Note to journalists: Please report that this research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.
INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 10, 2013 — Nature has provided the food industry with the perfect packages to imitate in the drive to embrace a new genre of boxes, bottles, fast-food clam shells and other sustainable packaging material for the 21st century, according to a presentation on the topic here today.
Speaking at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s largest scientific society, Sara Risch, Ph.D., said that new packaging materials must meet the criteria for being sustainable without sacrificing the security, freshness and visibility of the food inside.
“We face a huge challenge in developing new packaging materials that protect food all through the supply chain while being recyclable, compostable, produced with renewable energy or even edible,” Risch explained. Nature has set the standard, and it is daunting. Apples, oranges, bananas, nuts — all come in packaging that is edible or compostable.
Risch said that the food industry clearly is embracing sustainable packaging. Although definitions vary, sustainable packaging often means packaging that can be composted, recycled or reused and is produced, transported and recycled using renewable energy; made with renewable or recycled materials; made in ways that optimize use of energy; and safe for people and the environment throughout its life cycle.
“The industry has made great strides in reducing the amount of packaging,” said Risch, citing some of the most visible examples, such as thinner plastic water bottles and compostable potato chip bags. She is with Popz Europe Kft, Chicago, Ill. “But remember that packaging is there to protect the product and that function must not be compromised. Not all materials can be properly cleaned for re-use, for instance, and in some cases, it takes a lot of fuel to collect and transport glass and the heavy materials for re-use. In some instances, the fuel may exceed the value of the recycled material.”
Industry data indicate that use of sustainable packaging diverted about 1.5 billion pounds of paper, plastic and other packaging material from landfills between 2005 and 2010 in the United States alone. Plastic wrap and cardboard boxes may seem like feather-weights. But along with other food packaging, they account for about one-third of the 250 million pounds of solid waste that people in the United States produce annually.
Risch cites compostable plastic bottles, food trays and cutlery as an example of the challenges that lie ahead. Although microbes in the soil do break down those plastics, much like leaves and grass in a garden compost pile, uncertainties exist about the nature and fate of the degradation products released during the breakdown.
Edible packaging is getting a lot of attention, Risch said. One fast-food chain in Brazil late last year posted an online video of its customers eating burgers –– paper wrap and all. The technology for making edible packaging already exists, and several companies are experimenting with food wraps made from dried fruit, mushrooms, nuts and other material.
Is the drive for sustainable packaging moving society toward the day where that entire box of breakfast cereal, six-pack of beer, bottle of wine and frozen pizza will be edible or compostable — package, as well as contents?
“I do not see this happening any time soon,” Risch said. “There are just too many challenges in terms of developing structural integrity, as well as the barriers to oxygen and water, that are typically needed for foods. Without that protection, the packaged food won’t be sustainable. It will have a short shelf-life and spoil quickly.”
This article mentions the fact that Marks and Spencer's have a project called Plan A, which focuses on making its company a lot more sustainable, so I'm going to look further into that.
It also shows a lot of big companies are interested in how to make their products more sustainable, so I think this is something that could be a 'point of difference' and to look at the 'environmental impact' part of the bacon brief.
However, the sustainability movement has evolved consumer perceptions – sustainable packaging is no longer seen as a bonus or a value added feature. Instead it’s expected as default that brands will produce designs that are lighter, more recyclable and less wasteful.
Such is the value put on sustainable packaging by consumers that a recent survey by IPSOS found that 55% of people would pay more for eco-packaging. Just as interesting is the fact that those in South Africa, Malaysia and India were most likely to say this, as people in developing economies start to put greater emphasis on sustainable living.
In China, Unilever has recognised the growing ecological concern of urban residents and has produced more products in a refillable format to encourage re-usability. The Chinese government has also realised the aspiration among it’s urban population to improve living conditions by reducing pollution, improving air quality and having cleaner city streets. As a result, in 2012 the government pledged to significantly reduce packaging waste and promote recycling by 2015.
A dominant aspect of the Neo-Eco trend is the growing awareness among brands that having a greener approach to their business not only provides a marketing advantage, but also financial benefits too.
For example, British retailer M&S expects to save £70million by 2015 through its sustainable packaging initiative, Plan A.
Other brands have seen rising fuel prices and landfill taxes as key economic reasons to innovate their packaging, with lightweighting and concentrated product formats particularly popular. Such is the drive among companies to reduce their product footprint, that many FMCG brands are reducing the amount of landfill they are responsible for by 30% by 2015 (Mintel).
Coca-Cola and Nestle are two such brands, as they seek to reduce production costs as well as their environmental footprint. The lightweighting of the Coca-Cola glass bottles has been well publicised, as has the efforts by Buxton andPure Life to reduce the amount of PET used in their bottles by 25%.
Sustainable design cues are also moving away from cliché uses of brown paper and card, with a refocusing on packaging being more intelligent, self-regulatory and adaptive to the market. Neo-Eco packaging has become about the addition of technology, not just the reduction of materials.
M&S have a mission called Plan A where they plan to make everything they produce sustainable, and for their packaging they contacted a company called The Less Packaging Company.
Challenging times ahead?
Packaging plays a vital role to promote, protect and transport goods from factory to point of use. In some cases it can also perform a life-saving role with medicine and a life-extending role with food products. Without packaging, life would be a lot messier, smellier, stickier and rather dull. The value chain of a product is often long and complex and to understand why certain products are packed is not always fully appreciated by the consumer. Increasingly savvy consumers recognise the need for optimal product and packaging design but are all too ready to take advantage of the digital arena to express their views of over-packaging. Directly or indirectly they can and do put pressure on the supplier to address issues, which could impact on brand and business values related to corporate social responsibility. The consumer is becoming noisier and it is now easy to be heard. Brand and packaging are now one and the brand owner needs to be vigilant.
The growth of the supermarket and home shopping over the past 20 years has given rise to more packaging to enable products to be delivered safely, effectively and with minimal product damage. That said, over-packaging is still commonplace with over half of products poorly packaged. What a waste. There is a good reason for this reality. Packaging manufacturers are good at making packaging, but not necessarily designing it in the best interests of the retailer, brand owner, consumer or planet for that matter. Over-packaging is the safe option for product suppliers and naturally ensures minimal costly product returns. The drive toward retail-ready packaging to help de-cage and merchandise multiple products and reduce costly in-store handling is also increasing the need for more packaging if not designed optimally. Making products easy to merchandise, display and carry home also impacts on product and packaging design often with a perception of over-packing in the eyes of the consumer.
Brand awareness, creative design, convenience and speed-of-service often take precedence over standardisation and regularity by nature of the competitive environment within which brands have to compete for consumer attention. Branded packaging design often sits within the marketing and brand management area of a business and because of this aesthetics often have a higher priority than production and supply-chain efficiency considerations. In an ideal world one would meld the thinking of all these issues and approach the packaging design from an informed and balanced perspective, but this takes resource, commitment and often hours of meetings.
The expertise and technology to precycle the waste out of packaging is available today but sometimes other priorities get in the way. Packaging has an important role to play in getting products safely from the factory to the consumer but it can often be done more efficiently and with less frustration for the consumer whilst reducing the environmental impact.
- See more at: http://lesspackaging.com/blog/challenging-times-ahead#sthash.JcYo12C8.dpuf
This is a bit of information about the Plan A.
Marks and Spencer’s Plan for Sustainable Success
Marks & Spencer (M&S) is three years into Plan A, a commitment to change 100 things over five years, while aiming to become the world's most sustainable retailer by 2015. So how's the track record looking for M&S on its packaging front?
Its commitment to build Plan A into every one of the 2.7 billion individual products bought from M&S each year appears a massive undertaking. But in transforming its packaging systems and processes, the retailer has revisited simplicity, and in doing so has broken with industry norms. M&S acknowledges that its goal puts down a bold marker that demonstrates its commitment while driving the search for innovative solutions to environmental challenges.
Earlier this year M&S joined other retailers in signing up to Courtauld Commitment 2. This follows the original Courtauld Commitment, a voluntary agreement between major UK supermarkets and the Waste and Resources Action Programme, a non-governmental organisation that targets improvements in resource efficiency and which aims to achieve the more sustainable use of resources over the entire lifecycle of products throughout the whole supply chain. While still keeping goods safe and protected, and packaging appealing, Courtauld Commitment 2 seeks to impact less on the environment and increase transportation efficiency.
I found that Marks and Spencer's do a collapsible water bottle, and I went to research this further by typing into google 'collapsible eco' and then 'lunch box' popped up so I looked at that too.
I then saw on the packaging it says 'made from silicone', and as it is eco and for food, I decided to look at 'sustainable silicone'.
This website has a lot of information about silicone and why it is sustainable.
One of the main things the brief wants me to look at, is how to keep the meat fresh for longer, and this is one of the advantages of using silicone.
However, I think what if it lasts a lot longer than the product itself, and is therefore wasteful? It is something I'll have to look at further, as although it is used for that lunch box, that is something that is made to last longer than food packaging.
I then actually typed in 'silicone food packaging', and found that is actually used a lot in moulds and not for food itself. Maybe I could incorporate it into the chopping board idea, but I think that perhaps silicone isn't a good idea after all.
As I have realised silicone isn't the right material to use, I looked at sustainable packaging on the Dieline.
This is a cool idea, because it focuses on sustainability but goes further than just the material. It says the material is 'environmentally sensitive' and doesn't actually name the material which is a shame.
But it does mention that on the each of every package there is a web code which tells you where the product is grown, the farmer and a bit about him etc, so you know all the details.
This could be a good idea to do for bacon packaging, as there has been a lot in the news this year about meat being sold as horse meat, and therefore people have become wary and curious about where their meat has actually come from. A bit of information about the farm and where abouts it is could be a good idea, either on a webpage/app/packaging.
"The Heinz Pure New Zealand range was created to launch a range of premium vegetables that embody the product's origin and authenticity. It was also important to create an offering of quality, unadulterated by genetic modification. The packaging is authentic, honest, transparent, environmentally sensitive with a sense of humour.
The back of pack also features a 'webcode' and directions to a website that allows the consumer to find out exactly where the products are grown, which farmer grew it and a photo & bio of the farmer. The website is www.purenzvegies.com and to check it out, use this code 89082B - We think its pretty cool! It is also the first transparent bio degradable packaging in the Australian frozen category."
I found an article on the Dieline which talks about what makes packaging sustainable. So there are many different areas to look at, not just the material of the packaging.
But what is it that makes certain packages more “sustainable” than others? As a sustainability consultant specializing in packaged goods, I think about this question all the time.
When you think about it, there are many stages in the “life cycle” of a package, each of which creates environmental impacts. We extract raw materials from the earth, we blend and convert those into a form, we fill the package with product, we transport the packaged product, we use the product, and then we landfill, recycle, incinerate or compost the product and package when we’re done. All the while we negatively impact our shared environmental resources either by consuming them or polluting them.
To be “sustainable”, the goal is to optimize this cycle of industrial production. Ideally, we’d design products and packages in such a way as to reduce or eliminate our need to extract new resources, and reduce or eliminate the pollution we create.
Applying this concept to define sustainable packaging, we might say something like:
A sustainable package represents a fully optimized use of environmental resources throughout its entire life cycle.
This may seem like a complex way to look at packaging. But the advantage of this approach is that at each stage in your package’s life cycle you have an opportunity to dream up ways to make it more sustainable. For some inspiration, I’ve selected some designs that tackle sustainability at particular stages of the packaging life cycle.
Raw Materials Extraction
Aaron Mickleson’s The Disappearing Package is a fantastic collection of designs that really push the concept of material reduction to the limit. But if you’re designing for a large company, even the smallest material reduction can make a huge impact. Take Mondelez (Kraft), for example. By coming up with a more efficient design for the zipper on their cheese packaging, they’re saving more than a million pounds of packaging per year. Just the zipper. On one product line. A million pounds of packaging saved each year.
Transportation
One of the best examples of design that optimizes packaging for transportation is the square bottle. As featured on FastCompany, Andrew Kim’s concept for a square coca cola bottle nests and ships more tightly and efficiently than the conventional round bottle. When more efficient shipping translates into fewer truckloads, big savings in greenhouse gas emissions can result.
End of life
There are many different ways optimize your package for disposal, depending on the specific product and its supply chain. I’ve always had a particular soft spot for plantable packaging, like this line developed several years ago by Pangea Organics that could literally grow another package (in 50 years or so!).
At this point, you may be thinking: how do I know which life cycle stage to focus my efforts on? Is it better to make my package more recyclable, or more efficient to ship?
Unfortunately, there isn’t one sustainability strategy that applies across the board. Each package is different, and certain strategies will have more or less environmental benefit depending on the context of each particular supply chain. Also, you need to be careful that a positive change in one stage doesn’t unintentionally create a negative impact in another (for example, changing to a lighter material that reduces your product’s shelf life).
But, the good news is that there are a lot of resources available to help designers make sustainable design decisions. For example, my company Clean Agency uses life cycle assessment tools to help designers to figure out where to focus their efforts to achieve optimal environmental benefit.
Yes, there are some complexities to looking at packaging from a holistic, life cycle perspective. But by expanding our outlook and considering all of the different stages in a package’s life cycle, we open ourselves up to many more creative opportunities to green our packages.
I looked at an article which talks about what materials are used for food packaging, and one slide of it had pictures of meat packaging, and mentioned 'active packaging' for keeping food fresh, which is one of the main points I need to consider.
Therefore, I then googled 'active packaging' and found a website which has a lot of information about it. This was a really good find, because it has a meat product which has used a grip seal resealable bag, which is something I am looking at to produce.
I dropped them an email asking more about the packaging they produce, what makes it sustainable and what materials they use.
Unilever also have an article about materials that are used for packaging, and also for meat.
This diagram shows that PVC or V is used for meat packaging.
It shows plastic is a good material to use because it is lightweight (which will make transportation cheaper), relatively strong (means it won't get damaged and waste food) and can carry print so the graphics can be applied easily. Now I want to research more into biodegradable plastics to find one that has the least impact on the environment.
I also found out from this article that there are three ways of making something sustainable - reducing, reusing and recycling.
By using less packaging, this reduces waste and makes transport cheaper. However, sometimes more packaging is needed to protect the product which isn't necessarily a bad thing if it's recyclable and keeps the product intact for longer.
Plastics
There are six major types of plastics used
for packaging, which are identified using
numbers or their initials (see graphic 1).
The raw materials for plastics (called
polymers) are produced by the
petrochemicals industry from refi ned oil,
or from ethane, a bi-product of the natural
gas purifi cation process. About 4%1
of the world’s oil consumption is used to
make plastic and a fraction of this is used
to make packaging plastic. Polymers are
converted using heat and pressure to
make bottles, tubs, fi lms and other types
of packaging. Plastics are relatively strong,
lightweight and versatile and can carry
print, making them suitable for brand
messages and product information.
Reduce
One way to improve the sustainability of
packaging is to use less of it – reducing size,
thickness and weight as much as possible. Over
the last 30 years the packaging industry has
made great strides in reducing the weight of its
products. Glass containers and metal cans are
around a third lighter than in 19805.
Reducing packaging cuts down on the use of materials
and it also takes less energy to manufacture and
transport lighter and smaller goods. As well as
being better for the environment, this cuts costs
which provides a strong incentive for companies
to minimise packaging. The best solution may not be intuitive
Reducing packaging does not always lead to
the most sustainable option. For example,
toothpaste tubes often come in a cardboard box.
This may seem like unnecessary packaging,
but it helps to protect the tube inside on its
journey to the store. The box is readily recyclable,
and without it, the tube would need to be
thickened (making it heavier) and might need
more transit packaging.
A 10g laminate shampoo pouch may seem like
the more sustainable option compared to a 20g
plastic bottle. But if the collection and recycling
infrastructure means the pouch cannot be
recycled and if half the bottles are recycled, they
both generate the same amount of waste.
Reuse
A good way to make packaging more sustainable
is to reuse it in its original form. For example,
some specialist retailers will refi ll shampoo bottles
if customers bring them back to their store.
However, it takes energy to transport and water to
clean used packaging. Reusable packaging must
also be sturdier than for single use. There can be
safety and contamination issues associated with
reusable packaging. A full lifecycle analysis is
required for each product to determine whether
reusing packaging is beneficial.
Recycle
Using materials with recycled content helps
cut down on consumption of virgin resources
and can reduce the amount of energy used
in manufacturing. It also creates a market for
waste materials making recycling more viable.
It is technically possible to recycle almost all
packaging materials, but to be viable recycling
must be economically attractive.
Recycling also has environmental impacts
requiring energy for transport, cleaning and
reprocessing. The environmental balance
between virgin and recycled materials is complex
to assess and depends on many local factors such
as the distance travelled by recycled materials.
Waste packaging, mainly plastic, can also be
burnt in incinerators to generate energy.
PVC, packaging and health
PVC (polyvinylchloride) is used in packaging such
as food trays, drinks and shampoo bottles and
blister packs. Where facilities exist, PVC can be
effi ciently recycled or safely burnt in high-tech
incinerators. However, in the developing world,
most PVC packaging is not collected and is often
burned on open fi res, releasing dioxins which
damage the environment and human health.
Environmental groups believe that dioxins are
released when PVC is manufactured. Some
phthalates, which are used as plasticisers in PVC
manufacturing, have been shown to damage
health if ingested. These are only used in
packaging in very small quantities.
The functional properties of PVC make it diffi cult
to replace for some applications, however many
environmental groups have called for a total
phase out of PVC in packaging.
Biodegradable Plastic
I started with Wikipedia to see the basic advantages of using these to research further about the best ones.
I went back onto the Marks and Spencer's website, and looked at WRAP symbols, and their meaning.
-
- Disposal
- Lets you know which elements of the pack are recyclable and how easy it is to do this - whether it's widely recyclable, something you'd have to ask your local council about, or whether it's not currently recyclable.
- Widely Recycled
- We use this symbol wherever a product's packaging is widely recyclable, which means it can be recycled in at least 65% of local authorities.
- Check Local Recycling
- Because the recycling symbol is on here, you know it's recyclable, but it's a material that some local councils collect and some don't, so you'd need to check on www.recyclenow.com. This means that between 15-65% of local authorities recycle this material.
- Not Currently Recyclable
- The cross through this symbol tells you that the facilities for recycling this material are available in fewer than 15% of local authorities in the UK at the moment. We're working with our partners and suppliers to encourage the creation of new facilities, though. Remember, you can always check what facilities are available in your area onwww.recyclenow.com.
- Council Compostable
- The symbol in this box is the compost association symbol for compostability. You need to take the product or material to your local council's compost facility, or put them in your council compost bin if your local council offers that service.
- Home Compostable
- This tells you it's a material that you can compost yourself at home in the right conditions, using a compost heap in the garden or a home composter.
- WEEE symbol
- This is something that you'll see on the majority of electrical and electronic products, including batteries. It reminds you that you shouldn't throw them in the bin and to contact your local council to ask about collection/recycling facilities.
- Closed Loop Recycling
- We’ve teamed up with partner 'Closed Loop Recycling' to help offices in certain parts of the country set up their own recycling scheme. This symbol shows you that the pack is suitable to go in one of the scheme's bins. To read more about the scheme, click here.
- Crushable Bottle
- Where you see this symbol, we've designed the bottle so that you can crush it so it takes up less space in your recycling bin.
-
- Source
- Lets you know what sustainable materials are in each part of the packaging - that the sleeve has 50% recycled content, for example, or that it's made from FSC certified sources.
- 50% Recycled
- This lets you know how much of the material is recycled, it could be recycled paper or recycled plastic. When we say recycled, we always mean recycled from post-consumer waste (so that's after someone's used something).
- FSC
- Where you see the FSC symbol, this means the piece of packaging (the sleeve, tray etc) is made from board certified by the independent Forest Stewardship Council.
- 100% Natural Plant Material
- This means that we've avoided using oil to make the packaging. It will often be made with material from sustainable sources. We are committed to only using materials that are not sourced from food crop - examples are corn starch, sugar cane, cellulose and wood pulp.
- Made With Natural Plant Material
- Where you see the words 'Made with...', it means that there's a percentage of natural plant material in the packaging, usually 50% or more.sourced from food crop - examples are corn starch, sugar cane, cellulose and wood pulp.
