Exploring visions and vision clusters of sustainable food packaging - The case of Finland

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Food packaging faces demands to reduce its ecological footprint, e.g., plastic leakage and use of virgin materials. We collected and analyzed stakeholder visions of sustainable food packaging in Finland. The food packaging system’s complexity means that a single, tangible, transformative, and widely acceptable vision can be difficult to create. We therefore present a “vision cluster” as a concept for analyzing and presenting visions. The visions are considered from two interrelated perspectives: the breadth of the change referring to the diversity of actors involved; and the depth of change referring to the type of change, including structures, human-nature connections, and knowledge systems. Different visions complement each other and create an opportunity to discuss potential tensions between visions and actors. A vision cluster could alleviate conflict, allowing different actors to consider various sustainable futures together, and the possible tensions may be openly discussed. There were clear differences in the prominence of actors in the visions. Although the food industry is a major food packaging actor, it is less visible than the packaging industry in the visions. The changes in food packaging were often envisioned as relatively shallow or incremental. However, increasing collaboration between different actors was a recurring theme in the visions.