The Earth or Money?...Sustainable Packaging and Common Sense

One of our well-known US colleagues recently commented to me that, in his opinion, the sustainable packaging movement appears to be morphing into a cost cutting program. From an environmental perspective that may or may not be viewed as positive. From a practical, common sense point of view, it’s certainly a step in the right direction. Sustainable Packaging is a relatively new and essential component that should be part of the thought process of every Packaging Professional from this moment forward. Sustainable Packaging techniques and requirements are already being woven into the fabric of many cultures around the world. Developing countries such as Ghana, India, China, Sri Lanka to name a few, are capable of starting at a more highly developed position, in terms of packaging materials and methods, than those of us in western Europe and North America. Developing countries have no “sunk costs” in old packaging methods and habits. They have the advantage of taking what we have had to learn, at considerable investment over several decades, and applying that knowledge into new packaging projects immediately. This circumstance suggests a significant competitive advantage for some of the manufacturers in those countries on Day One, especially when coupled with their already low manufacturing costs and a practical mandate to do more with less. Sustainable Packaging is clearly a valuable competitive tool and will increase in value as we go forward. Finally, Sustainable Packaging cannot work in isolation. It is an important part of the global sustainability movement. It’s about changing our habits and our mindset so that we think in a different hierarchy, with reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover nearer the top of the list. Consider a future with high oil/energy prices. No matter what the solutions, they are likely to be part of a long-term incremental process that will employ a blend of technologies, applied in context, with common sense. And so it is with sustainable packaging too. This new way of thinking should play well in the Packaging Community. Dr. Carl Olsmats, General Secretary of the World Packaging Organisation states, “It is not primarily an issue of sustainable packaging, but rather how packaging can best contribute to a sustainable society. This contribution will also change over time as knowledge and society develops. [Ultimately,] there will be no sustainable packaging without sustainable products to put into them. These products will not be made unless there are sustainable companies to make them. And these companies need a sustainable society in which to work. [Sustainability Packaging] “in principle means that continuous improvement has to be applied to all packaging.” The Case for Packaging is clear, and good news for the Packaging Professional. Because packaging is ubiquitous, it impacts virtually every culture in the world, every day. And this is really the point. Packaging can become a very powerful tool for educating people about sustainability. The practical, common sense application of Sustainable Packaging principles has the unique capacity to teach everyone about how a Sustainable Society can function. Thomas L Schneider, CPP Board Member, World Packaging Organisation

• view