Easy peel, ring pull, resealable, screw top – it’s all part of the modern-day food packaging armoury which is supposed to make our lives easier. But we all know, that’s not always the case.
We’re getting to the stage where it would be easier if food packaging came with its very own pair of scissors attached to truly make the product easy to open.
Everyone in the Starts at 60 office had their own personal experience with ‘food packaging from hell’. How about you? Here’s a few you might identify with:
And on it goes – how about the new double seal milk bottle caps and the piece of foil under the Milo tin lid to keep it fresh. There’s only one way to get into that one and that’s with a very sharp knife – good therapy stabbing through that pesky foil if you’re in a mood!
Perhaps it’s time to forego the always fresh, lasts longer, keeps forever, never-goes-mouldy packaging for the sake of our sanity. At the very least, modern day packaging has made the manual can opener and sharp scissors the new absolute necessity in the kitchen.
If you’re tired of wrestling with food packaging, there is something you can do about. The Australian Packaging Covenant is an agreement between government, industry and community groups to find and fund solutions to address packaging sustainability issues. APC told Starts at 60, it sets sustainable packaging guidelines for business which include specifications for packaging accessibility. The Australian Packaging Covenant recommends consumers go directly to a manufacturer when they’re having a problem with packaging.
We’re also here to listen so share your own personal packaging story with us. Good packaging or bad packaging – which food packaging is working for you and which is not?