A Greener World

Every year, according to estimates, Europe wastes up to half the food that passes through the supply chain, which includes producers, processors, retailers, caterers and consumers. Members of the European Parliament have called for urgent measures to reduce this figure by 2025.

In the UK alone we throw away 7.2 million tonnes of food and drink from our homes every year, costing us £12bn – most of this could have been safely consumed.

Wasting this food costs the average household £480 a year, rising to £680 for a family with children, the equivalent of around £50 a month.

It is bad for the environment too. When food is disposed in a landfill it quickly rots and becomes a significant source of methane — a potent greenhouse gas with 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.

The UK government recently suggested removing ‘sell by’ and ‘display until’ dates from food packaging to reduce the confusion amongst consumers and to start tackling the waste problem.

In response to this issue, Oli-tec has launched a patented Time and Temperature Indicator (TTi) label. The international consortium responsible for the development of the Oli-Tec labels includes investors, machinery manufacturers, tooling providers, raw material suppliers, label producers and retail experts.

‘This label solution combines state of the art technology with a simple visual display that everyone can understand. Millions of tonnes of unnecessary waste will be avoided through the use of intelligent labels that match the open life of products. Retailers and manufacturers have relied on simple date codes for far too long, because there was no alternative. Now a solution exists that can help consumers use more of the precious food they buy,  at the same time, saving money plus having a positive impact on the environment.’

CEO of Open Life Packaging, Nik Richardson

Roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year is wasted.

Approximately 1.3 billion tonnes gets lost or wasted. 

Food losses and waste amounts to roughly US$ 680 billion in industrialized countries and US$ 310 billion in developing countries.

That’s $990 Billion per year. Something has to change. Education and technonlogy will help us achieve this.