They did not get everything right. But a few things worked better than in the west. Namely the stuff I mentioned, reuse and recycling, urban planning and public transit. The centralization of the market was a disaster however.

Not always packaged or wasted without packaging for those reasons. Consumers want perfection.

A lot of plastic wraps on vegetables exist because consumers find that more hygienic, where they just used to wash the stuff before.

Also vegetables are often wasted when shapes are misfit or size is off, too large or too small. Sometimes these are still processed in e.g. salads, other times they are left to rot in the field (e.g. small potatoes).