The Initiative has submitted a nomination to present an address titled “Why New Food Packaging Materials are Necessary for the Quick Service Restaurant Industry” during the GreenBiz Circularity Conference to be held June 18 to 20, 2019 in Minneapolis, MN.
In support of the speaker request, the Initiative noted that Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) customers generate large amounts of waste, which includes plastic, preventing the waste from being acceptable for animal feed. If the plastic were to be replaced by substances that could be digested by animals, the customer generated waste could become a resource by being made into animal feed.
Four reasons were presented for why the QSR industry should cooperate with grocers, food processors, and packaging manufacturers to seek funding through a public-private partnership (PPP) for research that is necessary for the discovery of new food packaging materials. Funding for such a public-private partnership is available through the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR).