Like any evolving topic, sustainable packaging has gone from singular to multiple dimensions over time. And each added element triggers new thoughts, new discussions.

Last year after the sustainable packaging conference SustPack 2016, I compiled the popular tweets into four categories that demonstrated the four active areas of sustainable packaging discussed. As I began to do the same with this year’s SustPack 2017 tweets (Scottsdale, AZ: April 24-26), the complexity of the task became quickly apparent.

This inability to separate the conference’s tweets into categorical silos demonstrates how the dialogue of the sustainable packaging community continues to become further integrated: You can’t discuss sustainable packaging without discussing the multitude of issues surrounding material sourcing and conversion, packaging use and end-of-life management—not to mention, the intersection of the specific geopolitical and socio-economic realities of where the package is being produced, used and disposed of.

Because sustainable packaging is being understood as part of this complex global network, the conversations and tweets at SustPack17 were just that…completely integrated, with one topic igniting another, like neuron transmitters in the brain. (Photo above Designed by Freepik)

Thus, I have organized the #SustPack17 tweets as a conceptual flow chart, with one theme transitioning into another.

Page 1: Amazon/Supply Chain

Page 2: Brands (Target, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Nike, Reynolds Wrap)

Page 3: Plastics Pollution & Feedstock

Page 4: Compostable Packaging & Food Waste

1. Amazon / Supply Chain

[The Amazon presentation is propriety; thus, no images from the presentation will be shared here.]

Brent Nelson

@DordanMfg: Brent Nelson @amazon describes “frictionless retail” of #amazongo where you grab and go #SustPack17 #packaging #technology

@barbararfowler: 27 million usd of packaging going through ecommerce @amazon #SustPack17 @SPCspotlight

@SustPack: According to @amazon, e-Commerce has a unique potential to reduce waste in the environment by eliminating excessive packaging #SustPack17

@FisherKyla: Amazon: the image without pckg sells more than others. Does pckg play a lesser role in ecommerce? Opp to re-imagine role of pckg.#SustPack17

@FisherKyla: @amazon call to action for industry collaboration #SustPack17

@SustPack: “We must partner together as an industry now to innovate product and packaging for e-Commerce that delivers” #amazon #SustPack17

@barbararfowler: Product handled a minimum 20 times from supply chain to customer #ecommerce #SustPack17 @amazon @SPCspotlight

@lisajmpierce: #package journey thru @amazon fulfillment center; fascinating video & commentary from @BrentNelson2013 #SustPack17

@FisherKyla: @amazon: Brent Nelson: our vision is to have ship ready packaging no need to add Amazon overlay box #SustPack17

@SustPack: @amazon Frustration free packaging has conserved 164,000,000 overboxes and saved over 1,085,000 trees #SustPack17

@DrGailB: @BrentNelson2013 TY for a fantastic presentation! #SustPack17 #Highlight The future of ecommerce is frustration free packaging!

@JeffWoosterRS: Damaging a product during distribution is the worst thing you can do for sustainability - Andrew J Gruber @ISTAmatters #SustPack17

@FisherKyla: ISTA and @AMERIPEN both agree. Considerable shifts in supply chain requires re-evaluation of packaging to respond to shifts #sustpack17

@lisajmpierce: AJ Gruver, ISTA prez, warns that the futuristic supply chain may be closer then we think. Is #pkg ready? #SustPack17

@JeffWoosterRS: Change is happening fast in e-commerce - expected to double in less than five years #SustPack17

NEXT: BRANDS (Target, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Nike, Reynolds Wrap)

2. Brands: Target

@DordanMfg: “Great things never came from comfort zones” @KimCarswell @Target #sustainable #packaging journey @SustPack #SustPack17

@HelenSahi: By 2020 @Target branded labels to have @How2Recycle label #SustPack17

@DordanMfg: @KimCarswell to remove #EPS #packaging from private label by 2022 will be case by case, product protection still #1 #SustPack17 @Target

@DordanMfg: MRFF = materials recovery for the future, industry alliance to demonstrate all pkg will be recyclable @KimCarswell @Target #SustPack17

@SustPack: @target committed to helping their guests recycle by advancing the idea that 1 day all packaging will be recoverable! #SustPack17

@lisajmpierce: 1 of 5 new #sustainable #packaging goals @Target. Recycled content an important pull-thru 4 recycling #SustPack17

@DordanMfg: #ASTRX = applying systems thinking to #recycling, complimentary to MRFF and Beyond 34 I LIKE!!! @KimCarswell @Target #SustPack17

@CBDavidsonPhD: Great presentation by @KimCarswell on @Target #sustainability journey “Be stubborn on your vision but flexible on your journey” #SustPack17

Brands: Coca-Cola

@FisherKyla: Coke’s carbon footprint. Goal to reduce GHG emissions by 25% = greater focus on packaging. Recycling, lightweight & materials #SustPack17

@lisajmpierce: @CocaColaCo #sustainable strategy: minimal material & recyclable #packaging, Sarah Dearman, sust pkg program dir

@DordanMfg: @LoopFund + @RECYPartnership + @kabtweet = biggest impact on increasing #recycling for @CocaCola #SustPack17

@HelenSahi: Congrats @CocaCola for taking out 1MM barrels oil of #supplychain using #bioplastics #plantbottle #SustPack17

@DordanMfg: Refillable glass bottle is where @CocaCola is trying to get back to #SustPack17

@AllenLangdon: Carbon footprint of @CocaCola plant bottle nearing that of refillable glass bottle. #SustPack17

@michaelwzabaneh: Target of 100% plant based bottle by 2025 for Coke - #SustPack17 @CocaCola @SustPack

@TIPACorp: #SustPack17 Using local feedstocks...how can one do this in the most economical and sustainable way? @CocaCola

Brands: Nestlé

@DrGailB: Only 5% of PET bottles make it back into food or bev. bottles. #SustPack17 #NestleWaters

@SustPack: @NestleWatersNA reduced their PET content of their 0.5L non sparkling bottle by 62%, saving 5bil lbs of plastics by end of 2015 #SustPack17

@NestleWatersNA: Light-weighting of the water bottle has been one of our most impactful sustainability changes in the last 20 yrs @NelsonSwitzer #SustPack17

Brands: Nike

@CourtneyHadden: “We embrace #Sustainability as a part of our innovation.” - Liza Blackwell @Nike #SustPack17

@FisherKyla: @Nike Liza Blackwell: my job is to make sustainability invisible to consumer. Integrate without direct awareness. #SustPack17

Brands: Reynolds Wrap

@lisajmpierce: Grand plan for the Energy Bag movement, expanding end-of-life options 4 plastic #packaging, flexible pkg #SustPack17

@DordanMfg: @ReynoldsWrap adopts @SPCspotlight @How2Compost label, bravo! #SustPack17

@DordanMfg: @Hefty now has #compostable scrap bags 4 those who have collection in their communities. Bag of scraps goes right to compost! #SustPack17

NEXT: Plastics Pollution & Feedstock

3. Plastics: Pollution & Feedstock

@CourtneyHadden: Ah-greed! Diego Donoso of @DowPackaging speaking on working together on improving #plasticsrecycling #SustPack17

@SustPack: “We must influence human behavior and be a part of the solution to drastically reduce the waste issue” @DowChemical #sustpack17

@DordanMfg: @DowPackaging argues that the tropical climate facilitates trash leakage in the 5 largest contributing countries to #oceandebris #SustPack17

@FisherKyla: Waste generation tied to economic development. Need plan for waste management & increased consumption for developing countries #SustPack17

@michaelwzabaneh: Better collection systems will mean less marine waste #SustPack17

@DordanMfg: @natureworks is in the business of turning CO2 into products #SustPack17

@DordanMfg: Next gen feedstocks for #plastic not plants but gas fermentation (methane, biomethane, C02) @natureworks #SustPack17

@JeffWoosterRS: Possibility of leapfrog technologies to make polymers directly from CO2 is exciting for the future @Dear_SarahD #sustpack17

@FisherKyla: Co2 based plastics technology being closely watched by Fortune 1000 #SustPack17

@DordanMfg: Challenge of litter and plastic in the ocean is everyone’s problem. Compostables a solution, though infrastructure paramount #SustPack17

@DordanMfg: @KeithChristman clarifies: because something is compostable doesn’t mean it is marine biodegradable. #SustPack17

@DordanMfg: The plastic industry has over 260 projects to reduce marine litter. Join us http://bit.ly/1TOTDZR #SustPack17

NEXT: Compostable Packaging & Food Waste

4. Compostable Packaging & Food Waste

@DordanMfg: 100% PLA compostable coffee capsules means entire container, with grinds, could go right to compost, not landfill @natureworks #SustPack17

@FisherKyla: Mark from @natureworks: compostable coffee pods likely to be norm within decade. #sustpack17

@DordanMfg: Composter manufacturing alliance manufactures products, too: compost #SustPack17

@DordanMfg: Composters want organics, not #pkg, but want to collaborate with pkg mfgs #sustpack17

@DordanMfg: We don’t want products that are “partially compostable” #SustPack17 (Compost Manufacturing Alliance)

@DordanMfg: We r part of the same system. Composters have invested a lot. Pkg has, too. We all have a lot to loose if we can’t make it work #SustPack17

@CourtneyHadden: With >7% of facilities accepting compostable packaging, identifying opps for infrastructure growth is key to future opps @FPIHQ #SustPack17

@TIPACorp: Need to grow #composting infrastructure. #SustPack17 Help to drive end markets. Set up food scraps with packaging collection.

@DordanMfg: ASTM 6400 in US necessary standard to know when designing #compostable #packaging #SustPack17

@DordanMfg: #PLA #clamshell with label that’s not compostable=contaminant to composters. The whole pkg needs to be certified compostable #SustPack17

@TIPACorp: #Recycling is important. But it only gets you so far. Need #compostable packaging to assist with #foodwaste diversion. #SustPack17

[Sealed Air presentation not available to share.]

@DordanMfg: Consumers don’t see themselves as actors in the global food waste problem #itsnotme @Sealed_Air #SustPack17

@DordanMfg: Consumers think discarded food #packaging is worse than discarded food for the environment #howwrongtheyare #consumereducation #SustPack17

@lisajmpierce: Compelling need to change consumer misperception of pkg’s role in preventing #foodwaste @SealedAirPack #SustPack17

@JeffWoosterRS: Everyone thinks it’s only other people who waste lots of food #noselfawareness #SustPack17

@CourtneyHadden: “Empower consumers with knowledge!” @DanielADaggett @SealedAirPack #SustPack17

@FisherKyla: @Sealed_Air Dan Daggett 27% of wasted food comes from consumer use. Disconnect between concern and role in reducing issues #sustpack17

@JeffWoosterRS: Major opportunity for education on why we use packaging and its value to protect the environment#SustPack17

@KeithChristman: @Sealed_Air great slides on preventing food waste and carbon footprint of food waste #SustPack17

@KeithChristman: @WWF asks with high fish waste why do we sell fish like this? We could use packaging to reduce loss #SustPack17

@FlexPackOrg: We can prevent #foodwaste with better packaging. #SustPack17

@lisajmpierce: “I would love to see a future where we have a blue bin & a green bin” #foodwaste #packaging #SustPack17 [Quote from Pete Pearson, dir #foodwaste, @WWFUS]

@FlexPackOrg: Consumer ed. is key in fighting #foodwaste battle. Packaging technology extends shelf life and prevents #foodwaste. @sealed_air #SustPack17

Chandler Slavin is the sustainability coordinator and marketing manager at custom thermoforming company Dordan Manufacturing. Privately held and family owned and operated since 1962, Dordan is an engineering-based designer and manufacturer of plastic clamshells, blisters, trays and thermoformed components. Follow Slavin on Twitter @DordanMfg.

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Learn about the latest developments in sustainable packaging at EastPack 2017 (June 13-15; New York City). Register today!