Less food waste ... think of shipping apples or whatever long distances. In the old days it was in a bushel basket or box and say 20% of them got bruised and had to be tossed. Although I’m not sure how they package them now - maybe like an egg-carton thing with individual pockets for each apple?
I don’t know - I just remember the article and that was one of the things they said. I bet moving to containerized shipping helped reduce spoilage too - rather than loading a bunch of bananas into a net, dumping them into the ship’s hold, then digging them out of the hold, dumped into a truck, etc.
Tried to find something about it. Found something else instead. But this in about some packaging company that sells “Reusable Plastic Containers” (RPC) - so also addresses the waste/recycle issues. Although I wonder how the items (eggs in the below article) are packaged and sold to the consumer.
EXCERPT:
RPCs have a proven track record of protecting perishables, preserving quality and freshness, and helping reduce losses caused by damaged and unsaleable product. In fact, in its Sustainable Packaging Playbook, Walmart noted that converting from corrugated cardboard packaging to RPCs reduced damage rates and prevented “37 million eggs from being thrown out” in just the first year alone.
Rigid, reinforced walls with greater structural integrity than corrugated cardboard boxes ensure less damage to product shipped in RPCs. In fact, Tosca RPCs are proven to be 4x stronger than standard corrugated boxes. Better transport packaging with RPCs means better protection for your perishables which translates into more sales.
Fascinating info. Thanks.
I wonder how improved food packaging has reduced mild and serious illness, too. Less spoilage means improved health.
I had a bunch of chickens a few years ago and they laid more eggs than I could ever eat, so I gave them away to folks at church - aas long as they provided me a foam egg carton.
Those things are insanely expensive if you don’t buy a skid or so of them.
Same thing with the recycled paper ones.