Food packaging design that help reduce consumer-generated waste

Abstract

Estimations affirm that by 2030 there will be 9 billion people on our planet, which makes the problem of food a priority issue. A large part of the food, especially in industrialized countries, is packaged, either fresh produce from the field (fruits and vegetables) or cooked products, many of them in the ready-to-take mode.The recent COVID-19 pandemic increased the consumption of food prepared for home delivery, causing more waste in municipal landfills. In countries like Spain, takeaway fast food services have increased during the pandemic by 83% compared to 2019, already representing 3% of the shopping basket, which indicates that spending on this appearance has doubled.The Starpack Competition organized by the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mines of England used this problem as a theme for its contest in 2021. The students of the "Molds and production in plastics" course of Engineering in Innovation and Design at Universidad Panamericana in Mexico participated in the contest, obtaining outstanding positions in the awards.This communication shows the results obtained. We explain six design projects, who received prizes in the contest. The projects include a container for take-out tacos, a dehydrator container for fruits and vegetables, a Multi-purpose container for foods such as salads, sushi, hamburgers, etc., a container for scones, and finally, a container for fresh potatoes.All the proposals presented were made with recycled or recyclable plastic materials, thinking about the circular economy, the possibility of being re-used, and the reduction to a minimum of waste and the manufacturing process. The intervention of the human factor was taken into account during the design process, considering the physical and psychological aspects in the design of the packaging projects.

Keywords: Packaging, sustainability, design process, packaging design

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1001942