Sustainability has become a focal point of many companies' overall business practices. With environmental policies and problems becoming highlighted almost every day, companies everywhere are trying their hardest to meet consumer expectations and protect, as well as improve, the ways they do business. In terms of packaging, it's becoming evident that this emphasis will, in fact, change the ways companies offer their products in the future.
Sustainability 101The Washington Post reported that one of the biggest changes in packaging sustainability is resulting in the evident end of packaging itself, in a way. A new supermarket in Berlin, Germany has fought to reduce its packaging needs by completely removing the materials from its storefront. When shoppers want to purchase dry goods like pasta or rice, the food is hung in overhead gravity bins, and pulling a lever allows a desired amount of the product to be dropped into a carrying container. Spices, meanwhile, are scooped from smaller containers, then weighed for shoppers.
Packaging-free stores now exist in three countries, with openings in Italy and Austria as well as Germany. However, the German store goes further than the others, as it has around 600 individual novelty products that further remove packaging from the location. Toothpaste can be found in a chewable tablet, while liquids are drawn from a tap. Nearly every product available completely avoids the prospect of even a single wasted piece of material. This is a far cry from the packaging we are accustomed to seeing in our daily grocery shopping experiences.
That said, the location does lack a few expected staples from modern life. Packaging constraints restrict it from selling meats or cheese, and many modern meals and frozen foods are nowhere to be found. Still, the advances found in the location are remarkable, and wider-scale adoption of similar ideas could push the industry forward in the future.
Additional innovations
The news source added that many companies are striving to bring even further levels of innovation to the industry, with one in particular offering packaging that is both biodegradable and specifically matched to suit the products within. A Swedish firm that first developed a self-cleaning plate, complete with a special chemical coating that can repel liquid and prevent stains, now has created biodegradable containers that pair well with the food they carry. A bottle of olive oil is made out of caramelized sugar, while seaweed gel is matched with sugary drinks. The packages are designed to have special reactions based on the chemicals, preventing them from having any adverse reactions to the products themselves.
Another similar discovery in sustainable packaging comes from the manufacturers of chemicals for Tide and similar products. That company's water-soluble film that is known as the material that dissolves single-serving packets of the detergent in laundry has seen another development, making it now both edible and dissolvable. That’s right – edible. Who knew? The pouches themselves are transparent, have no smell or taste and break down completely if put in hot or cold water. They're expected to be used in a similar manner as gelcaps in pharmaceutical pills, with a specific use in the future expected to be packaging for cereal or oatmeal. Almost seems impossible to fathom these changes.
Companies continue to make breakthroughs in product development, Packaging Europe reported. European company The Alexir Partnership has developed a packaging solution that can hold food easier and meet environmental regulations at the same time. After two years of product development, the company's new coating is naturally derived and can be biodegradable, compostable and recyclable all at the same time, allowing for both easy initial packaging and simple disposal when consumption is done.
The seaweed and starch product is hoped by the company to start drawing away from food packaging waste's 45 million tons per year, helping to make sustainable packaging solutions more accessible for companies worldwide.
It is hard to believe the advances that are being made already in sustainability! So how about you! Making a list of initiatives going into 2015? Perhaps sustainability is taking a more prominent lead in those goals, or maybe you are merely researching ways to better the community and "pay it forward." In either case, here is a list of green terms hot on the sustainability front to help you make some informed decisions going into the new year.
Biocompostable - Plastic and paper products, which disintegrate and biodegrade completely and safely when composted in a municipal or commercial facility (such as yard trimmings and food scraps) Biocomposting is usually completed within 90 days. Certain packages from renewable resources, like those made from PLA and Sugar Cane, can be composted in your own backyard.
Biodegradable - Materials that decompose, usually by bacteria or sunlight, into original organic components within a reasonably short period of time. Most organic materials (paper, grass clippings, food scraps), under the right conditions, are biodegradable.
Bioplastic - Plastics made from corn, potato or other renewable sources which are compostable and biodegradable.
Non-Renewable Resource - A resource such as a raw material which cannot be regenerated, replaced or restored within human lifetime. One example of this is fossil fuels.
Post-Consumer Waste - A product or material which has been recycled or reused after its original purpose has completed. An example would be PET plastic bottles which have been recycled into new plastic bottles. The label may say “made with 95% post-consumer waste”.
Pre-Consumer Waste - A product or material which has been recycled or reused before it has become a consumer product. An example would be collected PET plastic bottle waste from a factory floor which is put back into the production process to be used to make new plastic bottles.
Product Take-Back - A program by manufacturers who collect their products once they reach the end of their lifecycle; disposal, reuse, recyclable and sustainability. An example is the extra cost charged on glass bottles, which is then refunded when you return the bottle to the shop for recycling with the manufacturer.
Recyclable - Material that still has useful physical or chemical properties after serving its original purpose and can be reused or remanufactured to make new products. Plastic, paper, glass, steel and aluminum cans, and used oil are examples of recyclable materials.
Sustainability - Actions we take that support quality of life now and for future generations.
