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Background <p>Food packaging continues to create negative socio-ecological impacts. Current initiatives, including recycling and the use of sustainable packaging materials, address important aspects of sustainability, however, a more comprehensive approach is needed to tackle the underlying challenges of a growth-driven economy that significantly impacts food systems. There is currently limited research in identifying systemic policy changes aimed at reducing food packaging.</p> Methods <p>Using a system dynamics approach, this study models the determinants that shape contemporary food systems and contribute to the increase in packaged food production and consumption. The resulting stock and flow model developed helps to understand and evaluate how globalisation, urbanisation and households dynamics are driving growth in packaged food.</p> Results <p>Findings from this study highlight (1) the need to shift the conversation from food packaging to packaged food, the actual product traded; (2) that growth-driven globalisation is contributing to the dependence on packaging; and (3) policies, such as the introduction of a basic income, could foster a reorganisation of social reproduction to incentivise the consumption of fresh and unpackaged food.</p> Conclusion <p>This paper concludes with an invitation to explore degrowth policy proposals that could reduce dependence on packaged food and highlights the need for systemic policy changes to transform food systems. The findings of this study can be extrapolated to other countries exhibiting growth in production and consumption of packaged food. In this study, environmental and public health lenses converge.</p>

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Food packaging: identifying the socio-economic drivers and reduction opportunities through system dynamics modelling

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月7日

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  • Sabrina Chakori,
  • Ammar Abdul Aziz,
  • Russell Richards

摘要

Background

Food packaging continues to create negative socio-ecological impacts. Current initiatives, including recycling and the use of sustainable packaging materials, address important aspects of sustainability, however, a more comprehensive approach is needed to tackle the underlying challenges of a growth-driven economy that significantly impacts food systems. There is currently limited research in identifying systemic policy changes aimed at reducing food packaging.

Methods

Using a system dynamics approach, this study models the determinants that shape contemporary food systems and contribute to the increase in packaged food production and consumption. The resulting stock and flow model developed helps to understand and evaluate how globalisation, urbanisation and households dynamics are driving growth in packaged food.

Results

Findings from this study highlight (1) the need to shift the conversation from food packaging to packaged food, the actual product traded; (2) that growth-driven globalisation is contributing to the dependence on packaging; and (3) policies, such as the introduction of a basic income, could foster a reorganisation of social reproduction to incentivise the consumption of fresh and unpackaged food.

Conclusion

This paper concludes with an invitation to explore degrowth policy proposals that could reduce dependence on packaged food and highlights the need for systemic policy changes to transform food systems. The findings of this study can be extrapolated to other countries exhibiting growth in production and consumption of packaged food. In this study, environmental and public health lenses converge.