Hi @Rurog, thanks for sharing the idea. I can imagine that throwing away up to 6 pouches a day seems like a lot of waste. Depending on your personal average refuse, that actually might be a lot. But, you're not throwing away any food, at all, and that's a bigger win.
I'm not too sure whether this is common outside of Dutch supermarkets too, but it's pretty common here to have most vegetables wrapped in plastic. E.g. cucumbers all have their own shrink-wrap.
Most people hardly notice or even care, but you'll often find that the most environmentally-cautious try to avoid these plastic-wrapped veggies. Which is too bad, because they're actually better for the environment as the wrapper keeps the veggies fresh and thus lowers food waste.
Research amongst the Dutch shows that 80% of the people here waste food now and then. The expiration date is the main reason people give for throwing away food (60%). About 30% say that they waste food because there's too much food in a single packaging. Interestingly, younger people waste more food than older people.
Once opened, the shelf life of Jake drastically lowers. It would inevitably lead to more expired Jake and left-over half meals of Jake that'll have to be thrown away. Also, if you'd have to send tubs back to us to be refilled, the environmental cost of transportation (and cleaning and whatnot) would outweigh the benefits.
All in all, Jake being packed per meal is the most environment-friendly option. And as @Frank mentioned, a year's worth of Jake pouches fits into a single trash bin. Most households take out the trash a couple of times a week.
