Food and Drink Manufacturers Embrace Lighter, Cleaner, and Easier-to-Recycle Packaging

Food and drink manufacturers are increasingly adopting lighter, cleaner, and easier-to-recycle packaging solutions. This significant shift is driven by collective efforts to reduce costs, minimize waste, and comply with anticipated new regulations.

Key Drivers for Packaging Innovation

• Cost Efficiency: More compact packaging allows for more units per pallet, leading to more efficient transport and reduced fuel costs. It also makes stacking easier, potentially reducing breakage.
• Sustainability: Consumers are increasingly influenced by the sustainability of products, pushing manufacturers to innovate.

Australia generates over 7 million tonnes of packaging waste annually, prompting industry changes.

• Regulatory Changes: Anticipated national packaging reforms aim to shift from voluntary targets to a mandatory system, requiring a minimum percentage of recycled material in packaging and banning toxic chemicals.
• Market Expansion: Clever use of labels and QR codes can meet specific international requirements, potentially opening new export markets.

Examples of Packaging Innovations

• Square juice bottles and slim wine cans: Designed to optimize space and weight.
• Lighter wine bottles: Address the fact that glass bottle production accounts for a significant portion (around 34%) of the wine industry's emissions.
• Single-type plastic films: Replacing multi-layered films to significantly improve recyclability.
• Ready-made meal trays: Shifting away from black plastic, which is notoriously difficult for recycling scanners to detect.
• Tethered caps: Introduced to ensure the bottle and lid remain together and can be recycled as a single unit.
• Clearer labels: Providing better, more intuitive recycling instructions for consumers.
• Paper wrappers: Mars bars are noted as an example of a brand successfully shifting to paper packaging.

Industry and Retailer Involvement

ANZ Head of Agribusiness Insights, Michael Whitehead, notes that packaging acts as "mini-advertising" and influences shopper behavior.

• Endeavour Group (which includes Dan Murphy's and BWS) is an active participant in the Sustainable Wine Roundtable, committing to initiatives that reduce the weight of wine bottles.
• Woolworths has set a goal for 60% recycled content in its own-brand packaging, having already reached 51%.
• Coles and Coles Liquor report that an impressive 87.6% of their own-brand packaging is now recyclable.
• The Australian Food & Grocery Council (AFGC) highlights the considerable complexity manufacturers face due to varying state and territory laws, advocating strongly for comprehensive national packaging reform.

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is expected to conduct further consultations on national packaging reform, with draft regulations anticipated to introduce mandatory requirements for the industry.