Colloquia

Summary

More than one million tonnes of food waste are estimated to be produced in the Netherlands during 2022, which corresponds to 59 kilograms of food waste per Dutch citizen. Food waste is a significant contributor to climate change. While the implementation of food packaging can fight food waste by fulfilling various functions, the current manners of packaging production and disposal also negatively contribute to climate change. The adaptation and implementation of sustainable packaging may offer a way of reaping the benefits of packaging for foodstuffs while mitigating its negative environmental impact.   

This thesis aims to explore how the food packaging supply chain in the Netherlands can transition from contemporary packaging to sustainable packaging by 2050. The research focuses on supermarkets as key drivers of this transition, given that much of the food packaging purchased by Dutch consumers is bought at supermarkets.

The state of the art of Dutch supermarkets, the food packaging supply chain in the Netherlands, and the concept of 'future' are investigated through desk research and empirical research. Following this thorough analysis, insights are gathered on the challenges and complexities involved in the pursuit and implementation of sustainable packaging. These insights are used to construct a framework in which periodical developments can be captured. The framework serves as support for an extensive trend analysis that is conducted on the macro-environment of the Netherlands, the Dutch food retail industry, food, and packaging. The gathered trends and developments collectively form the basis for the construction of different scenarios on the Dutch supermarket of 2050. Following a series of workshops with various stakeholder parties, these scenarios are evaluated on their effectiveness as a means of broadening the perspectives of stakeholder parties.

The insights collected throughout the research are synthesised into a proposal of boundary conditions which must precede transitions before transitions can (effectively) commence. Future research should test and evaluate boundary conditions. Respectively, manners which support parties in meeting these boundary conditions should be researched.