Food Packaging is a HUGELY moot topic here in the UK.
Namely fresh goods (fruit/veg/meats etc) and how completely wastefully packaged up they have all become. It disgusts me when for example I see fruit such as apples or pears, sat in polystyrene trays and then shrink wrapped and labelled up!
Chances are, you are actually paying more for this packaging than the products within, let alone the negative impacts it has on the environment in terms of production and (if any) recycling.
Same applies with a whole myriad of food types, and its more a cultural issue perhaps than anything. We have become obsessed with a certain expectation of 'perfection' and that everything must be delivered and presented to us in ship shape condition, free of artifacts or the possibility of contamination.
It would be great to see this issue addressed (chiefly in supermarkets might I add) face on, and it might be more a campaign of advertising than perhaps packaging (of the type I mention)
If however, certain packaging is to be dropped it will have to be replaced with something that still fulfils certain levels of quality & protection etc. This is certainly a design challenge on a few levels, but if there is one thing designers are good at, its thinking laterally about a problem and actually seeing the negatives in existing products/systems etc as being fantastic gateways for improvement.
Just my two pennies!
Good luck with your project.
