated temperature and humidity levels that prolong the shelf life of perishable items like fruits and vegetables. This reduction in spoilage leads to less food waste.
Improved inventory management:
Smart packaging integrates sensors and RFID tags to track products' location, movement, and temperature throughout the supply chain, enabling better inventory management, and minimizing the risk of stockouts.
Precise portion control:
Smart packaging is designed to dispense products in specific amounts, avoiding over-consumption and reducing food waste at home.
Food safety measures:
Smart packaging has indicators that change color or emit a signal when food is exposed to unsafe conditions such as high temperatures or bacteria. This helps ensure food safety and lowers the risk of food waste.
Eco-friendly materials:
This packaging is made of sustainable materials that are biodegradable or recyclable, reducing waste that ends in landfills and contributing to a circular economy.

Benefits of Using Smart Packaging For Businesses

1. Preventing product spoilage and waste by using time-temperature indicators to track products' exposure to unsafe conditions.
2. Ensuring quality control with track and trace packaging to monitor products throughout the supply chain, preventing tampering and maintaining product integrity.
3. Authenticating products using smart labels, such as RFID tags or QR codes, to verify product genuineness.
4. Increasing sales through RFID tracking of products to improve stock management and forecasting future demand, reducing out-of-stock items, and providing customers with additional information and offers.
5. Improving the customer experience with QR codes and NFC tags that provide product information, nutrition facts, origins, and recycling instructions, making it easier for customers to make informed choices.
6. Reducing packaging costs by using real-time inventory tracking to minimize overstocking and reduce the amount of packaging materials needed.

Consider This When Using Smart Packaging

• Using QR codes on your products to provide information about your product or to engage customers in competitions. QR codes help you gather data and learn more about your audience, which can be used to enhance your offering.

• Consider using NFC tags, a newer technology that allows customers to tap their smartphone on the tag to learn more about the product. It works with the same technology as mobile wallets and bank cards.

• Opt for recyclable packaging and parcel coatingsto reduce your environmental impact, save on packaging costs, and promote your brand. You can also use recycled materials to create new packaging.

• Use sustainable packaging such as biodegradable or compostable materials, which are good for the environment and can help reduce your carbon footprint.

• Use data analytics to capture information on how consumers are interacting with your smart packaging. Use this data to improve your marketing, communication, engagement, and supply chain.

• Implement a trial to test out the effectiveness of smart packaging. Apply it to a small segment of your operation, track the results, and gather feedback from your stakeholders and customers.

• Keep up with the latest trends in smart packaging to stay relevant in the market. As technology evolves, QR codes and sustainable materials are becoming more practical and exciting. Keep an eye on how businesses of all sizes are using smart packaging.

Companies Using Smart Packaging

• Hungry Jack's has successfully launched a second smart packaging initiative in partnership with the card game UNO. The fast-food company has integrated QR codes and app innovation in their food packaging, allowing customers to scan and enter to win UNO prizes. The collaboration between the two brands has increased customer engagement, benefiting both.

• Nestle invested heavily in reusable packaging, implementing smart packaging techniques to track their product packaging's life cycle and ensure it is recycled properly. While the specifics of their smart packaging methods have not been revealed, they are crucial to the company's success in meeting its objectives.

• Coca-Cola is a company that is always looking for ways to increase profits and engage new audiences with smart packaging techniques. They leverage technology to monitor their products throughout the supply chain and have embraced QR codes to reach out to different demographics. The latest initiative by the soda giant involves the use of QR codes to entice gamers to buy Coca-Cola, with the chance to win Xbox Game Passes and gaming headsets as incentives.

• Amazon is at the forefront of packaging innovation with the implementation of Jabil Packaging Solutions, an automated software solution. They are using smart packaging techniques such as sensor technology and wireless communication, along with their superior supply chain, to enable automatic replenishment of their third-party providers through a program called Dash.

Final Thoughts

By utilizing technologies such as RFID, QR codes, and sensors, smart packaging can provide real-time data to both consumers and retailers, allowing for better inventory management and reducing the amount of food waste that occurs due to spoilage.
Smart packaging also provides consumers with useful information such as storage instructions, recipe suggestions, and expiration dates, enabling them to make informed decisions about their food purchases and consumption.
Smart packaging help reduce the environmental impact of food waste. By minimizing the amount of food waste, this type of packaging solution can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve resources such as water and energy.
Reducing food waste with smart packaging solutions is a significant element towards a sustainable future for the food industry. As technology advances, we can expect to witness even more innovative solutions that will further reduce food waste and help us create a more efficient and sustainable food system.