News Items - International Association of Packaging Research Institutes
IAPRI Announces the Student Exchange Scholarship 2022-23 Winner

Established in 2012 the IAPRI Student Exchange Scholarship is sponsored at every World Conference by PepsiCo and it supports research undertaken by students from an IAPRI member organizations by enabling them to travel to another IAPRI member institute to further conduct their research work. It enables a person to undertake a research project at a different IAPRI member universities or research institute than the one they attend or where they work.

IAPRI  Student Research Exchange Scholarship

            Sponsored by





IAPRI is very happy to award this research scholarship once again. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic this scholarship has not been awarded since 2018. Normally, students would make a presentation at the World Conference and present their proposed research project to the attendees who would vote and select the winner of the scholarship.  The winner is required to attend and present the results of their research project at the next Member Conference. With travel restriction still very much in place for many members of IAPRI, we are not having presentations in Bangkok. The board of directors is making the selection this year.

We are very pleased to announce that Marije Linders, a master's graduate student in Industrial Design Engineering at the University of Twente, Enschede in the Netherlands is the recipient of the scholarship. Her supervisor/tutor from an IAPRI member institute is Roland ten Klooster. The exchange location for her project with be California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California, USA  under the supervision of Jay Singh.

The title of Marije's research project is; "An Investigation into the Design and Sustainability Aspects of Reusable Containers for Fresh Produce”







"An Investigation into the Design and Sustainability Aspects of Reusable Containers for Fresh Produce”


Introduction

Currently a majority of the distribution of fresh fruits and vegetables is done using recyclable corrugated fiberboard trays and boxes. Though not extensively deployed currently, reusable plastic containers (RPCs) promise a more sustainable and better protective option. In a research by Singh, J. et al (2016), the benefits of RPCs in the food supply chain of, amongst other things, fresh fruits and vegetables are identified. The research indicates that the handling of RPCs for the distribution process is ergonomically superior and less damage to the RPCs occurs as compared to the alternative corrugated fiberboard packaging. This results in lesser damage to the fresh produce as well as higher acceptance rates by the workers involved in the logistical activities at the distribution centers and retail locations. But these containers also have some disadvantages as well. The pooling system necessary for their successful deployment is challenging, especially for the longer distribution lanes as in the US. Reusable containers are typically made with more material towards increasing their ruggedness through multiple uses. While these heavier containers provide superior strength, reduce the overall carbon footprint through their reuse and can protect the products carried within better, they limit the amount of product that can be distributed due to the weight capacity limitations of the transport vehicles. Further, while it can be accounted towards the reduced carbon footprint through their reuse, the RPCs require close management of returns, washing, repair and redeployment.

I like to research if there is a better solution available. That is why I want to investigate the design and sustainability aspects of reusable containers for fresh produce. For this research, I have set up a research question and first concept idea, to define a first solution direction to the project.


Design challenge

As an alternative idea for cardboard trays or reusable plastic containers, I want to investigate the possibility to use both materials and end of life treatments, reusability and recyclability, in a new container design. Therefor I have set up the following research question:
“How can I design a product to distribute fresh fruits and vegetables, combing reusable
packaging systems and recyclable materials, to create a sustainable product-packaging
combination by using best of both worlds?”

This design will be focused on the advantages of both worlds. The lightness and vertical strength of cardboard can be used for the side panels of a container. These can be recycled and therefor adopted to the products packed, namely printed and they can differ in height and strength. So they can be optimized for the type and amount of product to be packed. This can be combined with the advantages of plastic, using the strength, durability and freedom of form of this material, to design a reusable bottom of the container. Ensuring this design is universal and can be stacked with as little as possible empty space for returning the trays, could be a viable solution in the fresh produce industry.

Expected advantages of this design idea, using the benefits of both worlds, compared to current existing solutions, are:
  • People: better ergonomics in stacking plastic containers
  • Planet: re-usage of materials, less emissions compared to full plastic containers due to light carton panels, less empty space to be transported for re-usage, possibility of reuse of universal tray on a bigger scale (in a widespread country such as America), flexibility of the concept to adjust it to sold amounts, so less food waste
  • Profit: less emission compared to full plastic containers means also less costs, reusing materials compared to cardboard trays could mean less costs, a universal solution often means less costs, better ergonomics could mean happier employees and a more efficient working atmosphere, less damage on trays and products inside means less waste
 

Intended approach

To know if these advantages are indeed possible to reach with this design idea, is to be researched. Therefore, I have set up an approach for this design project.
Starting the project with more (literature) research on defining the problem further and orientating in possibilities. Defining involved stakeholders and their interests is an important part of this.
When the problem statement and design direction is further defined, the design challenge can be addressed. This includes ideation on possibilities, strength analysis and calculations on the plastic bottom and stacking strengths, prototyping and user research: how to assemble and fill boxes, can it be automated?; Is it easy stackable?; Experience of users?.
When there is a designed container of which the expectation is it will meet the requirements, validation can be done on people, planet, profit benefits. This includes research on environmental benefit compared to current solutions (LCA), and on user and costs benefits, including performance on design, freshness of products, etc. Expected is that the design process and validation process will be performed in iteration loops, together with additional analysis.
With the designed product, also a market implementation possibility will be researched, including what is needed for that, how to approach this and the expected rate of implementation.


Enumerated the activities involve



Published: 05/20/22