MyPack organised a series of successful webinars with two other like-minded EU-funded projects GLOPACK and YPACK, to disseminate together and maximise the impact of their results in different topics:
- Challenges and opportunities of bioplastics for packaging
- The impact of packaging on the environment and how to balance with food waste
- Consumers’ acceptance and perception of sustainable packaging
Over 319 professionals from 32 countries and different stakeholder categories, mainly from scientific community, packaging and food industry, in addition to civil society and international organisations, registered to the three events held online on 28th October, 27th November and 15th December 2020. The participants expressed high interest by engaging an interesting discussion at the end of each webinar.
1st joint MyPack-GLOPACK-YPACK webinar on “Bioplastics for Packaging: Challenges and Opportunities”
28th October 2020
Plastic pollution has reached enormous scales in the world and is raising concerns among the general public. As a result, modern science is directing its efforts towards finding more sustainable solutions. Bioplastics, as one of the current trends, are getting more attention. There are several areas in which bioplastics production is applied, and packaging is one of the most significant market segments.
This first webinar focused on the challenges and opportunities of bioplastics. Tetiana Pavlenko from UHOH represented MyPack and presented “A look on the recent trends at the market of bioplastics” focusing on applying bioplastics for packaging solutions, particularly in the food sector.
Substantially the invited speakers from the three projects highlighted the following areas:
- Last trends on the market of bioplastics with a stronger focus on Europe
- Market competitiveness of innovative packaging
- Market barriers that influence the development of bioplastics on the whole value chain and ways to overcome them
- Application of bioplastics packaging in the food industry: overview and projections
- Perception of bioplastic packaging by the industry and factors determining its diffusion (e.g. regarding relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability & observability)
- Recommendations for stakeholders in the food packaging sector to align with the common goal of ending plastic pollution.
Up to 150 professionals from 23 countries expressed their interest in attending the webinar, 60% from the scientific community, 20% from civil society and international organisations. The remaining participants were part of policy-markers, media, consulting and networking companies.
The second hour of the webinar was dedicated to a general discussion between the audience and the speakers. The questions were related to bioplastic packaging characteristics, components, end-of-life: recyclable, biodegradable, industrial compostable or home compostable, waste management processes, application on certain food items and the Life Cycle Analysis. Besides, high interest was addressed to the YPACK project’s packaging; the possibility of upscaling to industrial level using conventional industrial machinery.
The presentations are available here:
MyPack_A look on the recent trends at the market of bioplastics
GLOPACK_What do industry actors expect from bioplastic packaging
YPACK-Upscaling of bioplastic technology
If you missed the webinar, the full webinar video recording is available on MyPack food channel:
2nd joint MyPack-GLOPACK-YPACK webinar: Under – or over-packaging: how to find the right balance between packaging and food waste?
27th November 2020
In Europe annually, 88 million tonnes of food are wasted; in contrast, 17 million tonnes of packaging are sent to final disposal, resulting in huge economic and environmental impacts. Both problems are interconnected since insufficient packaging leads to higher food waste rates, while abundant packaging results in unnecessary packaging impacts.
In the MyPack project, LCA and LCC are applied to identify sustainable packaging solutions, reduce food waste, and optimise packaging to find a balance between under- and over-packaging. Based on the LCA and LCC outcomes, guidelines are developed to support the choice of tailor-made sustainable packaging solutions for different food packaging combinations.
Food packaging combinations are complex systems, influenced by not always predictable consumer behaviour. Therefore a “one fits all” solution does not exist. Contrarily, an ecodesign decision tree is proposed with an attempt to guide present food packaging combinations towards more sustainable “fit for purpose” solutions. In this context, the question of under-or over-packaging is a starting point that triggers the discussion on eco-efficient food packaging combinations.
This 2nd webinar aims to provide guidelines for sustainable packaging solutions, optimising packaging and reducing food waste.
Leo Breedveld from 2B represented MyPack with a presentation based on the project’s deliverables and focused on finding the right balance between packaging and food waste.
Over 90 professionals from 14 countries demonstrated their interest in attending the webinar, 50% from the scientific community, 21% from the packaging and food industry. The remaining participants were from consultant companies, Civil organisations, wast industry, private software, and media.
Once more, the second hour of the webinar was dedicated to a general discussion. The main questions are reported here:
QUESTIONS FOR GLOPACK
- Practically, how did GLOPACK project integrate the classical LCA? Specific parameters or indicators were used?
- What are the results of the whole assessment, LCA and the complementary analysis?
- The new technology tray uses over 50% more material than the fossil-based tray. Did GLOPACK partners think of a break-even point for when it is worth using the latest technology tray, also on a larger scale?
- Did GLOPACK partners consider the possibility to reduce the amount of material?
QUESTIONS FOR MyPack
- According to MyPack study, food waste has a more significant impact than packaging. Have MyPack partners studied in which phase of the process there is the highest percentage of food waste?
- As food waste is the major impact, a big responsibility lies on the consumer. How can MyPack project reduce food waste at the consumer level?
- Is it possible for the same product to reduce the packaging and have a lower shelf life or increase it to extend shelf life? How to decide when enough packaging is enough?
QUESTIONS FOR YPACK
- Can you tell us more about your decision to include biogenic carbon in the impact category climate change where the neutral approach is usually adopted?
- Why did YPACK project apply two different functional units for tray and film as they are finally combined in one product?
- Was also the impact of the food by-products used in the YPACK technology measured in the study?
The presentations are available here:
MyPack_Under- or over-packaging a key question in the food waste debate
GLOPACK_How to deal with bio-based packaging in environmental sustainability assessments
If you missed the webinar, the full webinar video recording is available on MyPack food channel
3rd joint MyPack-GLOPACK-YPACK webinar: European consumers: perceptions of sustainable packaging
15th December 2020
The last joint webinar was focused on a market segmentation analysis conducted to identify the consumers more interested in sustainable packaging.
Giulia Granato from WUR represented MyPack, and presented “Who are the green consumers?” Through a large pan-European survey with 5000 consumers from five different countries, she replied to the following questions: how are Eu consumers willing to trade off sustainability with other packaging benefits? Which are their preferences? How much are they willing to pay for sustainable packaging solutions? Who are the most green consumers in Europe (in terms of demographic and psychographic characteristics)?
About 80 professionals from 11 countries registered to attend the webinar, 40% from the scientific community, 29% from the packaging and food industry. The remaining participants were from civil organisations, consultant companies, and media.
As for the previous webinars, the second hour of the webinar was dedicated to a general discussion mainly focused on the future of sustainable packaging and consumer expectations and further experiments that could be interesting to plan. The moderator, Dr Arnoult Fisher from WUR, highlighted and concluded that to get the consumer on board, it’s going to be a considerable effort that has to be played on multiple fronts with concerted action of different actors: policy-makers, communicators, marketers, products developers.”
The presentations are available here:
MyPack_Who are the green consumers
GLOPACK_European consumers’ expectations & acceptations regarding sustainable packaging
YPACK_Consumer responses to the many faces of sustainable food packaging
If you missed the webinar, the full webinar video recording is available on MyPack food channel