The Sustainable Produce Packaging Alignment (SPPA), a consortium of North American fresh produce industry leaders, has published its "Roadmap to Sustainable Fresh Produce Packaging: A Guide to Reducing Food Waste, Mitigating Emissions, and Enabling Sustainable Fresh Produce Supply Chains." This pivotal guide aims to create a unified, industry-wide approach to more functional, economical and sustainable packaging.
A diverse group of fresh produce industry experts developed the roadmap, spearheaded by Western Growers and the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA), supported by Qfresh Lab. The roadmap confronts the complex and often contradictory challenges facing the fresh produce sector, including a fragmented regulatory landscape, contradictory buyer requirements and the performance gap between conventional and alternative packaging materials.
A central theme of the report is the concept of "Functional Sustainability," which advocates for a holistic evaluation of packaging based on its performance throughout the entire supply chain, rather than focusing predominantly on its end-of-life disposal. The authors argue that a narrow focus on recyclability or compostability can paradoxically increase food waste and greenhouse gas emissions.
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