India’s food economy presents quite a paradox – on the one hand, the country claims to be self-sufficient in food grains and yet rank 63rd in the Global Hunger Index of 88 countries; on the other hand the country is known to waste about 40% of the food it produces.In such circumstances, the main concern is to get together and find viable solutions to stop the wastage. This is where stakeholders in India’s food supply chain need to embrace the Save Food philosophy, which is essentially a step in the right direction – toward a circular food economy.
As the food supply chain expands in India, food-grade packaging will also expand in proportion. In the context of packaging or the lack of it, inarguably the country’s massive food wastage is due to poor packaging but it could be a different story in the days ahead. This is where the first ever PDIT (Packaging Design, Innovation and Technology) Conference on 16 and 17 December 2016 in Mumbai rises as a unique initiative, bringing in a wide spectrum of stakeholders on a single platform to deliberate on the scope of sustainable packaging opportunities in India. The conference will have designers, packaging developers, product managers of FMCG companies, influencers from the printing and packaging companies and converters, contract packaging and bottling companies, premedia and design companies. The other important participants will be consumables, materials and equipment suppliers for the packaging industry.
The keynote speech at the PDIT conference will be delivered by Werner Dornscheidt, President and CEO of Messe Dusseldorf, and one of the main founders and initiators of the Save Food movement globally. Deepak Manchanda, packaging industry veteran and rationalist, who wrote an open letter to PM Modi questioning the success of the much vaunted cleanliness drive, will also share his views at the conference. Gerard Caron, the reputed French designer and cofounder of Carre Noir, will enlighten the conference on design, innovation and sustainability. The other important speaker will be Rob Vermulen, the well-known Dutch designer, who had addressed the Save Food Congress in Interpack 2014. The PDIT Conference jointly organized by IPP Star and Messe Dusselddorf India will open up the debate on India’s food wastage while looking into possible solutions especially in sustainable packaging.
India is already a 2 trillion dollar economy growing at 7.5% annually, which makes it the fastest-growing major economy in the world. The country also has a booming FMCG segment that makes it a major market for the packaging industry. Today, the Indian retail landscape appears cluttered with endless FMCG products, the bulk of which neither gets recycled nor reaches the end-of-life cycle. In an economy of this size that is growing so fast, it is no longer a question of if, but rather of when the packaging industry here will adopt sustainable best practices that will ensure zero landfill packaging for the booming FMCG sector. The principles of the Save Food initiative designed on circular economy parameters will be very helpful in this endeavor.
