Today, sustainable packaging has become mainstream in developed nations. For instance, in the UK, half of the consumers are willing to pay more to avoid plastic packaging. However, this growing awareness is a very recent phenomenon. Even in Germany, one of the countries with stronger environmental conscience, the usage of plastic bags by year only decreased by c.13% from 2000 to 2012. On the other hand, from 2012 to 2018, the usage of plastic bags per year went down from 6.1b to 2.0b (67% decrease). There are two main elements that explain why this change happened:
- Strong scientific consensus about the negative impact of packaging into climate change: Packaging represents about one-third of municipal waste. Majority of that waste goes to the landfills. If the packaging is created of materials such as polysterene or plastic, when it decomposes it releases methane and carbon dioxide which contributes to global warming.
- Strong climate change activism: even if the scientific evidence had been clear for a while, it took a lot of advocacy to convince the wider public about the importance of sustainable packaging. Once a wider consensus was formed in societies, governments follow suit adopting measures to ensure that packaging was done in a more sustainable manner (e.g., eliminating plastic bags or forbidding that they are given by free).
What is sustainable packaging?
In very simple words, sustainable packaging is the packaging that, over time, reduces its environmental footprint. This can happen in a number of ways:
- Ingredients: Using raw 100% recycled or raw materials
- Production process: minimizing the raw materials usage and carbon footprint, reducing the effects on atmosphere/climate/environment, energy efficiency, etc.
- Reusability: Creating a circular economy around the packaging, extending its lifecycle and usability.
The criteria for ranking and comparing packaging based on their sustainability is an active area of development. General guidance, metrics, checklists, and scorecards are being published by several groups, e.g. Sustainable Packaging Coalition (a nonprofit that equips business with the science and the resources to make products more sustainable dedicated to a more robust environmental vision for packaging; here, you can see the certifications of certain brands and products) or Forest Stewardship Council (a nonprofit that ensures that any wood-based products are made from sustainably-sourced forests). Meeting all criteria for sustainable packaging can be tricky as it needs to be considered in the context of the packaging lifecycle, from sourcing to end-of-life. For example, plant-based packaging may seem like a viable option. But quite often that means clearing endangered rainforests to grow crops.
The main trends in sustainable packaging are now focused on packaging reusability, or sustainable packaging design, and eco-friendly packaging materials.
The most common eco-friendly package is cardboard (without glue or tape usage): it’s organic, sustainable and reusable; in addition, it is over 80% biodegradable. Sustainable packaging for food can be made from banana peel, and it is 100% compostable. Single-use plastics like Agar are made from red algae, a naturally occurring substance that’s available in abundance. This packaging is suited to pasta, cereals and other dry foods. Bio-based plastics or corn plastic packaging solutions, like polylactic acid (PLA), are now the next-best option to single-use plastic bags. They will decompose in about any environment that it’s put in. PLA can also be shaped into a more durable form of plastic packaging, used in Bio polymailers and tapes (like for NoIssue mailers) for sending items that don’t need the protection of a box.
Sustainable Packaging Best Practices and Industry Leaders
Sustainable packaging best practices should cover the entire life cycle of packaging. Material sourcing, manufacturing, distribution, and disposal should all be optimized in a sustainable method. For example, numerous lifecycle studies show that producing a paper bag consumes more energy and waste across the value chain than plastic bags. Best practice sustainable packaging options must consider the entire emissions and waste used throughout the product life cycle and value chain. Many companies have light-weighted their packaging, utilized recyclable or biodegradable materials, or entirely shifted towards reusable packaging.
Reusable packaging may be the most sustainable and long-term solution to the packaging pollution problem. Loop, a company based out of New Jersey created an ecommerce platform that eliminates single-use packaging. It’s platform partners with large consumer brands and offers branded products to customers built in reusable packaging. Items such as shampoo, ice cream, cleaning products, spices, shaving cream, and detergent are made from durable reusable bottles that customers can send back to Loop to get cleaned and refilled. In addition, Loop designed a durable shipping container with UPS that customers can utilize to send and receive products. This business model has eliminated single use packaging from the business process. Although the rate of gasoline and water consumption are higher than the current packaging model, the total GHG emissions from this process are greatly reduced.
Why should companies adhere to sustainable packaging?
Nowadays, consumers are more and more conscious about their shopping behaviour and impact and are now focusing on buying from sustainable companies. This can be supported by Kantar research made in UK that surveyed more than 5,000 consumers, in which 25% said that they are extremely concerned about plastic packaging and 42% think manufacturers should prioritize making packaging recyclable. The trends show the need for these solutions will keep growing and sustainable businesses will create competitive advantage.
Therefore, businesses should adapt to use alternative packaging since being sustainable does good for the world and can increase revenue.
How has the environment improved with sustainable packaging?
According to Coca-Cola while presenting its PlantBottle initiative in 2018 “the use of this innovative, more sustainable packaging has saved the equivalent annual emissions of more than 365,000 metric tons of potential carbon dioxide emissions. For perspective, this is equivalent to the annual emissions produced by more than 77,000 cars…”.
Besides the reduction of emission in the production process, other points should be included when calculating the environmental impact. The space and volume used in the packaging can be optimized to reduce the footprint. Additionally the packaging can be redesigned for transportation. A more efficient transportation in the package distribution can make a reduction in energy consumption and fossil fuel emissions.
Written by Darya Ber, Gustavo Gallardo, Quinn Nerenson, Laura Tavares
It is heartbreaking to see the damage brought by plastics to our environment and the animals. As I live in China, I feel an emergent need to increase the awareness of the general public on changing shopping behaviors and discourage overpackaging. Very nice article and this is what is in need!
Thank you for the insightful article! There was much information I did not know. For example, the fact that plant-based packaging often leads to clearing endangered rainforests to grow crops was new knowledge for me. I also did not realize that producing a paper bag consumes more energy and waste across the value chain than plastic bags.
I wonder how much additional cost is needed for sustainable packagings, such as using recyclable or biodegradable materials, assuming that cost competition for packaging is very fierce.
Quite encouraging to see all the progress that is being made in packaging technology development and scaling – I wonder though whether market forces alone will provide the necessary push to get these to a big enough scale to really make an impact. Do you think that consumer pressure / desire for “green” branding will be enough, or is regulation of some kind necessary?