Towards a better future Are sustainability and packaging mutually exclusive terms? YOU need to be careful when throwing a word like ‘sustainability’ around.Your colleagues might start to give you sideways looks given how popular the word has been among politicians over the past couple of years. But is it wrong that a word like sustainability has been hi-jacked by environmentalism? I think so. Essentially, sustainability is a business that is able to generate shareholder returns in the long term. No more. No less. Sustainability is about being here tomorrow. In the same way, sustainable packaging innovation should be about delivering a cost advantage to the business. After all it needs to make economic sense first and foremost. Initiatives like reducing material inputs and optimising packaging to be ‘fit for purpose’ directly contribute to a business’ profit margin, which in turn creates a more sustainable business. The most elegant sustainable packaging innovations can sometimes just be a case of common sense by removing the packaging input at the start of the process, rather than finding a use for it at the end of its life. Looking globally, The Dell Computer Company has proclaimed a 2020 goal of having waste free packaging. This includes using 100% sustainable materials and ensuring that 100% of its packaging is either recyclable or compostable at the end of its life. They have also indicated they will utilise wheat straw, a byproduct of the Chinese agriculture industry, by incorporating it into their cardboard boxes. This kind of thinking is becoming more and 50
FMCG JULY 2013
more prevalent among packaging users and manufacturers. Joining the chorus has been American brewer AB InBev, who has declared they will reduce their packaging usage by 100,000 tons over a five year period. A couple of further examples which have recently cropped up are cases of clever thinking to deal with packaging waste. The solutions deal with packaging waste either after the consumer has finished with the product, or by preventing the material from entering the system in the first place. Coca-Cola ran a campaign where they manufactured the bottle out of ice. Not only does this resonate with consumers from an environmental perspective – as in the bottle melts so therefore there is minimal packaging waste, but it is something so different that it immediately generates attention due to its uniqueness. PhD student Aaron Mickleson redesigned some familiar FMCG products under the banner of ‘The Disappearing Package’ (disappearingpackage.com) for his Masters thesis. The ultimate aim was to eliminate packaging waste entirely with the reasoning being that preventing packaging waste from entering the system is a better solution than dealing with it ‘post-consumer’.
I agree with this line of thinking, it’s akin to the old adage that prevention is better than the cure. The more the packaging sector adopts this thought process, the less we will see packaging waste ending up in landfill. The challenge and responsibility is for brand owners to hunt down sustainable packaging initiatives that deliver both a cost and environmental benefit, to be proactive and embrace the sustainable ideals that will only continue to gain momentum and communicate to the consumer that we are all working towards a better future.
Nick Rowe NPD & Packaging Technologist M. 0274441850 E. nick.rowe@silverfernfarms.co.nz