Connecting producers and consumers to enable more sustainable consumption: communicating the environmental impact of food through packaging

环境可持续性对于食品系统中的生产者和消费者来说都是一个越来越重要的因素；这体现在制造过程、营销活动、立法和消费者购买趋势的变化中，以及行业和消费者在研究、会议和政府政策(如英国国家食品战略)中表达的意见。然而，这个术语由于使用的增加，可以说是导致它成为一个有助于绿色洗涤的流行语，在不同的上下文中，它的定义变得不清楚和有争议。在食品系统中，由于缺乏、不一致或相互冲突的信息，往往很难破译一种产品的可持续性。因此，要理解什么是可持续消费是一件具有挑战性的事情。传达有关食品环境影响的信息的一种方式是通过包装，在英国已经提供了相当数量的营养、过敏和联系信息。虽然存在一系列所谓的“生态标签”，突出具体的环境因素，如与回收、公平贸易和有机产品、产品的来源和公司在捕获或收获产品时所遵守的标准有关的因素，但这些标签的多样性使得人们很难就一种产品相对于另一种产品的整体环境影响得出结论。目前正在进行研究，以创建一个单一的“分数”，其中包括一系列减少这一挑战的不同环境因素，例如，使用生命周期评估和欧洲委员会的环境足迹计算模型，但在创建这些分数时，在多大程度上考虑了消费者的看法目前尚不清楚。鉴于这些信息的作用是告知消费者，可以说，这种感知(例如，消费者认为哪些环境因素影响了他们的购买决定)在创建关于包装的环境影响信息时至关重要。这种针对消费者的意见将有助于创建一种通过包装进行沟通的知情、有针对性、可理解和可访问的方式，这将使消费者和生产商清楚地了解将他们的注意力集中在他们产品的可持续性方面的最佳方式。此外，本研究旨在了解如何最好地将包装用作沟通英国境内食品环境影响的工具。通过咨询消费者并了解在包装信息中应优先考虑哪些因素，它旨在通过信息共享将生产者和消费者联系起来，从而增加双方之间的信任，更容易获得环境信息，从而提高对不同食品可持续性的认识。这将为生产者和消费者提供必要的信息，以便在他们自己的背景下努力实现更可持续的消费(在可能的情况下，考虑到外部限制和障碍)，因为他们可以明确、透明和一致地获得食品的可持续性措施。

Environmental sustainability is an increasingly important factor for both producers and consumers within food systems; this is evidenced within changes to manufacturing processes, marketing campaigns, legislation and consumer buying trends, as well as being voiced by both industry and consumers within research, conferences and government policy such as the National Food Strategy for England. It is however, a term that due to increased use, arguably causing it to become a buzzword that contributes to greenwashing, has become both unclear and disputed in its definition within different contexts.Within food systems, it is often difficult to decipher how sustainable a product is due to lacking, inconsistent or conflicting information. It is therefore challenging to understand what constitutes sustainable consumption. One way of communicating information surrounding the environmental impact of food products is via packaging, which already offers a considerable amount of nutritional, allergic and contact information in the UK. Whilst an array of so called 'eco labels' exist, highlighting specific environmental factors such as those relating to recycling, Fairtrade and organic products, the origin of produce and the standards by which a company has abided when capturing or harvesting it, the diversity of these labels makes it difficult to reach a conclusion as to the overall environmental impact of one product compared to another. Research is currently being undertaken to create a single 'score' that encompasses an array of different environmental factors that reduces this challenge, e.g., using life cycle assessment and the European Commission's Environmental Footprint calculation model, however the extent to which consumer perceptions has been considered within the creation of these scores is not currently clear. Given that the role of this information is to inform the consumer, it can be argued that such perceptions (e.g., which environmental factors consumers feel influence their buying decisions) are vitally important to include in the creation of environmental impact information on packaging. This consumer-specific input would help create an informed, targeted, comprehensible and accessible way of communicating through packaging, which would benefit consumers but also producers by gaining a clear understanding of where best to focus their attention regarding the sustainability of their products.Furthermore, this research aims to understand how packaging can be best used as a communication tool for the environmental impact of food products within the UK. By consulting consumers and understanding which factors to prioritise in packaging information, it aims to connect producers and consumers through information sharing that leads to increased trust between both parties, more accessible environmental information and therefore increased awareness surrounding the sustainability of different food products. This will provide both producers and consumers with the necessary information to work towards more sustainable consumption within their own context (where possible, considering external limitations and barriers) due to clear, transparent and consistent access to sustainability measures of food products.