School Nutrition Association • May 2022 • Partner For Progress

WASTE MANAGEMENT AND THE SUSTAINABILITY OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES HAVE BEEN VERY REAL CONCERNS ACROSS THE GLOBE FOR DECADES, and in school nutrition operations, the most intense scrutiny tends to be on single-use disposables that portion menu components and deliver the complete meal to customers. As school nutrition professionals, you likely have fielded concerns from student groups and community activists about the choice of foodservice packaging materials used in your cafeteria, how they were manufactured and how they are disposed.

These conversations can be more productive when you raise your own awareness about the complexities of foodservice packaging options, especially as technological enhancements give rise to new innovations designed to deliver food safely, and in ways that respect the planet. It begins with understanding the important function of foodservice packaging in delivering hygienic, safe and accessible food. For example, food-to-go packaging needs to be sturdy for transport, must keep food safe from physical contaminants and help maintain food-safe temperatures. And considering that wasted food has the greatest impact on environmental systems, packaging plays a valuable role in ensuring the palatability of your menu items.

Huhtamaki and many of our packaging industry colleagues apply a “fit-for-purpose” philosophy. We recognize our responsibility to develop innovative, sustainable solutions, and it starts with an understanding that there is no one material that is suitable for every conceivable application. Huhtamaki is what we like to call a “material positive” company, thoughtfully examining various material options—their functions and benefits—in each application to create a sustainable package that is fit for its purpose, reflecting the context of how it is used by the consumer. This type of assessment adds up to a better overall offering.

Taking a material-positive approach means committing to a number of core concepts. Among these, we believe in designing products that use just the right amount of raw materials for functionality but still can meet our goal of having all our products be recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2030! We also pledge to increase the use of recycled raw materials in production, while ensuring packaging maintains high safety levels for food contact. In addition, we’re optimizing our operations to minimize waste.

It’s also critical for the packaging industry to support the development of infrastructures that promote recycling and other efforts that build sustainability. Products can’t merely be recyclable—they must be actually recycled, and the same is true of composting and reuse. This is critical to a circular future, one where we choose the right material for the right situation where it’s environmentally viable and can be scaled up in a way that makes a difference. To learn more about how school nutrition vendor partners like Huhtamaki are doing their part, visit us.huhtamaki.com.

THINK CIRCLE

Think Circle is an initiative conceived and led by Huhtamaki that brings together key stakeholders from across the global food value chain to gain an improved understanding of the challenges and opportunities that come with sustainable innovation. Participants are committed to making packaging more circular, with a lower carbon footprint and embedding sustainability in every step.

Packaging circularity involves everything from raw material to design, production and disposal (recycling, recovery and reuse). All stakeholders must cooperate to protect the health and safety of consumers and the wellbeing of the planet, collaborating and learning from one another as we deliver sustainable solutions for generations to come.

On March 31, a Think Circle roundtable discussion focused on the role packaging has in enabling accessible, affordable and safe food in an uncertain world. View the recording at www.huhtamaki.com/en/think-circle.

In addition, stakeholders in the foodservice community can find thought pieces by packaging leaders on such topics as “Food packaging—the most underrated invention since the fridge?”, “Defining what constitutes good packaging requires a broader view on material impacts” and “Meaningful progress becomes achievable through a shared vision for circularity.” Visit www.huhtamaki.com/en/think-circle/articles to access these and other articles.