Sustainable Packaging – Creating the Incredible All-round Impact

Design for Environment is the new order of packaging logistics. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle……is the mandate towards sustainable packaging. Environmental concerns like deforestation, packaging waste, bio-degradation problem and carbon emissions are adversely affecting environment due to packaging practices of companies worldwide. The use of biodegradable and sustainable materials, have a growing impact on package design and materials sourcing across all industries. Though packaging optimization is preferred, reuse  of pallets & containers to refrain packaging development in every cycle, offers good potential. Recycling packaging material for reuse is next best way to sustainable  packaging. Design packaging that  is eco-friendly, low-dense or consumes less material to minimize the impact, especially when reuse or recycling  opportunity is limited. Sustainable packaging has become both, a mandate and consumer  voice to all industries.

Green packaging strategies such as packaging optimization, light-weighting, selection of alternative material resources which easily biodegrade or turn into compost and promoting re-purpose will help companies to have an overall cost reduction and increased consumer preference while minimizing packaging waste, deforestation, carbon emissions, etc. Firms like Nestle, Starbucks, Wal-Mart, Campbell, etc., initiated an integrated approach towards its product packaging that incorporates source reduction, re-use, recycling and energy recovery while cutting cost.  

Nestlé is one among those few companies that have taken the use of biodegradable materials for packaging or material handling. For instance, it uses biodegradable trays into its packaging for Dairy Box and Black Magic chocolate assortments. The tray is made of a substance derived from Maize, designed to decompose within three months on a compost heap. Besides, producing these trays consumes around half the energy required for plastic version. The company realized packaging material cost savings worldwide up to $510 million during 1991-2006 while decreasing its environmental impact. 

Starbucks, which account for large percentage of disposable packaging has recently introduced earth-friendly hot cup sleeves, ‘EarthSleeve’ to eliminate some of the packaging waste it generates. The manufacturing process adopted for this (developed an adhesive that effectively facilitates the removal of fiber) is expected to save close to 100000 trees. Raw Fibre material is reduced by 34% and post-consumer content (i.e., recycled materials) is increased by 25%.  With 3 billion sleeve cups used every year for US market alone, the new packaging is expected to make a big eco-difference in the industry. Curbing the supremely wasteful practice of double-cupping and encouraging reuse of cups or own cups, the new Starbucks Earth Sleeve(TM) allows for a case cube and truckload yield improvement of 15%, reducing overall environmental impact of the transportation of the sleeves.

Sustainable packaging design seeks to reduce the overall impact on environment.  A complete redesign of their Monte Carlo product line saved Campbell about 15 tons of packaging materials. Redesigning shapes and Jatz packaging at Campbell Australia, reduced paperboard by 440,000 pounds and eliminated 12,000 pallets from distribution. Globally, packaging improvement projects of Campbell eliminated more than 9.3 million pounds of packaging materials in just two years. It saved more than 4.5 million pounds of steel, plastic and paper packaging materials in 2010 alone. Environmental labeling also aid in better reuse or recycling of packaging material and managing of packaging waste as it assist consumers in identifying if the packaging can be recycled or how it should be disposed of.  

The retail giant Wal-Mart expects the cut in packaging will save 667,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere and estimates $3.4 billion in direct savings and roughly $11 billion in savings across the supply chain.  It also introduced a system called “packaging scorecard” to rate vendors on their sustainability— based on Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, product-to-package ratio, and the amount of renewable energy used throughout the manufacturing and delivery process.

Towards Green Logistics Practice

Environmental protection is one of the major concerns of this decade. Goods shipment is estimated to account for about eight per cent of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions globally. Warehousing and freight related emissions add another three per cent. In view of this, there has been a significant pressure on firms to take steps towards reducing environmental impact due to their logistics operations. Sustainable logistics require reducing carbon emissions drastically. Both logistics costs and environmental impact can be reduced significantly through green supply chain practices. Besides complying with environmental regulations, firms can benefit from financial gains. It is a win-win situation for both environment and industries.

Shifting to more efficient freight transportation modes is expected to reduce CO₂ emissions by at least forty per cent according to one of the IEA publications.  Studies have shown that, supply chain network optimization can result in cost cutting by eleven percent and a ten percent reduction in CO₂ emission. Green packaging practices like packaging elimination, light-weighting and use of alternative or recyclable material help companies to have an overall cost reduction. Estimates say that, atleast 50 % of power can be conserved in warehouses through daylight dimming and use of motion sensors.  Purchase departments can also save significant cost through sustainable initiatives.  Above all, firms can improve their public image.  

Corporate policies should now aim at reducing their impact on environment and gain from sustainable practices.  According to New 'Green Transportation & Logistics' report, 94% of supply chain professionals rate green issues as a business priority. Industries like CPG, Food & Beverages, Heavy Engineering, Automobile, Pharma, etc., should motivate and empower their logistics & supply chain professionals towards green logistics initiatives.  Executives involved in product development, purchase and logistics management should understand: (1) Ways to measure the impact of their transportation and logistics on the environment (Environmental Footprint Measurement) and how corporate can gain from footprint reduction; (2) How to develop an action blueprint for each mode and their vertical, to reduce environmental footprint; (3) Best practices like sustainable procurement, network optimization, green packaging, layout optimization, etc., and (4) Corporate Sustainability Reporting, and benchmarking with the industry.