By Ellie Gabel, Contributor
In the restaurant industry, food packaging waste is prevalent. Regardless of what you serve, you probably have stacks of single-use containers in the kitchen to pack carry-out orders and box up customers’ leftovers. What if there was a better way? The only way to find one is through rigorous product testing.
The Restaurant Industry’s Food Packaging Waste Problem
You’ve been in the restaurant sector long enough to know it has a food packaging waste problem. Your establishment likely uses industry-standard styrofoam or plastic containers and utensils because they’re affordable and easy to source. However, it’s time for a change. These materials are damaging to the environment and your brand reputation.
Styrofoam and plastic containers are made from cheap, nonbiodegradable materials like polystyrene and polypropylene. Many are single-use, so they’re often landfilled. While plastic bags can degrade in 20 years under the right conditions, bottles won’t decompose for up to 450 years. In this time, they can leak toxins, polluting the air and nearby waterways.
All this plastic is adding up. Experts predict its waste could triple by 2060 but estimate only 20% will be recycled while 50% will be landfilled. While restaurants like yours aren’t solely to blame — the hospitality and consumer goods sectors are also responsible — the restaurant industry contributes a tremendous amount of single-use items.
Restaurants Owners Should Reconsider Food Packaging
While the most straightforward answer to this problem is to stop offering to-go containers entirely, that’s not a realistic option. Patrons expect the convenience of carry out and delivery, and it’s essential for branding. Besides, research shows packaging can reduce food waste by up to 20%, making it a key aspect of your sustainability approach, even if you didn’t realize it.
However, you can’t exactly leave things as is since there’s a good chance your customers expect change. As more people become aware of sustainability issues, their tolerance for plastic disposables lowers. But how do you find an environmentally friendly material as durable as plastic or as insulating as styrofoam?
How Rigorous Testing Eliminates Food Packaging Waste
Rigorous testing is a long-term solution to the restaurant industry’s food packaging waste problem. You can only find a safe, reliable alternative to unsustainable materials and designs if you conduct tests. They help you gauge strength and durability before you invest in an unproven product.
Your goal should be to find something that consistently insulates and protects food items. Numerous out-of-the-box solutions exist, many of which have undergone rigorous performance and quality testing before approval. If you need a custom design, these tests will be even more important.
Sadly, it’s much harder to test the sustainability or recyclability of food packaging. Do your due diligence here as best you can, reading up on the materials a package is made out of, how it effects the environment short-term and long-term, and any other pertinent info. If you can, don’t just trust what vendors say but look for independent studies and work.
Rigorous Testing Methods That Reduce Packaging Waste
Several rigorous testing solutions exist. Which one will help you reduce the most food packaging waste?
Leverage a Vacuum Clamping Fixture for Quality Control
Conventional mechanical clamping fixtures might not be right for you. Container packaging design is becoming increasingly complex as it evolves to meet new functional and aesthetic expectations, creating quality control challenges during testing. The fixed mechanical grip may struggle to hold items, especially if they’re delicate or irregularly shaped.
A vacuum clamping fixture, on the other hand, is versatile. You can tailor it to accommodate almost any design. It can adapt to flat, curved and irregularly shaped items without risking slippage. Since it doesn’t need to grip from the same place each time, you can make the lid accessible for seal strength testing.
Replace Single-Use Plastics with Specially Designed Items
What if you were to ban single-use plastics? For example, you could replace individually wrapped straws with compostable lids made for sipping. Of course, this approach requires extensive consumer product testing. Even if you incentivize guests to bring their own containers for refills, you’d need help finding sustainable, user-friendly alternative designs.
Find Sustainable Materials That Are Just as Durable as Plastic
Evaluate your options before switching to a different material for the sake of sustainability. This way, you won’t end up with soggy paper straws that disintegrate during use or biodegradable bags that rip under a normal level of stress. Rigorous testing can help you find an acceptable plastic alternative.
Blue Bottle Coffee — a specialty coffee retailer based in the United States — wanted to reduce its food packaging waste to just 10% of its total trash output. Given that a single location went through 12 million single-use plastic cups annually, its goal was understandable. It switched to sugarcane-paper cups and paper straws in all U.S. locations.
Reducing Food Packaging Waste with the Help of Testing
While no solution is perfect, most are better than today’s approach. If you want to replace those stacks of single-use containers in your kitchen with something more sustainable, you must find a vendor who will design and test an alternative for you. This way, you can be more eco-friendly without sacrificing quality or durability.
