Our project is a 3-year project aimed at understanding the role that packaging plays in reducing food waste and understanding consumer perceptions of packaging in relation to food waste.
Australia has a massive food waste problem, with over 7,600,000 tonnes of food wasted annually1 - over 300kg for every Australian every year. Food waste is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, which cause global warming so it is critical that this changes. Projects in this theme are steadfastly focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goai 12.32 – to halve all food waste by 2023.
Our current project is the National Date Label and Storage Advice Project is part of the End Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre program of research. It aims to create a new approach to date labelling and storage advice that will play a role in reducing consumer food waste. This research addresses the issue of household food waste problem by i) exploring how consumers use (or do not use) “use by” and “best before” dates labelling, and ii) investigating communications about storage advice systems, to make informed decisions about storing and using food and how these decisions might contribute to or reduce food waste. It is in partnership with Department of Environment and Science (Queensland), Green Industries SA, NSW Environment Protection Authority and Sustainability Victoria. Investigators on this Project are Lukas Parker, Linda Brennan and Bruno Schivinski from 3C and Simon Lockrey from the School of Design.
The project forms part of a greater program of research by the team that is focused on reducing food waste, including PhD projects looking at:
• Using packaging to nudge consumers towards more sustainable practices
• Visual semiotics on packaging and their influence on consumers’ food waste practices
• The influence of advertising on purchasing behaviours of ‘Ugly Food’ for food waste reduction.
• The influence of hospitality venues on consumer household food waste practices
Our current projects build upon the original 4-year project, Consumer Perceptions of the Role of Packaging in Reducing Food Waste project, which was also part of Fight Food Waste CRC in partnership with Sustainability Victoria and Woolworths. There are 12 reports containing outcomes of this research.
1Food Innovation Australia Limited (2021) National Food Waste Strategy Feasibility Study
2United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
