Avery Dennison puts itself at centre of Global Food Waste debate
A new, comprehensive global industry study, commissioned by Avery Dennison, focuses on the immense opportunity to reduce food waste in the retail supply chain. Making the Invisible Visible: The $540bn Grocery Bill highlights how addressing food waste is not only an environmental and ethical imperative but also a significant business opportunity, with USD$540 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) recoverable annually by tackling inefficiencies from processing to retail.
Food waste is a systemic issue, with costs equivalent to 33% of supply chain revenues. Over half of the business leaders surveyed for this report confirm rising food waste costs in recent years. The report underscores that food waste is not just a loss of product but a drain on resources, profitability, and sustainability. With the global population projected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, the need to optimise food systems is more urgent than ever.
The USD$540 billion opportunity represents the value that could be unlocked by reducing food waste in the global retail supply chain by 2026. This figure is not just theoretical; it is grounded in the real, measurable losses that occur at every stage of the supply chain, from farm to shelf. The research draws on insights from 3,500 leaders across seven major markets and leverages economic modelling by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).
The report is structured around three core themes:
- Improving Food Waste Visibility: Many businesses lack full visibility into where and why waste occurs. The report calls for better data, transparency, and collaboration across the supply chain to identify and address these blind spots.
- Smart Moves to Unlock Value: Leveraging technology—such as RFID, IoT sensors, and intelligent labelling—can provide item-level tracking, improve inventory management, and enable predictive analytics for demand forecasting. Packaging innovations that extend shelf life and maintain freshness are also highlighted as critical tools.
- Systemic Leadership for Long-Term Change: Retailers are positioned as pivotal actors who can drive systemic change by adopting new technologies, collaborating with suppliers, and responding proactively to regulatory pressures. The report emphasises the need for agility, especially during peak seasons and in response to shifting consumer trends.
Avery Dennison aims to position itself at the heart of the solution, leveraging its expertise in materials science and digital identification to drive innovation across the food supply chain. The company’s vision is to give every physical item a digital identity, advancing innovations in digital identification, smart packaging, and supply chain collaboration to ‘make the invisible visible’.
Avery Dennison’s RFID and sensor technologies are able to transform supply chain visibility, by enabling item-level tracking to help retailers and suppliers monitor freshness, manage inventory, and respond quickly to issues such as spoilage or recalls. Avery Dennison’s partnerships with major retailers like Walmart and Kroger already lean into the opportunity of digital identification at scale. By feeding accurate, item-level data into AI and analytics platforms, Avery Dennison is empowering retailers to optimise demand planning, dynamic pricing, and markdown strategies. This data-driven approach helps align stock with real-time demand, reducing overproduction and minimising waste.
Proprietary packaging solutions and innovations are another way in which Avery Dennison is confident it can make a positive difference here, enabling exporters and retailers to reach distant markets with less risk of loss and improved product quality. The company’s solutions also help businesses stay ahead of tightening regulations on food waste and packaging, through technologies that support traceability, reporting and compliance with emerging global standards.
The report concludes that food waste reduction is a business-critical opportunity. By embracing innovation and collaboration, retailers can transform waste from a hidden cost into a source of growth, resilience, and competitive advantage. Avery Dennison sees its leadership and solutions as central to this transformation, providing the tools and partnerships needed to unlock the $540 billion opportunity. Provision of this comprehensive report itself can be seen as a point in case ref Avery Dennison’s understanding of this opportunity and ambition to deliver solutions and innovations that address the issues.
