Press release
5 Oct 2016, 10:00 CET

Berghs students make packaging the hero in bid to cut food waste

‘Cut food waste using a smart packaging concept.’ In this year’s PackChallenge, BillerudKorsnäs sets students at Berghs School of Communication a challenge for a sustainable future. 

The world produces enough food for 11 billion people, yet 800 million people are under nourished. One major reason for this is the food waste that occurs in all parts of the value chain: In harvesting, production, storage and transport, as well as in stores, restaurants and consumers’ homes. In Europe and the US, around 30 percent of food produced is wasted, and more than 40 percent of that waste occurs in stores and in consumers’ homes. Every portion of food that is wasted corresponds to the amount of resources used to make it.

The basic purpose of packaging is to protect the product and allow it to be transported. But imagine if it could help reduce food waste in other ways too! This year’s PackChallenge is to create a strong concept that clearly communicates that packaging should be viewed as a hero with a clear purpose.

BillerudKorsnäs has been collaborating with Berghs School of Communication since 2010. PackChallenge, which started out as an annual competition, is now an integral part of the full-time Graphic Design and Production Management courses. The collaboration aims to encourage students’ creativity and the syllabus allows students to get hands-on with some of the challenges facing the packaging of the future.

“We believe the issue of food waste is really important and we want to emphasise this in this year’s PackChallenge in cooperation with Bergs School of Communications. Packaging can help reduce food waste and it’s important to highlight this for the designers, communicators and decision-makers of the future at one of the world’s best communication schools. Major issues are often best solved through cooperation,” said Henrik Essén, Senior Vice President Communication and Sustainability at BillerudKorsnäs .

The final presentation of the solutions devised by the Berghs students will take place on 31 October. Find out more about PackChallenge:16 at www.packchallenge.se