News Items - International Association of Packaging Research Institutes
| FH Campus Wien maps Circul-a-bility project for food Austria’s FH Campus Wien has provided an update on Europe’s sizeable Circul-a-bility project, involving over 220 experts from 37 countries.  With the full title ‘Rethinking Packaging for Circular and Sustainable Food Supply Chains of the Future’, the project is supported by funding organisation COST (European Co-operation in Science and Technology).The four-year project, which will reach its halfway mark in October this year, aims to “significantly contribute to establishing sustainable packaging solutions and reducing food losses and waste in different food categories”, says Victoria Krauter of Vienna’s FH Campus Wien. She is leading the Working Group (WG) looking at cereal & confectionery. The other categories under investigation across three further WGs are: fruit & vegetables; meat & fish; and dairy (and alternatives). A fifth WG is responsible for dissemination, communication and stakeholder engagement. A second review for the Cereal & Confectionery WG published in February this year found these categories were underrepresented in packaging sustainability research. It touched on issues such as burden-sharing between the environmental impacts of the products themselves in comparison with their packaging. Lifecycle Analyses (LCAs) would be required for current pack options, said the review, in order to provide a basis for future redesigns. But while LCAs are limited to environmental aspects, economic and social impacts would ideally be included to allow a fuller measure of sustainability, it concluded. Other IAPRI members involved with different WGs include: DTI, Denmark; NOFIMA, Norway; Norner, Norway; Pack4Food, Belgium; PACKNET, Spain; Tampere University of Technology, Finland; VTT, Finland; ZHAW, Switzerland. The Second Circul-a-bility Conference will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 12-14 September 2022. https://projects.au.dk/circul-a-bility// Published: 03/27/22 |