At End Food Waste Australia's National Food Waste Summit held in Melbourne last week (24-25 July), Boris Munster, MD of Tetra Pak Oceania, delivered a strong address on the company's involvement in food waste prevention, and announced a new partnership on an SME Processing and Packaging Solution Centre.
In keeping with the key talking points at the two-day summit, Munster kicked off with a run-down of uncomfortable statistics that those in the know (many present in the room) are aware of, but that nevertheless needed to be driven home: 30 to 40 per cent of food is wasted in households, 30 per cent in distribution, and 30 per cent in supply chain. The Australian economy loses $36.6 billion per year due to food waste.
Munster went on to discuss Tetra Pak's purpose to make food safe and globally available, while acknowledging food systems are broken and need to be made more resilient, sustainable and secure.
He said industry can play a big role in reducing food waste, including decarbonising the dairy industry and reducing packaging materials. He proposed reducing waste in manufacturing by repurposing byproducts and developing non-carbon packaging.
Munster said, "By 2030, we want to have a carbon neutral packaging on the market, and we're well ahead to achieve that. For us it's important on our packaging side, to reduce the materials we use, and to make sure that they're recycled."
He detailed sustainable food innovations the company is involved with, including reducing ice cream waste through new advanced extrusion processing technology, and creating plant-based beverages using byproducts of the brewing process that would otherwise go to landfill or animal feed.
He spoke of the value of aseptic packaging in the modern food chain, using milk that requires refrigeration as an example of an opportunity for a reset.. "Imagine if we reset that practice to using aseptic cartons - the savings we could make on food waste but also on emissions."
Munster said Tetra Pak aims to reduce food waste by 50 per cent in the value chains it operates in, through innovative processing and packaging solutions.
He closed by announcing a partnership between Tetra Pak, End Food Waste Australia, Australian Packaging and Processing Machinery Association (APPMA), Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP), and RMIT University, to collaborate on the development of an SME Processing and Packaging Solution Centre. The centre has yet to be fully established, but the idea is to collaboratively assist SMEs transition to sustainable practices and meet their 2025 targets without increasing food and beverage waste in the process.
