Within Sealed Air's Food Care division, sustainable ideas have been sprouting wings and flying into the market. And they've earned the company a 2016 Australian Packaging Covenant Award as winner of the Packaging Manufacturer (medium) category.
Food Care is the food packaging division of US manufacturer Sealed Air Corporation, and home to a range of packaging design, waste reduction, and infrastructure improvement projects.
Take, for example, its creation of a tub with an integrated spoon that allows consumers to scoop out almost 100 per cent of its contents. This helps drive a reduction in food waste and minimises contamination in the recycling stream.
Products that reduce resource consumption through less material usage is a big focus for the company.
Extending shelf life is a part of this goal, and Sealed Air, with its brand Cryovac, has been working on such things as improved portion options and freezer ready packs.
The Darfresh on Tray system for pork, for example, won the AIP's Save Food Packaging Awards for its innovation in enabling denser packaging in shippers and a doubling of product shelf life.
The retail tray lid and tray skin program resulted in zero skeletal waste.
The company's equipment can produce packs with no matrix top film, which reduces film usage and waste by up to 30 per cent.
Less to landfill
Improving recycling is another focus of Food Care.
In 2015, at its Fawkner site in Victoria, paper and cardboard recycling increased by 25 per cent and 239 tonnes of metal and 269 tonnes of wood were recycled.
In addition, 1190 tonnes of plastic was recycled, resulting in a 37 per cent reduction in the amount of plastic waste sent to landfill.
Food Care has also begun measuring cafeteria and office waste with a view to identifying future improvements.
Plastic challenges
Flexible, multi-material plastic films remain a recycling challenge for Food Care within its own operations and at customers’ sites. The company is currently evaluating a new recycling technology for these materials. If the pilot plant in the US is successful it will be rolled out in Australia.
Better lighting
Improvements to the environmental footprint of Food Care operational sites have a direct benefit for signatories using their packaging.
In 2015, the company installed new LED lighting, generating a 300,000KWh saving. It also installed a 263,000 litre rainwater harvesting system.
