The Sustainabilist | GREEN RECOVERY
FEATURE
Unpacking the Eco-Friendly Future of Packaging Sustainable computing doesn’t just mean watching what goes into making technology products, but the
By Mary Jacques Director of Global Environmental Affairs and Sustainability, Lenovo
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t’s not every film you stream from your sofa on a weeknight that leaves a lasting impression on you or changes the way you work. But one documentary inspired me to pay more attention to the thing customers give the least thought to after buying a product: the packaging. We’re all used to recycling our cardboard, but that’s not the only material that goes into the packaging of the products we buy – often plastic is used in some form as well. The amount is growing too; in 2015 in China alone, courier companies used a total of almost 17 billion metres of adhesive tape, a figure which has only 26
increased as demand for home delivery has too. Now multiply that for every industry and country across the globe. When I watched the movie ‘A Plastic Ocean’ I was shocked; the truth is of all the plastic, 79% goes in the ocean or the earth, 12% is burnt, and only 9% can be recycled. In other words, just recycling and using isn’t enough. We need to eliminate the plastic from them too. That requires radical thinking – a challenge we as people should always be up for. Opening the self-closing box Packaging is often overlooked in the life cycle of consumer electronics, but in truth is a large part of the product offering, when measured by mass and energy footprint – not least because in practice it is often immediately discarded.
close and secure themselves.This would prove to be no small challenge: plastic tape has been a crucial part of heavy packaging since long before the advent of the laptop, after all. It’s how products stay secure and undamaged as they’re transported all over the world. Finding a solution to avoid its use and keeping the product protected would not only offer cost benefits but allow for a more environmentally friendly approach to packaging. But after several iterations, we solved it: self-locking structure, with two tongues at the bottom and matching lock holes to seal with more stability and security. It’s cost too. At scale, even small changes like this can make a huge impact on a business’ overall footprint and sustainability. ThinkPad products used to require 54 tonnes of one-time use plastic tape for 19,500km of it, enough to wrap halfway around the earth’s equator.
It’s also something that companies dedicate entire divisions to, and never stop
Closing the loop Simply reducing our reliance on plastic in packaging isn’t enough. Other materials once considered essential in packaging and shipping are fair game for sustainable innovation too.
our packaging engineers have recently eliminated plastic adhesive tape from the bottom of the packaging of select ThinkPad
Take polystyrene – the global polystyrene market was valued at USD 42.7 billion in 2019, and predicted to grow to USD
