MPkgS Webinar
Fresh produce on the loose: Exploring the relationship between food and packaging waste
By Dr Sarah Greenwood
Thursday 19 March 2026 12:30-13:30 GMT
The UK fresh produce sector is the fifth-largest contributor to consumer plastic packaging waste, making it a prime target for public and political pressure to “ditch the plastic.” Retailers have responded with bold reduction targets, but these ambitions often collide with an uncomfortable reality: packaging plays a critical role in preventing food waste. Drawing on decades of supermarket trials, this talk interrogates whether our drive to eliminate packaging is genuinely aligned with environmental outcomes, or simply shifting impacts elsewhere. By comparing retailer approaches, Sarah asks a difficult question: is going packaging-free a sustainability win, or a well-intentioned mistake? Join her to unpack the hidden trade-offs lurking in the loose produce aisle.
Sarah Greenwood is a sustainable plastics professional and multidisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of academia, industry, and policy. With a background in product development across manufacturing and retail, her work now focuses on the sustainability of plastics and packaging systems, reuse models, and the relationship between packaging and food waste. She co-led the Many Happy Returns: Enabling Reusable Packaging Systems project at the University of Sheffield and has contributed expert insight on BBC Panorama, BBC Breakfast, and BBC Radio. She recently successfully defended her PhD thesis, Plastic Packaging in the Circular Economy. Sarah is an Accredited Packaging Professional (APkgPrf), Fellow of IOM3 (FIMMM), co-Chair of the North of England Packaging Society, and a member of the Plastics Consultancy Network.
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