How do you find the sweet spot for optimum packaging design and reduce food waste at the same time?

In today’s episode, Jayne Gallagher is in conversation with Nerida Kelton the Vice President Sustainability & Save Food, for the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) and the Executive Director for the Australasian Institute of Packaging (AIP). It’s no wonder that Nerida is a keen advocate for safe food packaging, bringing a wealth of experience, with 26 years in the industry under her belt.

Specifically, Jayne and Nerida talk about five key functional criteria categories for saving food packaging; these include:

1) Design to contain and protect food.

2) Design to preserve and extend shelf life.

3) Design to provide consumer convenience.

4) Design to communicate with consumers.

5) Design to balance food and packaging waste targets.

Within this conversation you can also hear about:

• The unintended consequences of food waste when reducing packaging as the primary goal. Packaging has a vital role in protecting, containing, preserving, and transporting food to households. Without it, this would not be possible.

• Preservation and extension of shelf life through transportation, distribution and innovative packaging.

• Safe food packaging design guidelines for businesses.

Nerida is extremely proud of the fact that the AIP now lead the way as one of the global packaging experts. Packaging's role in minimising food waste is an important part of improving and promoting global collaboration.

Resources of interest for our listeners include:

Save Food Packaging Criteria and Framework – Final Report

https://endfoodwaste.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2402_Final-Report-121-2024-for-publishing-website.pdf

Rethink Packaging Design: Use Less, Use Longer and Use Again - Article

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rethink-packaging-design-use-less-longer-again-nerida-kelton-maip/

AIP’s commitment to Fighting Food Waste and Food Loss

https://aipack.com.au/fight-food-waste/

Educational resources and training

https://aipack.com.au/education/aip-education-overview/

Joining the AIP

https://aipack.com.au/join-the-aip-link-to-membership-application-pdf/

This podcast is brought to you by Honey & Fox, whose passion is food and the people who produce it. Honey & Fox works with fishers, farmers and small food businesses to help them find and sell to their perfect customers – people who will buy without questioning the price. Find out more at https://www.honeyandfox.com.au.

This podcast is supported by End Food Waste Australia, which is leading impactful and research-informed food waste actions. To learn more about how they are working toward a more sustainable future, please visit https://⁠www.endfoodwaste.com.au⁠.

Do you feel that you’re fighting tooth and nail to secure grant funding to keep your food waste dreams alive?

While tackling the immense problem of food waste, many small businesses and organisations ask where can I get help? Where can I get support to implement ideas that I have? How can I scale? This week, the conversation is centred around these very questions as Jayne Gallagher chats with Prue Saxby, an expert in grants from Indigo Gold, who has helped many businesses get funding to overcome problems such as food waste. Tune in as Jayne and Prue talk about:

• The most common mistakes when it comes to grant writing and applications and how to solve them and five key points to consider.

• Creating a grant wish list and incorporating strategic planning into your approach. This planning demonstrates to funders that your project is well-thought-out and aligns with long-term goals.

• How to ensure that your project fits the grant’s criteria. Don’t try to force your project into a grant that isn’t a good match.

For food businesses there are many grants available, specifically around food waste, recycling, packaging, manufacturing and export.

Prue offers multiple resources to aid in the grant application process, including:

Free Grant List: A comprehensive list of available grants updated monthly. Sign up at https://indigogold.com.au/free-grant-list-weekly-tips/

Consultation Services: From one-hour sessions to full application support. Apply at https://indigogold.com.au/mentoring-session/

Grant Writing Academy - an annual program which gives you the clarity and confidence to write high quality grant applications.

https://indigogold.com.au/grant-writing-academy/

Facebook Group: A community for asking questions and getting tips.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/grantwritingacademy?_ga=2.196029486.362867297.1724125153-1448221473.1723632395

Applying for grants doesn’t have to be a daunting task. With the right approach, preparation, and support, you can significantly increase your chances of getting into the yes pile.

This podcast is brought to you by Honey & Fox, whose passion is food and the people who produce it. Honey & Fox works with fishers, farmers and small food businesses to help them find and sell to their perfect customers – people who will buy without questioning the price. Find out more at www.honeyandfox.com.au.

This podcast is supported by End Food Waste Australia, which is leading impactful and research-informed food waste actions. To learn more about how they are working toward a more sustainable future, please visit ⁠www.endfoodwaste.com.au⁠.

This episode features our CEO check-in with Dr. Steven Lapidge, of End Food Waste Australia. Dr Lapidge shared insights and highlights from the 2024 National Food Waste Summit held in Melbourne, detailing key actions and takeaways for combating food waste. With over 300 people who attended the event, including international guests, Steve shares his top 10 takeaway messages from the conference. These include:

1. The 16-page 2024 to 2030 strategic business plan. Find out more at https://endfoodwaste.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/EFWA-Strategic-Business-2024-2030.pdf
2. Food donation tax incentives which have recently been introduced to the Australian senate, as talked about by Brianna Casey from Foodbank Australia. Information available at https://www.foodbank.org.au/ and https://endfoodwaste.com.au/media-release-revolutionary-national-food-donation-tax-incentive-introduced-to-australian-parliament/
3. Target, Measure and Act. A mantra to live by to assist in the reduction of food waste.
4. Mandatory food waste reporting as spoken about by Jolanda Dings from Lamb Western EMEA, see https://lambweston.eu/emea.
5. Edwina Beveridge from Blantyre Farms, who operates the first piggery to be certified under the Renewable Energy Target with an accredited biogas electricity generation system sourced from agricultural waste.
6. The on-the-job PhD program with KPMG and Central Queensland University, as heard in episode 13 and the students who are currently within the program. Listen to our recent episode here https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/honey-and-fox/episodes/S2E13a-Beyond-Academia-with-Tangerine-Holt--Olav-Muurlink--Hannah-Churton-and-Stephanie-Bayancela-e2mmevj and find out more about the program at https://endfoodwaste.com.au/research-and-development/industry-phd-program/
7. Discussion about the implementation of the Nationwide Consumer Behaviour Change Campaign.
8. Encouraging teamwork and collaboration with participants across the summit.
9. How none of us can do it alone with Ian Opperman stating we don’t get anywhere if we don’t care.
10. Celebrations of contributions to reducing food waste with the inaugural Food Waste Action Awards. Winners included:

• Sodexo who collected the Industry Impact Award.
• Australian Institute of Packaging and RMIT University with the collaboration award.
• Mark Boulet of Monash University gained the Research Award.
• Simplot with the Foodbank Australia Award.

Congratulations to End Food Waste Australia for another successful summit. We look forward to supporting and hearing more about future incentives and involvement in fighting the fight against food waste.

This podcast is brought to you by Honey & Fox, whose passion is food and the people who produce it. Honey & Fox works with fishers, farmers and small food businesses to help them find and sell to their perfect customers – people who will buy without questioning the price. Find out more at www.honeyandfox.com.au.

This podcast is supported by End Food Waste Australia, which is leading impactful and research-informed food waste actions. To learn more about how they are working toward a more sustainable future, please visit ⁠www.endfoodwaste.com.au⁠.