The Skin of Commerce: the Role of Plastic Packaging in the Construction of Food Security, Waste and Consumer Activism in Australia

Researchers: Professor Gay Hawkins, Dr Andrea Westermann (University of Zurich), Dr Catherine Phillips
Funding: Australian Research Council (opens in a new window) , Discovery Project
Period: 2013-2017

This project investigates the history and impacts of plastic on food production, markets and waste streams and evaluates innovative industry strategies to reduce the over reliance on plastic. If we live in an overpackaged world how might this mundane material and serious waste burden be challenged while still ensuring food supply? Three key issues will be investigated: the interactions between the plastics and food industries in Australia; consumer activism about plastic waste; and new market practices that reduce plastic packaging.

Photograph: Ricardo Bernardo (opens in a new window)

Projects

Research at ICS

People at ICS

Contact ICS

Contact ICS

The Institute for Culture and Society is located in Parramatta, “the place where the eel sets down” in Dharug language,
along the north bank of the Parramatta River. It sits on the traditional lands and waters of the Burramattagal people of the Dharug Nation,
who have been stewards and caretakers of these territories since time immemorial, in what today is referred to as Greater Western Sydney,
one of the most diverse cultural communities in the world and home to the largest number of Indigenous Australians in the country.
The Institute for Culture and Society acknowledges the Dharug, Eora, Dharawal (also referred to as Tharawal)
and Wiradjuri peoples as traditional custodians and Indigenous knowledge-holders, whose storytelling serve
as historical record, a form of teaching and learning, a way to care for Country,
and an expression of Indigenous culture and identity.