 | Dean Bellefleur |
Location
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Role
ConsultantJob Title
PresidentCompany
D-IdeaProfile
Dean is the Founder and Creative Director of D-idea, a consulting
practice predicated on credentials secured during a highly successful
20-year international career with the leader in aseptic carton packaging.
He has taken a particular interest in the challenges of redesigning
packaging to meet both environmental and humanitarian needs namely
intuitive packaging. To this end he is a frequent guest speaker and
continues to provide innovative insight through his writings.
As a result of his international experience his network extends into
Europe, Asia and the Americas. Most recently he was a judge at the 2009
Sustainable Packaging Leadership Awards in Toronto.
Recent Blog Entries
INNOVATION TAKES ROOT 2010 – hosted by NatureWorks LLC
After following 46 comments addressing “ What is greener? Biodegradable or 100% recycled?” it was time to speak to the practitioners. April 13- 15 venue; three days in Dallas, Texas amongst innovators, entrepreneurs and technology experts in biobased materials and biopolymers hosted by NatureWorks LLC. Some 320 to 350 inquisitive delegates representing thirty countries converged to applaud the progress and support ongoing developments in the deployment of biopolymers.
Posted April 21, 2010Who's calling the shots in today's packaging industry?
Emphatically not the consumer! Initiate a conversation with your friends and casually inquire as to their thoughts on the clamshell / blister package. Be forewarned as you have just unleashed the dogs of war. There’s nothing but frustration and contempt for this package. Closures and intuitive opens are other incomprehensible hot spots to the consumer. If we have the technology to place a man on the moon why can’t we have packaging that’s functional? Invariably the packaging scope widens to include environmental and surplus packaging concerns and the battle rages on.
Posted February 16, 2009
Recent Discussions
A Case Study in Designing for Eco -Effectiveness
Just days ago Heinz unveiled an evolutionary packaging development catering to the fast food industry; a new “dip & squeeze” ketchup package.[inline:Heinz.jpg] Heinz concept of a new “dip & squeeze” condiment package is brilliant and long overdue in fact.
Posted February 8, 2010Redesign for Eco Effectiveness
November 2008 I made a presentation in Helsingborg Sweden titled "Packaging Muscle" and in that presentation I touched on Greenwashing. [inline:PakMuscle.jpg] Greenwash as we know is an expression used to describe the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.
Posted March 23, 2009
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Ingeo Natural Plastic & Fiber Partners
NatureWorks LLC the supplier of the biopolymer Ingeo have a searchable database on their website Ingeo Natural Plastic & Fiber Partners that could be of assistance in your search for a supplier.
I hear you
Paul I hear you. Our media is inundated with reports of fraudulent scams, ponzi schemes, FMCG engineered obsolesce, green washed products and it’s in our face every day. As an engineer you will appreciate the challenge to build a better mouse trap and that’s how I perceive our task today. Spend more time up front building in the checks & balances that will stone wall the schemers that are driven by greed at the expense of the consumer. I believe society has entered a period of restoration, where we have an obligation to right the basic principles of a consumer driven society for the coming generations. Lets sweat this one out together.
Pushing Efficiencies
It’s a great idea Nikki! Already today we award LEED certification of various levels for building projects that meet the highest green building and performance measures. So why not promote something similar for machines & equipment? I buy in. Having had the pleasure to experience a LEED platinum level office complex I can tell you the wow factor is extremely high as is the comfort level. In fact many of the performance measures could be cut & pasted for machines & equipment, efficiency as you indicated for example. Rather than limit the machine green certification to packaging equipment keep it at a macro level to be all inclusive. Dave Haft of Frito-Lay Inc recently provided the keynote address on environmental sustainability at the “ Innovation Takes Root 2010” conference hosted by NatureWorks LLC. His message was close to your point and already in practice. Frito-Lay production plants are upgrading to the highest energy recovery and water conservation targets achievable, in fact some plants have been taken off the grid. Talk about pushing the envelope on sustainability. So for those that are interested Frito-Lay Inc just wrote the case study.
Lets not set limitations
Jeff & Dr. Manic I’m interested to hear how you would approach the global post consumer waste issue at hand. Your comments resonate strongly as do your citing of the problem. Why debate two possible solutions, recycling versus biodegradable, when clarity of the problem has yet to be mapped. I’m a firm believer in root cause eradication when tackling a problem. Lets not set limitations to our thinking, embrace the creativity in order to be innovative and lay the foundation for the future would be my advice to all concerned.
Redesign for eco-effectiveness
Mike what if I said you need to look internally for an answer. Recycled or Biodegradable are still in the early development stage, hence all the open discussions. Deployment will be an even greater hurdle, think about the levels of consensus that will be required to get it running. Leadership I believe is the way to go. Take responsibility for your product from raw material to end of life cycle. Work with non-hazardous materials and processes to lessen the impact of your product on the environment, bearing in mind that 100% recovery is not possible. Review your current processes with the mindset that you have put in place all the checks & balance that will ensure your product is traceable & recoverable. Integrate a recycling process into your production process thus closing the loop. Make the changes that will deliver your green vision to market. Look to global best practices for inspiration and build your team to go green. PET bottlers are working to this end today.
The Complete Picture
Sherri it’s imperative when making the comparison between plastic & paper to consider the processes in their totality. If we jump directly to the inoffensive package without considering the production process we can very easily conclude that the problem is a disposal issue as you site, which in fact it is not. There are a number of health issues associated with the refining of petroleum that are coming to light, Bisphenol A (BPA) for instance. If you have not already seen the documentary The Disappearing Male I suggest everyone watch it as this is surely our primary concern with plastics. Others include post consumer waste and product life cycle in terms of durability (product life of a 1 year warranty) The pulp & paper industry does not pose a health concern to humanity, its products compost and are environmentally friendly. I’m sure there are regions in the world where pulp & paper production facilities are not operating to World Class Manufacturing procedures but they can be educated to do so. There will be many solutions to the sustainable issue. The concern is to blueprint the principles that will govern global adoption of green materials that will sustain our industrial driven economies. To date we are preoccupied with the end results and too little focus is expended on the game plan. There are ample case studies to reflex on where we made the wrong choices and the consequences we have to live with, asbestos leaps to my mind. Root cause irradiation is a great problem solving methodology to get to the heart of a problem and the point from which to deploy the corrective measures to realign industry with global humanitarian & environmental interests in mind.
Residual Sauce
Not silly by a long shot. Let me provide you with the production figures on the traditional sachets as posted on the Heinz website. One year’s production for Heinz yields 11 billion units which equates to an annual usage of 2 packets per person on the planet. For those that like to think in terms of distance, those 11 billion units can circle the global 26 times or travel to the moon and back plus part way there again. On a daily bases 23 million packages are produced. Now extrapolate your figure to reflect the 11 billion units and remember that the new Dip & Squeeze contains 27 grams rather than the sachets 9 grams. Last thing we want are more seagulls fighting over the spent packages or creatures ingesting more plastic film. Sure, there’s an urgency to get a better package to market, but let’s address all the design criteria before we put it on the table.
DURAPRO
Hello Erik, Your inquiry is timely. Having had a career with Tetra Pak I understand the challenges of hot melt glue applications for high-speed forming and tray packing. DuraPro is a leading U.S. brand of high performance adhesives and coatings that I have recently been dealing with regarding sustainable glue. I should also add they have a global presence that is supported with a technical team and we know just how valuable that is today. Their management is extremely helpful and willing to push the envelope on development to deliver products that are first in class. I believe that you will find DuraPro is a company that will work with you to meet your expectations for a sustainable glue.
TOYO INK
During Graph Expo 2008 I met up with Toyo Ink global providers of eco-friendly vegetable oil-based, solvent-free, renewable resource-based inks. Their toll free number is 1.866.969.8696. Knowing what your application is Kristiane facilitated today's discussion with Toyo Ink specialists. Not only are their inks vegetable based some are soy based. So to answer your question, the inks used to print on plastics would be the TSP and TSG series inks. Toyo Ink can also print on aluminum. The team of specialists I spoke with are extremely customer focused so I would encourage you to open a dialogue with them directly.
One Small Step
Chandler, there is no ONE single sustainable material for packaging nor will there be only one. I can’t agree with you more on this point. Various agenda’s are hurtling the packaging industry towards solutions that are perceived as “the correct choice”. The financial opportunities that this current global crisis presents are fueling a development frenzy that surpasses Napoleon's ambition to create the can. Don’t get me wrong I’m all for change but this late in post World War Two development I would expect a collective response to address global post consumer waste. Successful projects are those that complete their due diligence before implementation begins. A mind set similar to Neil Armstrong’s historic statement, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” is the approach that will deliver universal solutions. The shot has been fired and the race is well underway. The challenge now is to see if we can impose some discipline to ensure that the win will translate into the legacy that humanity so much desires.