BY MARIETE F. PACHECO
ALL WRAPPED UP
Mariete F. Pacheco, MBA, PMP is managing director at FRW Services Inc.
A COMPETITIVE MARKETPLACE MEANS MORE INNOVATIVE PACKAGING SOLUTIONS The world of packaging has come a long way. Once seen as merely a container to protect a product on its journey from a manufacturer’s plant to a retailer’s store shelf, that packaging has now become a marketing tool to highlight one brand amongst a sea of others. The shift in packaging’s role has been brought about through the increasingly competitive marketplace because of globalization and brands crossing borders at an accelerated rate. Several key trends are driving innovation in the packaging industry including sustainability, lifecycle management, new packaging materials and packaging optimization. SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING Sustainability continues to remain top-of-mind with the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference in Scotland (more commonly known as the COP26 Summit) which further pressured nations looking to enhance their commitments to mitigate climate change and expand their portfolio of solutions. At the top of many sustainability lists is waste reduction, recycling and moving to zero waste. In the packaging industry, the diversity of materials has exploded from the standard paperboard (folded carton and corrugated, plastic (rigid and flexible), glass and paper bags. A major shift has been in the reduction of overall plastic used in packaging. Most evident for consumers is in void fill applications. For many the common product used was Styrofoam 14 FEBRUARY 2022
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packing peanuts, then bubble wrap. However, with demands for less waste and more efficient and less labour-intensive warehouse operations, this application is now being replaced by paperbased packing filler (often recycled paper). Paper-based alternatives have also started to take over the wrapping and insulation functions once owned by plastic packaging. These paper solutions are created through converting paper into 3D honeycombs or specially designed waved inserts to leverage paper’s natural insulating properties. Sustainability in packaging has also been advanced by the call by retailers to reduce product costs, as well as by calls from governments. Retailers believe that reducing the amount of packaging used in a product will lower the product’s cost. Generally, packaging is a significant contributor to overall product cost. Governments have started to mandate that manufacturers reduce packaging. For example, in Europe, boxed grocery items such as cookies that once had three packaging layers: a plastic shrink-wrapped box, paper box and plastic or wax paper wrapped cookie insert has been reduced to a sealed paper box with or without the wax paper wrapped cookie insert. In Canada, several provinces mandate manufacturers pay to operate local recycling programs based on waste generated, such as the case with the Ontario Blue Bin Program or the Electronics Recycling Program with eco fees. Some organi-
zations are looking to make their conventional packaging more sustainable through utilizing recycled materials, converting to greener energy sources during the manufacturing process such as shifting from gas or coal powered energy to solar or wind energy. LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT The trend to manage a product’s lifecycle from cradle to grave has expanded to include its packaging as part of the equation. Gone are the days of simply sending to landfill the box or bag a product came in. Consumers are demanding manufacturers look to maximize the use of the packaging as part of the product’s lifecycle. Some manufacturers have turned to alternate packaging materials to divert their packaging from landfills to be recycled into products such as glass jars. The glass can not only be recycled but can also be reused once the container is empty and cleaned. Some consumer-packaged goods (CPG) companies in the cleaning products space now sell their products in multiple components. These components can be re-used, such as by purchasing new cleaning solution spray bottles and re-using the trigger nozzle from bottle to bottle for multiple uses instead of selling new triggers each time a full bottle is needed. The change from buying only needed elements not only reduces waste of still operational product components but also makes shipping more efficient and reduces the product cost SUPPLY PROFESSIONAL
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