International firm aims to reduce food wastage through quality packaging

Large quantities of food get wasted every year due to poor packaging, so there is great demand for food packaging solutions. The growth of the middle-class and the youthful population in Nigeria have brought about the need for quality food packaging. Also, with increasing population of Africans in the Diaspora, especially in the United States and European countries, the demand for African foods, especially Nigerians food, is on the increase and these are being exported in packages that must be of high quality standards in order to gain entry into these international markets.

In realisation of these and much more, world leading science and innovation company, DuPont, recently put together a food packaging seminar here in Nigeria to help companies access the most up-to date techniques in packaging. The event, which was held in Lagos, was an opportunity for professionals from the Nigerian and the West African food and packaging industry to convene and discuss on the future of packaging sector in the sub region. Aimed at developing the manufacturing sector, the event which had well over 100 professionals in attendance, also provided the avenue for the experts to evaluate the latest innovations, technologies and trends at the “Building the future of Packaging Together in Nigeria.”

During the opening speech of the one-day event that hosted numerous local and foreign participants, country manager, DuPont Nigeria, Seydou Kane emphasised food, energy, and the protection of people and the environment as priority areas for DuPont. Pointing at the fact that the currently 7 billion world population will be surging to 9 billion in 2050, Kane stressed that one third of all global food production was wasted today: “This substantial waste stems from rudimentary conditions in harvesting techniques, storage, processing, packaging distribution, preservation, and consumption. The improvement of packaging quality in particular may play a significant role in preventing this considerably high quantity of food waste.”

While the planet is struggling to provide enough resources to sustain its 7 billion (growing to 9bn by 2050) inhabitants, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that a third of global food production is either wasted or lost. Also, according to the body, every year 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted. This is equivalent to the same amount produced in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, one in every seven people in the world go to bed hungry and more than 20,000 children under the age of five die daily from hunger. Food wastage is an enormous drain on natural resources and a contributor to negative environmental impacts.

Also speaking at the event, DuPont regional manager for packaging and industrial polymers, ECEMEA, Lukas Bartek asserted that every year 1.3 million tons of food were wasted from field to fork. Stating that this annual food waste at the global level was the most prominent factor that contributed to the total greenhouse gas emission and constituted the bulkiest cost item.

Bartek highlighted the remarkable amount of savings incurred, thanks to the packaging solutions devised by DuPont. He also commented on the sustainability of packaging design and elucidated DuPont’s multidimensional approach in tackling the issue of sustainability. Communicating that the company works actively for the recycling of packaging waste, disseminating the use of packaging from renewable resources and redesigning of packaging with lower quantity of raw materials, Bartek accentuated that they put great emphasis on cooperation with various fields in addition to their research and development activities in this area.

DuPont packaging market development manager, EMEA, Juergen Becker, who shared the state-of-the-art technologies in the field of “packaging industry innovation,” remarked that Nigeria, given its potential in packaging industry, may take up a leadership role that sets and informs the trends in the sub-region.