Ahead of the United Nations World Food Safety Day Tetra Pak announced its new set of research collaborations and programmes to further accelerate efforts to address challenges facing food systems worldwide. The initiative is part of the company’s drive to nurture an innovation ecosystem to open new opportunities in the areas of food availability, safety and sustainability. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation UN FAO, the world is in a very different place compared to six years ago, when it committed to the goal of ending hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition by 2030. The current reality is that we have not been progressing fast enough towards ensuring access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food for all people. As an example, over 2 billion people did not have access to enough safe and nutritious food in 2020.

Consumers want products that enable them to lead more eco-friendly lives. This means minimising waste, carbon footprints and reducing the use of plastic. Stora Enso is responding to these needs with renewable packaging innovations, including formed fiber, a renewable and recyclable material that enables molding 3D shapes from wood fibers. “We are finding growth in sustainable and innovative packaging. To stay ahead of the curve, we are investing in next generation fiber molding technologies,” says Anna Jonhed, SVP Formed Fiber at Stora Enso. Recently Stora Enso became a shareholder of PulPac, a Swedish sustainable packaging technology company working to establish Dry Molded Fiber as the next global standard for sustainable packaging, replacing single-use plastics with circular fiber solutions.

From nutrition facts to washing instructions, packaging can teach you a lot about a product – including information about its disposal. Properly discarding an item and its packaging is a crucial step in the life cycle of a purchase. Whether something is recyclable, compostable, or biodegradable, buyers and brands must be aware of these commonly used terms. There are many phrases to keep track of, so it’s important to understand exactly what’s being communicated. Is biodegradable just another word for compostable? Can compostable items be recycled? Spoiler alert – these words aren’t interchangeable, and each one has a distinct meaning. Familiarizing ourselves with these three terms can help us make more informed purchases as consumers and design smarter packaging for brands and businesses.