Sustainable Packaging 101
A Primer on Today's Trends, Challenges, and Solutions Around Delivering More Sustainable Products
If you look up “consumption,” a top dictionary definition is “the using up of a resource.”
Amidst a climate crisis, while consumption becomes increasingly tech-enhanced, economically strained, and environmentally challenged, the definition feels fitting.
Every day, more people are recognizing many conveniences we take for granted — fast shipping, single-use packaging — aren’t compatible with the climate balance we need to achieve as a society. Yet even so, consumption (of products) remains the #1 source of U.S. GDP in 2020, and a core part of many people’s daily life and work.
We can (and should) consume less, but how do we also consume better?
As usual, a big part of the burden falls on the companies making and delivering these products to us.
The Grand Products and Packaging Problem
In pop culture, product and packaging sustainability is often cast as a plastics problem, which, on one level, is true. According to forecasts by the Ocean Conservancy, the world’s oceans will be filled with 250 million tons of plastic by 2025. Oceans feed, sustain, and provide oxygen to life on Earth, and it’s a clear problem.
Worse, most plastic is derived from the fossil fuel petroleum, giving it an even worse footprint.
But zooming out, plastics is a subset of a larger resource extraction, processing, and disposal problem that spans our food, clothing, electronic devices, and everything else we buy and use.
For those newer to sustainability, this ecosystem is offer referred to as a “lifecycle.” Within it, a sustainability practitioner’s goal is to:
Reduce the overall cycle’s environmental footprint
Optimize for material and emissions health at each step
Close the loop to reduce harmful disposal
Further, every product can be understood as the sum of its:
(Raw) materials
Supply chain
Product packaging
Here, we’re going to focus on that last item: packaging.
Sustainable Packaging ..
An estimated 60% of all packaging is thrown away and land-filled (i.e., not re-used, recycled, or composted). This drives ocean plastic pollution, but also creates many other forms of environmental pollution and waste.
How do we collectively do better?
A good starting point is the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC), which shares eight guidelines for sustainable packaging:
Is beneficial, safe, and healthy for individuals and communities throughout its lifecycle.
Meets market criteria for performance and cost.
Is sourced, manufactured, transported, and recycled using renewable energy.
Optimizes the use of renewable or recycled source materials.
Is manufactured using clean production technologies and best practices.
Is made from materials healthy throughout the life cycle.
Is physically designed to optimize materials and energy.
Is effectively recovered and utilized in biological and/or industrial closed-loop cycles.
Lifecycle Understanding
As the SPC outlines, the first step to more sustainable packaging is to understand the full environmental and social (ESG) implications of its lifecycle. Companies need to know the materials involved, their origins, and how meaningful each one is.
By understanding different packaging options as well as the specifics of where and who they’re sourced from, organizations can map their packaging supply chain, assess what’s material, and identify the best opportunities for improvement.
Here’s a simple and helpful CPG example from Sir Kensington’s, a Unilever brand which makes (more sustainable) condiments:
Source: Sir Kensington’s
Meeting Realistic Needs
Sustainable packaging also needs to meet the needs of companies and customers on factors like cost, durability, safety, and experience. Biodegradable packaging can’t be so degradable it’s coming apart in transit or on shelves.
It’s also important to be realistic about burden shifting. For example, plastic packaging can often be replaced with paper, but often the weight of the required replacement paper is much greater, increasing overall material usage and product shipping weight (and thereby emissions). Glass is also heavy, but easier to recycle. Sustainable products and packaging can’t just shift the burden elsewhere, they need to decrease the overall lifecycle footprint.
Using More Sustainable, Innovative Materials
One of the biggest shifts brands like Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyer’s, Sir Kensington’s and others are pursing is increasing the amount of post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic in their packaging. PCR reuses existing waste, and doesn’t require virgin petroleum to produce, reducing the its environmental footprint.
Many B Corps and sustainable brands have a target to get to 100% PCR packaging within the next few years.
A second major area of focus is increasing the percent of plant-based, compostable, and biodegradable packaging used in products and supply chains. Here, common biological materials like mushrooms, seaweed, and corn are being re-engineered to package more sustainable products.
Increasingly, we expect regulations, laws, and standards will continue pushing packaging in more sustainable and minimalist directions. The United Kingdom recently introduced regulations requiring increased recycled content for packaging. New York State recently enacted a ban on businesses using plastic bags.
Reducing Packing Overall
The reality is most products are over-packaged, particularly luxury goods and high-cost items like electronics that could potentially be damaged during shipping. Even more sustainable packaging options carry an environmental footprint. A better option is to use as little packing overall.
Educating Customers on Sustainability
A recyclable product is only more sustainable if it actually gets recycled, which makes customer education and messaging incredibly important. This is particularly true for newer categories of compostable and biodegradable products. Most people know they’re supposed to recycle. By comparison, data indicates most people *don’t* know what they should and shouldn’t compost (and how).
By adopting standards, clearly labeling, and communicating how products can be reused, recycled, or otherwise kept out of the waste trap, companies can help consumers close the loop on their end.
It’s on all stakeholders - individuals, companies, local governments, agriculture, the media - to collectively ensure everyone understands why and how these loops get closed.
Working With Allies and Seeing the Whole Picture
When it comes to packaging, there are many things a brand can control:
The products it sells.
Manufacturing processes.
Internal social, labor, and environmental standards.
How its products are packaged.
Who its vendors and suppliers are.
But also many things it can’t.
Ultimately sustainability and sustainable product lifecycles are about building alliances and collaboration across an entire supply chain. From materials sourcing (after all, materials are packaged and transported themselves) to more sustainable delivery by the USPS, it takes an ecosystem working together to fully close the loop and drive more sustainable outcomes for our everyday needs.
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