Sustainable Packaging Development for Fresh Food Supply Chains

The fresh food industry is increasingly more interested in developing efficient and innovative solutions to guarantee quality and distribution sustainability; one of the main factors that influences such crucial aspects is packaging. This paper aims to perform a critical analysis of two existing packaging solutions, i.e. corrugated fibreboard boxes and re-usable plastic containers, from both the economic and the environmental perspective, to highlight the main weaknesses. It then proposes two alternative packaging solutions. The analysis features different economic assessments and models with different environmental impacts, taking into account the characteristics of packaging solutions predominantly within two supply chain types: the traditional food supply chain and the short food supply chain. The economic and environmental models are applied to understand the limitations of existing packaging solutions, to develop two alternative solutions and finally to perform an overall analysis of all fresh food containers, allowing the definition of the most suitable container for each of the proposed supply chain scenarios, from both an economic and environmental perspective. The innovative aspect of the research lies in the simultaneous evaluation of economic and environmental factors and the introduction of two new packaging solutions, making it of interest to researchers and fresh food industry professionals alike.