Introduction: Navigating the Sustainability Transition in Food Packaging: Challenges, Policies and Interdisciplinary Pathways

Food packaging is essential in modern food systems, fulfilling functions such as preserving food, ensuring safety and facilitating logistics, yet it is also a significant environmental challenge. This introductory chapter examines the role of food packaging in the sustainability transition, focusing on its dual function as a solution and a problem. Key challenges include the environmental impacts of material use, the generation of waste and the growing demand for packaging driven by societal trends. While innovative solutions like bio-based and reusable materials are emerging, systemic challenges persist, including trade-offs between reducing material use and maintaining functionality. The chapter highlights the limitations of focusing solely on technological fixes or material substitution, emphasizing the need for systemic and interdisciplinary approaches. It explores the dynamics between key actors, including policymakers, industries, and consumers, and discusses the influence of shifting regulations, market innovations and cultural practices. By framing packaging as an integral part of the food system, this chapter calls for a holistic perspective that incorporates ecological, economic, social and cultural sustainability dimensions. It also underscores the importance of aligning sustainability goals across sectors to enable meaningful transformation in food packaging to be discussed further in the rest of the book chapters.