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Sustainable Pasta Packaging: Trends and technological solutions a GEA webinar reported by Andrew Wilkinson, Milling and Grain
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hen attempting to provide products that have a reduced environmental impact, the pasta market and the food industry continue to need quicker and more concrete solutions if they are going to meet the demands of the market and satisfy the final consumer. With the need for new systems and technologies, that afford manufacturers and consumers alike a reduction in environmental footprint, this trend is increasingly becoming a factor in decision making from the manufacturing stage right through to the consumer making their purchase. Using an environment friendly packaging can reduce single-use plastic waste and is considered a fundamental step for the food industry. During GEA’s webinar held in early November, Matteo Piroddi, Sales Area Manager for GEA Stiavelli and Filippo Biasia, Sales Director for Lineapack, sought to define the essential characteristics of sustainable packaging. They spoke about finding out which are the alternative films to plastic, present GEA’s technological innovations in the packaging market and finally present a new packaging machine born and designed for paper packaging.
The essential characteristics
The very first section of the webinar featured Matteo Piroddi discussing the essential characteristics of sustainable packaging. Mr Piroddi first discussed the seven functions of packaging: protection, containment, communication, environment, practicality, logistic and convenience - all stressed as key considerations when manufacturers are striving to produce a product that is both economically viable and sustainable as possible. Mr Piroddi focussed on the key function of packaging - product 66 | December 2020 - Milling and Grain
presentation. This aspect, according to Mr Piroddi, dictates the nature of its first direct point of contact with a potential customer. Describing packaging as ‘the silent salesman’ he emphasised that good quality and sustainable packaging ,that is also aesthetically pleasing, are important when trying to create a positive image and appeal to the consumer. Because a potential customer could be faced with as many, if not more than 600 or so options when they are choosing the product that they are going to buy, Mr Piroddi said it is always important to make a good first impression, “If you have good packaging, regardless of the price the customer will choose you”. Mr Piroddi then concluded his section of the webinar by discussing the four R’s of sustainable packaging - reduce, recycle, redesign and re-use. With each of the four key principles being referred to as considerations that manufacturers should hold as important are the ones that are becoming more important to consumers too. Mr Piroddie went on to say that responsible and reasonable choices must be practical in terms of financial expenditure. “One must be sure to keep your product financially viable.” So for these reasons, although manufacturers are actively encouraged to ensure that their packaging solutions are sustainable, in doing so they must ensure that they are not pushing up their costs so high that the only way that they can make their product profitable is by passing on this cost to the consumer, he added.
Alternatives to plastic films
The next section of the webinar, presented by Filippo Biasia, Sales Director at Lineapack, sought to address the potential issue of balancing sustainability and financial viability, as previously raised by Matteo Piroddi. One such example of how to achieve this when a paper and film producer is attempting to make an eco-friendly packaging solution, is to adopt a quality over quantity approach. For example, instead of manufacturing a solution that features