OQ explored how polymers can help industry to meet the food packaging and waste implications of rapid urbanisation, modern lifestyles, and environmental concerns.

OQ has hosted food packaging industrialists at a webinar exploring the contribution that high-grade polymers can make to enhancing environmental sustainability in food processing and packaging during an age of rapid urbanisation.

The webinar reflects global concerns raised by the United Nations: a third of all food produced globally is lost or wasted. The UN suggests that the development of policies and interventions can reduce food loss and waste, which include providing incentives for farmers and producers to make it cost-effective for them to be more efficient and less wasteful.

The OQ webinar demonstrated how the way food and goods are packed - and how materials can be reused and circulated – can play an important role in bringing down packaging costs and reducing food waste, thus supporting the sustainability of megacities. The use of polyolefins across industries can lead to lower material costs, lower production costs, reduced waste, increased processing efficiency, lighter appliance parts, and reduced packaging weight.

OQ Polymer Marketing Manager Trevor Robinson explains: “Urbanisation is one of five ‘megatrends’ identified by the United Nations, leading to major changes in land use that have a significant impact on environmental degradation and climate change. With 1.5 million people added to the global urban population every week, demand for food will be more than double by 2050. Nowadays 1/3 of all food produced globally is lost or wasted. But environmental consciousness of food waste and the associated environmental impacts of food packaging is rising globally, and there is a strong pivot from the take-make-waste food packaging module usually associated with single-use plastic packaging, towards sustainable packaging alternatives.“

Polymer products for food packaging developed by OQ offer greater durability and water resistance such as OQ Luban DMDA-8007 - a secondary packaging grade limiting damage to food produce from harsh weather conditions and heavy handling. Lightweight primary packaging options developed with OQ polymers also reduce overall load weight, and due to low packaging-to-product ratio reduce the frequency of transport. Examples include, thin walled rigid packaging where OQ Luban HP1151K offers operational efficiency across the value chain from cycle time to weight reduction, and in flexible packaging where OQ Luban DFDC-7080 combines easy processing and enhanced physical properties with excellent aesthetics to make it an ideal material for replacing traditional food packaging with more sustainable solutions such as stand-up pouches. OQ also offers a broad range of Luban PP and PE products for primary and secondary food packaging covering rigid packaging for crates and pallets, containers, caps and closures through to flexible packaging , for stretch hoods, form fill & seal, bag-in-box and liners, and other food packaging film.