What is sustainable packaging?

While the word sustainability has a clear definition, it’s challenging to implement it in our everyday lives and business decisions. The same dilemma applies to the concept of sustainable packaging. In an ideal world, sustainable packaging is recyclable, has a low environmental footprint, is made from renewable sources, and has a long lifetime (or is reusable), while balancing product protection and safety. Here come the trade-offs we should consider when developing the packaging design: 

1. Do I use one of the most recyclable materials PET or do I avoid plastic?
2. Do I use 100% recycled content or do I focus on product safety and avoid the migration of dangerous chemicals? 
3. Do I use plastic with a low carbon footprint (as, let’s admit it the industry has scale and efficiency) or do I use bio-plastic from beets or corn that have 10x CO2 footprint? 

Here I wonder, how does one make choices in the field when there are no black and white answers. 

The EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulations (PPWR) helps to make these decisions. Regardless, whether they are right or wrong, it’s an attempt to harmonize the efforts (e.g. packaging design) across the industry and see the impact.  It also drives awareness across the value chain to take responsibility and rethink the packaging. 

So let’s dissect what sustainable packaging trends have emerged and what the trade-offs are:

Reuse: For packaging to be reusable, it must be kept in circulation for multiple usages instead of single-use to reduce waste and resource consumption. A recent study by JRC made an environmental assessment of various multiple-use vs. single-use applications. It concluded that given the high dependency on consumer behavior and washing conditions, some multiple-use applications such as fast-food restaurants (dine-in), where reusable plastic-based packaging replaced paper-based cups and trays, resulted in lower environmental impacts. However, the other scenarios such as cups and trays for food takeaways showed variable conclusions on the lifecycle impacts between single-use vs. multiple-use. 

Recycle: For packaging to be recyclable, it must follow design for recycling guidelines, which ensures it will be compatible with the current recycling process. One core principle needed in order to enable recycling is taking a monomaterial approach to your packaging design, meaning using the same polymer materials for all parts of the packaging (substrate, label, etc.…). Consumers are generally unaware of how the composition of the different elements of packaging affects recyclability. For example, paper bottles appear on the shelf to be more “sustainable” and therefore easily recycled. However, this packaging format is a multilayer construction, consisting of a paper outer layer and plastic laminate or barrier. Packaging Europe commented that this packaging design would instead contaminate the paper waste stream if it ended up there. Several questioned the point of replacing recyclable plastic instead of improving collection and sorting processes. Why then do consumers prefer a paper bottle that would not be recycled? If I am a brand, do I attract a sale by “consumer perception of what sustainable material is” or by “recycler’s perception”? Another example is flexible packaging, which has a trade-off between CO2 reduction and lower recyclability. Despite a growing trend to move away from rigid plastic to this lightweight alternative, there is still a low collection rate for recycling of flexible packaging today.

We will not know what the right answer is for years to come as we are trying to collect the data, understand the impact, and invest in scaling new technologies. Shall we keep trying with the best intentions in mind? In fact, labels can also help convey recycling information to consumers. 

We are here to help guide you on your sustainable packaging journey with support on how to choose the right labels for your end-use applications. Read more about my view on the PPWR and how collaboration is key to achieving our shared climate goals.