MYPACK project develops and exploits innovative sustainable food packaging technologies
Identification of markets
A comprehensive state of the art on the available applications as well as technical output from research and development projects will be presented in order to study, understand and underline the main locks to the market. The potentialities and the bottle necks connected to the use of these materials/solutions will be derived from the state of the art and the project will provide possible solutions in order to match the market and consumers requirements with the feature of the materials. The aim is to waive these locks in order to improve the broad scale development of those selected products in markets which present the best characteristics for successful application. By the end of the project, markets will be identified, developed and exploited. An “identified market” means the identification of a given combination of consumer profile, food product application, packaging technology, geographical areas in Europe, and end of life option.
Detailed life cycle assessment for technologies
The environmental efficiency (direct impacts of packaging, food waste impacts, optimized recycling, and preserved consumer health). Packaging adds to the environmental impact of the product-packaging combination both positively (reduction of food waste) and negatively (packaging becoming redundant). The net balance of this environmental impact is not self-evident as is determined by (a) distribution and consumer/ household level practices, and (b) the nature of environmental impact assessment. Packaging and packaging solutions have larger impact in product categories where more food is being wasted, but also dependent on food consumption practices
The consumer adoption
Food product packages contribute to a number of consumer relevant benefits which, following technology acceptance models, are broadly classified as (a) product quality (taste and safety), (b) product convenience (storage, preparation and usage), and (c) product-packaging’s sustainability. In many situations there is a trade-off between these three categories of benefits, which may differ as a result of (a) the nature of the product category, (b) individual level factors (e.g. values & priorities), and (c) contextual factors (e.g. culture and lifestyle. As a result, there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution, and optimal solutions may differ across product (category) – market (consumer segment) combinations. The aim of this work package is to identify specific consumer level market opportunities for more sustainable product packaging defined in terms of (a) different consumer segments, (b) different product categories, (c) different packaging solutions, and (d) different local contexts.
University of Hohenheim
The Research Center for Bioeconomy will lead WP1: Specifications from industry, technical macroeconomic and regulatory barriers. This WP will provide a deeper understanding on structural and macroeconomic barriers to the adoption of specific packaging technologies and identify specific target markets where such barriers may most likely be overcome taking into account a compilation of the specifications from packaging industries, agro-food industries, distribution, macroeconomic and regulatory specifications as well as specifications from consumers. In WP2, HoRB will identify promising food markets for each targeted packaging technology of MYPACK. HoRB will also actively contribute to the key dissemination targets through established national and European networks.
The chair of Conversion Technology and LCA of Renewable Resources of the Institute of Agricultural Engineering will carry out research on recycling and life cycle assessment of Renewable PEF based packaging: WP3: Food waste data, and environmental assessment and WP4: Packaging innovations – Industrial feasibility, functionality, chemical inertia end life feasibility.