Matching packaging solutions to household food waste drivers so consumers waste less food at home

Packaging can help reduce the estimated 2.46 million tonnes of household food waste produced annually in Australia. This can help contribute progress to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12 Target 12.3 of halving food waste by 2030 and reduce the environmental impacts of the food system. Yet there is a relative paucity of studies that focus on consumers’ packaging needs to help reduce household food waste. There is also a relative paucity of studies that examine food/beverage–packaging industry attitudes towards implementing packaging solutions to reduce household food waste. Within this context, my research aimed to improve the way packaging can help consumers reduce household food waste by exploring how packaging solutions can be better matched to household food waste drivers in consideration of consumer and industry factors. The research is part of the Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre in Australia. Thus, the research focusses on industry applicable research and its dissemination through open access journal publications. Through an interpretive lens, I employed an iterative and reflective multi-stage research design to generate deep insights. I analysed and compared empirical literature on packaging related household food waste drivers and solutions with food/beverage–packaging industry press releases on household food waste packaging solutions. The insights informed semi-structured interviews with consumers and industry to develop a diagrammatic grounded model for a holistic and syncretic view on industry–consumer packaging decisions. Combining consumer and industry perspectives was important as industry decisions determine what packaging solutions consumers have access to. The effectiveness of these solutions to reduce household food waste depends on factors including how consumers use packaging and whether consumer needs are met. From the research analysis I identified two key barriers that impede the matching of packaging solutions to household food waste drivers: (1) a gap between researcher recommendations and industry practice; and (2) a divergence in industry priorities and consumer needs. These barriers are driven by a lack of effective industry-researcher, industry-consumer, and inter-industry communication. I offer suggestions to help improve communication and address these barriers. This will help enable more effective use of packaging solutions to reduce a meaningful portion of household food waste. Hence my research contributes theory on matching packaging solutions to household food waste drivers. Importantly, this can help improve packaging’s capacity to reduce household food waste in practice. The significance of this research is that it produced novel insights that were carefully disseminated. This research has potential to produce impact by encouraging the food/beverage–packaging industry to take greater to help consumers reduce household food waste through appropriate packaging solutions, for a more sustainable future.