What's Green Packaging?
FGP looks at the bigger picture of paper vs plastic packaging.
“80% of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable packaging", according to a Simon-Kucher & Partners survey.
Most of us care about being greener, but how much do we know about what’s actually green, beyond its colour? And does it cost more?
You may be confused by misinformation in the media, usually propagated by lobbyists, vested interests, or click-bait journalists, and you may suspect there's more to the situation than we're told.
This article offers more impartial information about the paper vs plastic debate.
There are three main ways a material impacts the environment;
1) Manufacture. How it’s made, such as energy, water, chemicals, raw materials, etc.
2) Process. How it’s used, such as the amount of material & transport needed, and its effectiveness
3) End Of Life. How it ends up, such as re-use, re-purpose, recycled, general waste or littered
Scientists call this a Life Cycle Assessment LCA, and it’s considered the best way to know what’s green.
What We See and What We Don’t
Naturally, as consumers, we are more aware of materials at their End-of-Life, aka disposal, especially food and drink packaging. But we are much less aware of the impact of their Manufacture or Process. One material may have a visible negative impact, such as plastic littered in a field, while invisibly, it could have saved a more significant negative impact of Manufacturing and processing a different material.
What's Packaging For?
An effective material, doing its job efficiently transporting & protecting, means less re-manufacturing of both the product and the packaging itself. The overall impact of re-manufacturing the product far outweighs the impact of the actual packaging. Food waste is an excellent example of how effective packaging significantly reduces food spoiling and waste. (Interesting fact: if food waste were a country, it would be the world’s 3rd largest emitter after China and USA. Source in appendix). Most food is packaged in plastic due to its effectiveness. If it were packaged in alternative materials, food waste would increase even higher, along with the cost of food. Further, LCA studies show how alternative food packaging increases weight on average by 3.6 times, energy by 2.2 times and CO2 emissions by 2.7 times (source in appendix).
It’s a similar story for most packaging types, especially protective packaging, whose primary aim is to protect products. If a product, whether glass, electrical, ceramics, or so on, gets damaged, then the customer’s impression, the supplier’s profitability, and the environment are also damaged, along with the impact of making and delivering a new product.
You may share similar experiences, such as when a cardboard sleeve for a bottle pack broke, smashing four bottles. Or when I collected a takeaway in a paper bag and a plastic carrier bag to ensure £40+ worth of food didn’t fall on the floor, with the dog being the only winner. Of course, there are times when paper packaging is as effective, but the bigger picture still needs to be considered.
Paper vs Plastic Protective Packaging
If you Google ‘LCA Plastic Bag, ’ 28 LCA studies prove that plastic bags cause the least harm overall. For example, a typical plastic bag weighs less than 6g, whereas a paper equivalent weighs 60g. The paper bag generates 10x more waste. (Source in appendix). Also, imagine how many more lorries are needed to transport the same number of paper bags.
The paper and plastic materials compared in these LCA studies are the same materials used in most paper and plastic protective packaging. So, we can learn a lot from the LCA results about their varying impacts.
Further, these glowing results for plastic are based on the fact that there is no reuse or recycling, which significantly reduces its impact further. Likewise, the results are based on regular plastic, so if the plastic is made from Recycled Content, its overall environmental impact is further massively reduced.
All said, no one wants to see plastic packaging in nature.
A Material Problem or A Waste Problem?
Waste ending up in the environment is not the material’s fault; rather, it's littering and poor waste management. Given plastic’s least impact and effectiveness in most cases, it seems sensible to focus on improving its End Of Life. That might discourage littering through education, fines, deposit schemes, and improving existing recycling infrastructure and policy. Littering is proven to be the leading cause, but authorities also need to dispose of waste responsibly and not cheaply, such as in developing countries. Until policy and recycling infrastructure improves, which thankfully they are, our collective efforts of reusing, reducing and recycling will make a big difference. Soft plastics, like carrier bags and protective packaging, are increasingly collected curbside but, if not, can be collected at supermarkets.
The Problem with New Plastic or Paper Alternatives
Our efforts to dispose better are much easier and cheaper than spending millions on R&D for new so-called eco materials (seaweed, mushrooms, etc.), which lessen impact if littered, but shouldn’t be littered in the 1st place. And as we know, their manufacture and process usually increase harm. Even if they're disposed of responsibly, it's not easy to do. Most new materials are non-recyclable and hard to compost, so creating widespread facilities would be inefficient. These 'appear good' materials also increase waste as they’re perceived to be recyclable, so they go in recycling but prevent what would have been recycled due to contamination. Littering also increases because the material is perceived as more ‘okay’ to litter in nature.
Producers are still responsible for not using more material than needed and using mono-materials as much as possible to make recycling easier. Likewise, producers can use more Recycled Content and, in some cases, Bio or Compostable materials. The Plastics Treaty aims to promote this (see Plastics Treaty blog). The pros and cons of various Biomaterials are explored in the Bio-degradable or Bio-debatable Blog. There's, of course, more to this nuanced subject, but we hope this helps you feel more informed.
How Forever Green Packaging can help
FGP offers both paper and plastic protective packaging. Paper is certified by the Forestry Standard Commission FSC, and Plastic is made with either Recyclable Recycled Content or Compostable material. Our free Return 2 Recycle and Return 2 Compost services make recycling and composting easier.
To learn more on this topic, head to the Forever Green Packaging website here to dive deeper.
Appendix
The Plastics Paradox by Chris DeArmitt PhD, FRSC, CCHEM