Square juice bottles, canned wine and how food packaging is getting smarter
Square-shaped rather than round juice bottles and wine in lighter bottles or slim cans will become a more common sight on supermarket shelves as food and drink manufacturers prepare to make packaging lighter, cleaner and more easily recyclable.
With Australians recycling more than 7 million tonnes of paper, glass, plastic, metal and wood a year (equivalent to 264 kilograms per person), food manufacturers are innovating in packaging to save costs, reduce waste and stay ahead of new laws.
These moves are also likely to improve margins for major food retailers, as more compact packaging could mean more units can fit per pallet, making transport more efficient and reducing fuel costs. They are also easier to stack, so fewer items break.
ANZ head of agriculture industry insights Michael Whitehead said changes in food packaging could have a strong impact on influencing shopping habits. “Consumers are talking about how their purchasing behavior is influenced by the sustainability of a product,” he said.
“Does it bother you to see all the cucumbers wrapped in plastic? How do I make my muesli look better than yours on the shelf? Packaging is always mini advertising.”
Innovations in food packaging have resulted in lighter-weight wine bottles and cans, salad wraps that keep leaves fresher longer through “tiny laser pin holes” that prevent condensation and keep the leaves crisp, and clearer labels that indicate whether something should be thrown away or recycled.
In his senior year Food for Thought Whitehead noted in the report that packages using multi-layer film now use a single type of plastic that can be detected by scanners, fast food trays are moving away from black (which is difficult for scanners to detect), and more bottles are starting to shift towards a bonded cap, meaning the bottle and cap can be recycled together.
The developments could also open up new markets: clever use of scanner-readable labels and QR codes can meet the specific requirements of various countries, such as allergen and recycling information.
“A smart change in the factory could open up more than one export market at the same time,” Whitehead said. “Packaging has evolved from an end-of-line cost to a strategic tool that can increase product sales, unlock export access and shape brand reputation.”
A spokesman for Endeavor Group, which operates Dan Murphy’s and BWS, said about half of the wine industry’s carbon footprint comes from glass bottle production. The company is a member of a global collective called the Sustainable Wine Roundtable, committed to reducing the weight of wine bottles.
“Traditional heavy glass packaging is estimated to account for approximately 34 per cent of all emissions from wine production in Australia, excluding emissions from transporting these bottles,” the spokesperson said.
“Endeavor Group aims to lead the Australian wine industry by partnering with our wine suppliers to gradually reduce the average weight of glass bottles.”
Supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles have their own sustainability targets that aim for circularity, or using materials that are recyclable or contain recycled content. Woolworths has a target of 60 per cent recycled content in its own brand packaging and says it has already achieved 51 per cent; The majority (87.6 per cent) of Coles and Coles Liquor’s own brand packaging is recyclable.
New rules are on the horizon
Australian Food and Grocery Council sustainability director Sarah Collier said food packaging laws, waste management and single-use plastics currently differed between states and territories, placing extra burdens on producers.
Following consultation in 2017, the Ministry of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water stated that it would engage in further sector consultations to improve its approach to national packaging reform. end of 2024 It received more than 400 applications.
The draft regulation is expected to move the industry away from voluntary targets and towards a mandatory system that would set a minimum percentage of recycled materials in packaging and ban toxic chemicals.
“We hope that consultations to guide the federal government’s packaging regulations will eliminate the need for states to respond independently,” Collier said. “Regulatory changes should reflect the complexity of the food and grocery manufacturing sector and consider the entire packaging system and lifecycle as part of the circular economy.”
He said manufacturers were already investing in innovation to improve packaging ahead of expected government reform.
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Jessica Yun is a business reporter covering retail and food for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect with: excitement or email.
