Sustainability-in-packaging market matures, gets down to business
Bio-based is big, renewable is rad, sugar is sweet, and the geek squad has come to packaging sustainability.
Sustainability in packaging
These are just a few of the trends evident at the 2011 Sustainability in Packaging conference Feb. 22-24 in Orlando, FL. Sponsored by Pira Intl and Packaging Digest and Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News magazines, the conference hosted more than 200 packaging professionals and 40 presentations—from case studies by major CPGs Coca-Cola, Coty and Danone to new plastic and paper-based packaging technologies from leading and up-and-coming global suppliers.
Many in the packaging industry are now more comfortable with the issues and challenges of sustainability. A getting-down-to-business attitude permeated at this fifth annual event, with profitability and efficiencies widely discussed. "Value" was the word of the day, with many speakers showing exactly how sustainable packaging contributes to companies' bottom lines.
Reuse and refilling were mentioned but that's about it. There's not much movement, especially in the U.S., to report in those areas. Reduction is still in fashion, though. The session "The Future of Packaging: Just Add Water" from co-presenters at innovation consulting firm Continuum gave a compelling consumer-driven case for more concentrated products and for thinking big about smaller packages.
But much of the focus in the presentations, and subsequent networking discussions, centered on recycling, recycled-content, renewable materials and packaging standardization/harmonization for efficiencies.
Here are a few highlights:
• Renewable materials (plastic and paper) reigned—Sugar-based and other bioplastics received lots of attention. Add these letters to your bioplastics soup: PTT, PBAT, PBS, PGA (respectively polytrimethylene terephthalate, copolymer polybutylene terephthalate/adipic acid, polybutylene succinate and polyglycolic acid). On the paper side, barrier additives often impair paperboard recyclability. Improved water-based coatings could be an alternative.
• Emphasis on packaging end-of-life—More companies are tasking their packaging designers to consider the package's end of life at its creation stage. Several proponents, including Procter & Gamble, outlined the merits of waste-to-energy incineration. Recycling equals green for most consumers, that's why recycling always matters. And it's just a matter of time for extended producer responsibility to hit packaging in the U.S. Will you be ready?
• Carbon footprint takes big steps—Popular in Europe, carbon footprint labels seem to be the most promising in presenting total product/package environmental impact in a simple way that consumers can easily understand. We've seen some labels in the U.S. Will more be coming?
• Demand for data brings out the geek in everyone—More metrics and tools for measuring are coming, but that's a good thing. The industry represented at this conference acknowledged that, when it comes to sustainable packaging, more scientific data is needed to make business decisions and to back up sustainability claims.
During the conference, about 200 tweets were posted by PD from 23 sessions (many sessions were concurrent). You can read these tweets, as well as those from other people, by doing a Twitter.com search for #SusPack.
Sustainability-in-packaging market matures, gets down to business
Heinz, Frito-Lay tout new bio-based packaging to consumers
Coke_Heinz PlantBottles
Bio-based packaging materials continue to prove their market appeal, as these two recent developments show.
SunChips quiet compostable bag layers
At left, H.J. Heinz Co. has announced the biggest change to its ketchup bottles since the company first introduced plastic packaging in 1983. Heinz is planning to convert all 20-oz ketchup bottles to PlantBottle packaging in the U.S. this summer. The new PET packaging—30 percent of which is made from plant by-products—is the result of a strategic partnership between PlantBottle developer Coca-Cola Co. and Heinz.
At right, Frito-Lay has developed a quieter compostable bag for its SunChips original flavor in the U.S. A new laminating adhesive in the bag's structure acts as a noise dampening agent by slowing down PLA's natural tendency to snap back to its original position.
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