Design better packaging

For some years now the packaging industry has been blamed for not taking enough environmental concern. Internally in the packaging business there is still a fight to prove the most sustainable solutions, but even the sales guys seem to start learning that there are no simple rules in this game…
We do however see a lot of new initiatives in the industry – but they rarely reach the market place. Why?

When it comes to the need for a reduction of product carbon footprint there is one very obvious route to take: use recycled raw material. The CO2 savings in a traditional injection moulded plastic packaging will normally reach approximately 20% according to my calculations.
The carbon footprint reduction is very much depending upon the waste management flow in the involved countries, but no matter what, it is always far better to go recycled instead of using virgin material.
It is still not possible to use recycled polypropylene for food contact, so the RPP must be used for industrial packaging only. The environmental impact is quite substantial, the performance of the raw material is acceptable in most cases – and yet the brand owners are very reluctant to go for it! Why is that?

From an industry point of view it is required that market needs can be met by supply. Right now the access to sustainable raw material sourcing still is limited in most cases. And the amount of available resources is not likely to grow much if the demand does not increase… A dead end it seems!

I think we only have seen the top of the iceberg when it comes to need for sustainable sourcing for packaging design. Even though plastic packaging only counts for 3% of the global oil consumption were are still talking big amounts of crude oil that is used for throw away packaging.
There is so much more to do, and we need a strong guidance to push the development.
Governments around the world now start to take more direct action on sustainable solutions and hopefully this will open up for a development of waste management, recycling and research in new (renewable) raw materials.
But the brand owners (and consumers) must also step in and use the resources and technology available already now. Go recycled! The many small steps will make a giant jump in the end!