Dutch researchers shows Stepac’s sustainable packaging reduces greenhouse gases

In Israel, local firm StePac said it had analyzed supply chains it is closely involved with to assess how its advanced packaging preserves quality of fresh produce during handling, shipping and storing. The sustainable shelf-life extension packaging experts commissioned researchers at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research facility in the Netherlands, to quantify the GHG emissions associated with the use of its Modified Atmosphere (MAP) products across numerous supply chains worldwide. “Food waste contributes 8% of all GHG emissions associated with climate change, the biggest threat to our planet,” said Gary Ward, Business Development Manager at StePac. “By creating sustainable modified atmosphere packaging solutions which extend produce freshness often by 50-100%, StePac has demonstrated through this research, that it helps lower GHG emissions by reducing waste in the fresh produce supply chain and often facilitating sea transport instead of air transport of produce to distant destinations. The reduction in GHG emissions far exceeds those generated in the full lifecycle of the packaging itself.” Jan Broeze, Senior Scientist of Sustainable Food Chains at the Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, has developed a “field to fork” calculator to estimate greenhouse emissions associated with different aspects of fresh produce production and shipping. Calculations took into consideration the GHG emissions associated with the different plastic packaging solutions throughout the lifecycle including the end-of-life (incineration, landfill and recycling). It also included data provided by StePac pertaining to waste reduction based on research and commercial experience.

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