A case for better packaging

Gerlof Toenhake, the Marketing Director of Ball Packaging Europe, gave an interesting talk at Anuga 2012 on why more packaging, especially cans, could be good for the environment.

He looked at CO₂ emissions with respect to food packaging, claiming that only 5% of CO₂ emissions of foods and beverages comes from the packaging. In comparison, he claimed that 50% of food is wasted and this waste generates 40% of the CO₂ emissions of the food. So, if we concentrate on reducing the food waste levels, Toenhake claims that we could reduce total CO₂ emissions more significantly than if we continue to concentrate on reducing CO₂ emissions generated by packaging.

He went on to say that the best way to reduce food waste is to improve shelf life. He compared fresh carrots, bottled carrots and canned carrots; fresh carrots have a shelf life of one week, bottled carrots one year and canned carrots five years. By having a five-year shelf life, he argued, there would be hardly any waste - and no waste means a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Toenhake did have some lovely cans on display: fluorescent printed, tactile, embossed, recloseable, under tag coded, printed with thermochromic ink … He even claimed that digital printing of names on Coke cans in Australia increased consumption by 10%.

By Janette Woodhouse