Sustainable Packaging: green, unbreakable containers Sustainability is increasingly important to consumers. Require ethical and environmentally safe products, packaged saving resources, but they arrive well protected. This places the packaging manufacturer with a great task: the industry wants to save material, but must always ensure the strength of the container.
The consumer goods group British-Dutch Unilever, famous for its internationally known brands such as Domestos cleaner and Dove soap, is an ambitious strategy by 2020 wants to double its worldwide sales, which are currently 40,000 million euros and at the same time, halving CO2 emissions by increasing efficiency packaging and production. In addition, Unilever assume more social responsibility, inter alia, by 2020 should be integrated into its supply chain half a million small farmers and traders. "We want to be a sustainable business in every sense of the word," said the Director of Unilever, Paul Polman.
However, for this director, the most important thing is not the preservation of nature, but the bottom line. For many consumers, the sustainable performance has become an important purchasing criterion. Previously just wondered about the origin, type of production and packaging, but now the goods are valued more ecologically and morally "clean." Therefore, the market research firm in the U.S., Pike Research, believes that global sales of sustainable packaging in the period 2009 to 2014 will increase from 88 to EUR 170,000 million U.S. dollars, almost double . "The environmental awareness of consumers has increased sharply due to the current debate on climate change," said Clint Wheelock, Director of Pike Research.
sustainable Material: Aluminum cans are not exactly known as ecological, but the recycling rate is 96% (photo: Alcoa).
lifestyles become "greener"
Along with climate protection, social issues have a growing role. Modern consumers want a healthier lifestyle and therefore highly valued natural foods that are packaged in a completely secure and have a genuine taste. The clientele is also increasingly important, so that manufacturers perform a social commitment and offer goods properly treated. "We see a trend towards ethical consumerism," says the analyst Jens Lonneke, the market research company in Cologne, Rheingold. According to him: fair trade is long established between the so-called Lohas (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability), ie, the consumer group that guides their lifestyle for health and sustainability. The current trend is increasing among those over 18 years instead of conventional soft drinks and beer or soda prefer beer in bottles fair trade design.
For industry, the trend toward sustainability is a blessing and a curse at the same time. On the one hand must develop new products and campaigns that involve significant costs. Moreover, the growing demand for sustainable products is a promise of economic growth. For this reason, large consortia, financially powerful as Coca Cola, Kraft Foods and Unilever are strategies comprehensive sustainability. Providing support to environmental organizations, nature protection and care or direct payments made to develop themselves. Also, invest in production facilities and more efficient packaging. "Until 2020 we will reduce our consumption of material in a third," promises Mr. Polman, Director of Unilever.
packaging manufacturers help the industry reduce their environmental impact. New packaging design and develop production processes for this. It is not an easy task through lower material thickness and lower proportions of resource-intensive materials, raw materials are saved, without thereby must suffer the tightness or resistance of the package. "The most important thing is to protect the product," says Stefan Glimm, Managing Director of the German Association of Aluminum Industry (GDA). Not surprisingly, security is paramount, as the European Organization for Packaging and the Environment (Europe), the value of integrated resources in food is much greater than the value of container that protects the product. Therefore, the output losses due to inadequate packaging causes more CO2 emissions that are saved by avoiding unnecessary packaging. In developing countries, food losses are a big problem: according to data of Europe, 40% of goods are lost in the supply chain. Thus, a better product protection in these countries could be a considerable shock to the environment. Also in the edition of Interpack, to be held from 12 to 18 May 2011, the most important event worldwide packaging industry, food protection will be one of the main themes. SAVE FOOD special exhibition designed in conjunction with the World Organization for Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) shows how the different elements of the value creation chain for packaging, logistics and transport can make a contribution to global food wastage.
Security is the most important
packaging manufacturers with multiple innovations demonstrate that safety and ecology must not be opposed. For example, the U.S. company Sonoco interpack 2011 presented in efficient packaging solutions your new "True Blue Line." According to Jeff Schuetz, spokesman for the company, with a uniformly high resistance, they require less material and can be recycled more easily than existing packages so far. The industry uses this range regularly. The German manufacturer of food products Kraft Foods uses for its Maxwell House coffee brands, Nabob and Yuban instead of metal cans, new packaging designed by Sonoco recycled paperboard. Unilever has redesigned the plastic bottles for their products Hair care brand Suave with the help of Sonoco, the new packages require 16% less than material, but thanks to its innovative convex shape, are more resistant than their predecessors.
optimized Transportation: Coca-Cola reduces CO2 emissions with shorter distribution routes. (Photo: Coca-Cola)
The Association of German Industry Plastic Packaging (IK) has confirmed on the basis of such innovations: the plastic is ideal for making sustainable packaging. "It's very versatile," says Isabell Schmidt, IK responsible for environment and sustainable development. The plastic provides protection is transparent and thanks to the reduced weight of packaging can save transport costs and CO2 emissions avoided. And the industry wants to further increase its contribution to sustainability. "The goal is, among others, to produce even more light packaging and further increase the degree of recycling," says Ms. Schmidt.
addition of plastic, which is the most commonly used material for packaging worldwide, also the most common packaging materials such as paper / cardboard, glass and metal / aluminum offer opportunities to maintain a sustainable packaging strategy, since each has its own advantages.
For example, paper, plain and corrugated cardboard, according to a study by Dutch research institute CE Delft, cause less CO2 emissions than most other types of packaging, what you get, among other things, more efficient production and a lower emissions due to transportation. The CO2 equivalent of paper and related material is 676 kg of CO2 per tonne of material, other conventional packaging materials for a minimum of 1,000 kg of CO2.
Ecology is an triumph often bioplastic containers are manufactured from renewable raw materials - so they fit into the sustainability strategy of many companies. (Photo: Messe Düsseldorf)
Glass, meanwhile, can not be judged by its low weight, but is reusable, recyclable and quite safe. "Glass is inert and there are virtually no interactions between content and packaging," says Johann Overath, Executive Director of the German Association of the Glass Industry. Also, is manufactured almost entirely from raw materials found in nature in abundance. Is highly valued by consumers who appreciate the pure flavor and packaging products to consume "Healthy." According to a survey of the European glass packaging, 75% of Europeans surveyed preferred glass containers, contributing to a healthy lifestyle. Also
tin and aluminum food protected and can be recycled easily. In aluminum, recycling reached 82.3% in beverage cans of the metal reaches 96%. "This percentage should be increased by closing the circuit," said Mr. Glimm, Managing Director of GDA. In addition, the industry wants to save material. "The goal is to protect more products with less aluminum," said Glimm.
Bioplastics
gain prominence, however, manufacturers of packaging materials set should have increased competition from bioplastics. It's true that can not be used as versatile as conventional plastics based crude oil, but increasingly more of their characteristics are improved: the British company Innovia Films offers a new development, under the name of Natureflex, a degradable plastic film for food packaging, 100% compostable. This biolámina multilayer, as Andy Sweetman, Director of Marketing, provides an excellent barrier effect against moisture and gases, which maintains a lasting crunchy foods like cookies. The German manufacturer of bioplastics FKuR Kunststoff commitment to improved barrier effect: the company produces, among other things, bioláminas multilayer, which also provide security against leaks in organic diapers for children. Member of bio particularly suitable for low temperatures, a new development FKuR are used to package frozen foods. The spectacular development of bioplastics is reflected also in interpack. In 2005 there was a special exhibition of 250 m2 of net area occupied by makers of bioplastics, while in 2011 will be approximately 2,000 m2 of surface exposure. Sustainability
production and also the packaging machine manufacturers can contribute to making packaging costs fall rapidly. Technical Association for Food Processing Machinery and packaging machines of the German Association of Machine and Plant Construction (VDMA) not only sees potential savings in packaging materials: there is also a major contribution to sustainable production in reducing energy consumption and mass production of packaging machines through modern technology. Thus, for example, could use the decentralized servo, which works in a more dynamic and efficient than larger drivers. It is true that the costs of acquisition of these machines are high, but according to VDMA, these costs are depreciated rapidly during the life cycle of a modern system thanks to lower energy consumption. Product manufacturers that are committed to sustainability not only benefit in the place of sale, but already in production.
Efficient production: modern packaging lines consume less energy and reduce costs. (Photo: Messe Düsseldorf)
Source: Department of Press Interpack
