Spain could save over 1,800 million Euro and prevent the loss of two million tonnes of fruit and vegetables if these products were exported in reusable containers instead of disposable ones.
The German Fraunhofer Institute and the University of Bonn have published a study establishing the relationship between food damage and losses and the type of packaging used for their transport, from origin to their point of distribution.
According to this report, published on Wednesday by the Association of Logistics Operators for Eco-sustainable Reusable Items (Areco), reusable packaging and containers considerably reduce the risk of damage during the transport of fruit and vegetables.
The European Commission estimates that approximately 89 million tonnes of food are wasted every year in Europe, with Germany on top of the ranking, with 10.7 million tonnes of wastage and Spain in sixth place, with 7.7 million.
Although most of the wastage happens at the end of the food supply chain (retailers and consumers), there are also losses in the production and distribution chain, which is the one under scrutiny in this report.
The study, carried out on goods received at warehouses and retailers, concludes that the breakage percentage in single use cardboard packaging over the entire supply chain was of 4.2%, while that of reusable boxes only reached 0.1%.
To reach this conclusion, more than 78,000 packaging units for transport were inspected at central warehouses and retailers, 52% of which were reusable and 48% disposable.
The study estimates that if only reusable boxes were used in the German market, only 1,100 tonnes of fruit and vegetables valued at two million Euro would be lost. However, with just single use boxes and containers those losses would amount to 36,000 tonnes valued at 68 million Euro.
Spain is Germany's largest provider of fruit and second largest of vegetables. Approximately 9,500 tonnes of fruit and vegetables, valued at 17.9 million Euro, would be lost if Spanish exports to the German market were exclusively shipped in disposable packaging, while if all shipments were made in reusable boxes, the losses would drop to around 290 tonnes and 520,000 Euro.
Extrapolating these figures to all Spanish fruit and vegetable exports, it transpires that more than 1,800 million Euro could be saved by using reusable packaging instead of disposable one.
