INDUSTRY INSIGHTS: PACKAGING
PACKAGING IS AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT of almost all consumer products. Packaging protects the product and provides a platform for advertising and communicating to the consumer.
Packaging may or may not, by itself, be a “hotspot” for any given product. Given that almost every product has packaging, however, it is one of the most important issues to address to make consumer products sustainable. Sustainable packaging practices have accelerated over the last decade because of corporate, NGO, and consumer attention leading to industry initiatives, sustainable packaging standards and protocols, and packaging innovations.
Most consumer packaging consists of just a handful of materials – glass, metal, paper, and plastic. In 2017, packaging made up 29.9 percent of all solid waste in the U.S. table one below shows the percent of packaging waste in U.S. in 2017 by material, and its recycling rate. Materials primarily used for transportation packaging have been excluded.
These data represent 36 product manufacturers, each making their own packaging design decisions, so variation in the data is expected. Some of the variance though is due to the different types of materials the categories typically use. Table 2 provides some typical materials used in each in each category. The high amount of sustainably sourced renewable virgin material in Herbal Tea is in part due to the primary material being paper based, which can be explicitly certified as sustainably sourced (via e.g., FSC or SFI certification). Metal, glass, and plastic generally do not have certifications that enable a sustainably sourced claim. All the categories have similar amounts of PCR material, except Bottled Water which is lower. This may be because Bottled Water is typically only packaged with plastic, and metal, paper, and glass generally have more PCR content than plastic today.
Figure 2 shows the packaging raw material sourcing data for three different bakery-related food categories. We note that Frozen Baked Goods and Pastries has the highest amount of PCR content – all three categories use paper and plastic, which can have PCR content, but Frozen Baked Goods and Pastries are more likely to
also have aluminum foil, which almost certainly has a very high amount of PCR content. Cookies and Snack Cakes often have some form of thin film plastic (e.g., LDPE), which for food safety reasons may have a low amount of PCR content.
Figure 3 shows the packaging raw material sourcing data for select specialty crop and produce categories. While there is much attention to improving the sustainability of packaging, it is not something that can be done instantly. Once a decision to change packaging design is made, there a new design must be created, suppliers and new tooling must be chosen, and on-package communication must be changed. In most manufacturing systems this may take 2-4 years. Across manufacturers using THESIS, however, we can see improvement trends.
INSIGHTS FROM THE SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING DESIGN AND PRODUCTION KPI
The theory of this KPI is there are design and manufacturing decisions that can make packaging more sustainable, one of which is making the sales packaging recyclable. In nearly half of the analyzed categories of consumer goods, more than 80% of the sales packaging was recyclable. And yet, according to the EPA, only 25% of municipal waste in the United States was recycled in 2017 while 52% went to landfill.
It is clear progress is being made towards using more sustainable packaging. Yet issues related to packaging persist. As THESIS evolves into a leadership rating system, we expect to see companies innovate towards two key areas 1) design for minimal to zero packaging and 2) increase the amount of their products’ packaging that is recycled.
PAPER VS. PLASTIC SALES PACKAGING
In the unique case of Home and Personal care products, THESIS alignment with the Beauty and Personal Care Product Sustainability Rating System introduces an additional layer of insight into packaging – material type. Personal Care Wipes and Baby Wipes report a similar percent of wood/paper packaging material usage (28%-30%) with notable differences in the percent of sustainably sourced renewable content and PCR or Post Industrial Resin (PIR) content. Sustainably sourced renewable content dominates in Baby Wipes, while PCR or PIR dominate in Personal Care Wipes.
Please contact Jessica Ginger, Senior Director, THESIS Impact Team.
jessica.ginger@sustainabilityconsortium.org
Insight published 2021