INCPEN CEO says reducing food and plastics waste requires joined-up thinking

The CEO of INCPEN has responded to claims that plastic packaging is failing to prevent food waste by saying that joined up thinking is required to make the most of resources.

Paul Vanston said that the claims by Friends of the Earth (FoE) and Zero Waste Europe that food waste and plastic packaging use have grown alongside each other highlighted “fundamental challenges” that societies across the globe need to address.

“FoE and INCPEN are both working hard on the mission to ensure our global lands and oceans cannot continue to be used as unauthorised waste sites,” Vanston wrote.

“We all have an obligation to see that the immense resources that go into global food and drink production are valued, used as they were meant to be, and not wasted.”

The FoE and Zero Waste Europe report claims that ways in which food is prepared, such as 'topping and tailing' vegetables such as green beans, gives rise to an increase in waste, as the method results in some 30-40 per cent of an item being discarded to fit the packaging. It also says multipack formats are contributing to food waste. 

INCPEN is supporting initiatives to tackle food waste, such as WRAP’s Courtauld 2025 programme, as well as the UK Plastics Pact due to be launched next week.

“It is very important to join-up these two programmes on reducing food waste and tackling plastics waste,” Vanston added.

INCPEN also supports the global and continental programmes to tackle food waste and plastic waste including delivery of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. It also supports the New Plastics Economy programme developed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Vanston said that projects, such as ‘Fresher for Longer’ undertaken in 2013, that canvassed public opinion on food waste and packaging need to be updated considering recent developments such as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and “important interventions” such as Blue Planet 2 and Sky Oceans Rescue.

However, INCPEN stands firm in its view that consumers should not lose sight of “the valuable functions packaging plays” whilst being determined to step-up to the challenges.