BillerudKorsnäs joins Save Food campaign

Save Food was launched in 2011 and aims to reduce the amount of food lost or thrown away. An estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted each year, corresponding to 3.3 gigatonnes of carbon diozide emissions. This can be compared with emissions from all road traffic in the US in 2010, which amounted to 1.5 gigatonnes.

Henrik Essén, senior vice-president of communication and sustainability at BillerudKorsnäs, said: ‘A key component of BillerudKorsnäs’ development work on smarter packaging solutions involves a focus on improved food transport. Consequently, it is a natural step for us to be part of Save Food.’

Lars Broström, commercial director at Paccess, a subsidiary of BillerudKorsnäs, added: ‘Fruit and vegetables account for the greatest losses in the food industry, not only in absolute figures when it comes to the number of tonnes destroyed but also with respect to the costs incurred for waste and from an environmental perspective. The carbon footprint from organic products that are transported long distances but never consumed is very large.

‘One problem is that few players in the supply chain look at the overall picture when it comes to transporting food and instead focus only on their own area of the supply chain. Companies often use cheap packaging solutions that are only able to withstand the transport distance for which they are responsible.’

In total, around a quarter of fruit and vegetable waste is attributable to inadequate packaging, BillerudKorsnäs said.

To this end, BillerudKorsnäs has developed packaging products such as the SoliQ corrugated box to withstand the difficult conditions associated with intercontinental transport of grapes and citrus fruits from South Africa to Europe.

India’s Parksons Packaging has recently diversified into the production of SoliQ branded corrugated carton trays under license from BillerudKorsnäs, and has installed India’s first Kongsberg V cutting table to facilitate this move.

Broström concluded: ‘In addition to durability, it is important to consider temperature and moisture when developing packaging solutions, since high temperatures and condensation are common causes of fruit and vegetable spoilage during transport.’