A sustainable future for packaging

A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR PACKAGING

Within the packaging industry, collaboration with longterm goals is key when it comes to sustainable packaging innovation. From exploring a single project, to the e-commerce sector, to the entire supply chain, Libby Munford takes a look at how the packaging industry is innovating for the future.

“IS this how our story is due to end? A tale of the smartest species doomed by that all too human characteristic of failing to see the bigger picture in pursuit of short-term goals?” – Sir David Attenborough addresses world leaders at the Cop26 summit 2021.

“If working apart we are a force powerful enough to destabilize our planet…surely working together we are powerful enough to save it.”

Winning at sustainable innovation

How else to kick off the topic of sustainable packaging innovation than with this year’s overall winner of Packaging Europe’s Sustainability Awards 2021? Nextek’s NEXTLOOPP – with its ground-breaking project that aims to create a circular economy for food-grade polypropylene.

Polypropylene (PP) is one of the most prolific and versatile plastics in the world – it is also missing from our recycling streams. PP is found in pots, tubs and trays – the majority of packaging in the foodto-go category. The absence of food-grade recycled polypropylene (FGrPP) means that all PP food packaging is currently made from virgin plastics.

If we can create a circular economy for food-grade PP packaging waste we would be able to reduce the production of virgin plastics from petrochemicals, in turn reducing CO2 emissions and diverting waste from both waste-to-energy/landfill and lower-quality plastics.

In the absence of government or industry body initiatives to tackle the challenge of food-grade PP recycling, NEXTLOOPP believes there is a need to gather stakeholders across the PP supply chain to try and solve this problem.

The problem is challenging because, for consumer safety, the European Food Standards Authority (EFSA) requires that recycled food-grade materials can only be made from (>95%) food packaging and that the recycled plastic must meet the same high standards required for virgin food-grade plastics.

As mentioned above, NEXTLOOPP proposes to close the loop on food-grade rPP. Doing this will have important benefits for both industry and the environment, namely reducing the production and use of virgin plastics from petrochemicals, reducing CO2 emissions, and reducing food-packaging waste. But this innovative example is just one of many across the spectrum of the industry. How else is the industry collaborating towards a sustainable future? Packaging Europe has adopted a new motto, ‘A sustainable future for packaging’, in order to highlight the industry-wide collaboration we are witnessing.

E-commerce and sustainability

Tania Montesi, the global e-commerce business manager at H.B. Fuller, focuses on bringing the next generation of e-commerce packaging design to the market – particularly concerned with eliminating plastics, and ensuring packaging is recyclable or disposable without harm to the planet. Tania Montesi She comments that within the e-commerce sphere, “A lot of e-tailers and retailers scramble to bring products to market without thinking about sustainability – using surplus packaging and adding void fillers etc, essentially shipping air and in turn more gas emissions. At H.B Fuller we understand from consumer surveys that across both North America and Europe consumers are really concerned by the amount of waste from e-commerce packaging.” She argues that Amazon, as a trendsetter, is really pushing e-tailers now to not just redesign their packaging, but start again from scratch. Can it be smaller? More lightweight? Can you remove anything that’s not recyclable? All of these considerations are essential. At H.B Fuller, first and foremost, recyclability is a top criterion. Tania Montesi explains that they work closely with OEMs, packaging companies, e-tailers and the brand owners to ensure they bring an entire solution to the market.

“Our new, patent pending sustainable e-commerce solution, Sesame® Evolution™ fibre-based tear tape, has recently won the European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers (FEFCO) sustainability award, being the only recipient in this category in 2021. As you know, FEFCO issues seven awards every two years during their Technical Seminar for categories including presentation, sustainability, innovation, lifetime achievement, and health and safety,” she shares.

With the accelerated growth rate of online shopping comes the looming reality of dealing with an increased amount of packaging waste and tough issues to solve related to recycling or finding other alternatives than plastic.

“Our scientists and engineers designed Sesame Evolution sustainable fibre-based pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) opening tear tapes to provide frustration-free opening on e-commerce packaging,” continues Tania Montesi. “Unlike competitor plastic tapes, this breakthrough technology recycles directly with the board, and adds usable fibre to the recycling stream in support of the circular economy. It is designed for an excellent consumer ‘unboxing’ experience of everyday packages used to ship goods from e-tailer to consumer.”

H.B. Fuller has also developed Evolution water-based barrier coatings – an innovative alternative to help reduce the plastic content of fibrebased packaging used to ship goods bought online and shipped directly to consumers. It is heat sealable to itself and to paper and may serve as an oxygen barrier to protect contents inside e-commerce packaging with as little excess packaging as possible. Additionally, its water-based barrier coatings are an alternative to polyethylene (PE) coatings. PE coatings may prevent packages from being recycled at standard recycling centres.

An efficient supply chain

Wayne Snyder, VP Retail Industry at Blue Yonder, shares his thoughts on how having a sustainable supply chain means having an efficient supply chain. One that is more intuitive, more predictive and capable of making intelligent and profitable decisions that overall reduces the environmental impact and waste.

“Grocers will find their supply chains contain many opportunities to practice what they preach on sustainability. As supply chains continue to shift towards complete automation, this year some grocers will find sustainable decisions are being made without the need for humans to steer them into doing so. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will play an increasingly crucial role in intercepting and correcting problems quickly, which can dramatically cut waste, from preventing over-ordering to alerting when fridges are not holding the right temperature. It’s not just in stores – AI will also be increasingly used to find efficiencies in production processes back down the supply chain too. This is something that will be increasingly important to start tracking and presenting to customers, now that they are getting a taste for measuring their carbon footprints.”

Whether driven by customer expectation, shareholder demand or an increasing sense of responsibility, businesses are increasingly recognizing many of the benefits greener operations can bring. “AI and ML play a key role in creating sustainable supply chains by measuring environmental and social impacts, and then advising on the most intelligent response. Across key areas including demand forecasting, energy monitoring, intelligent replenishment and transport optimization, these technologies are already making a real difference.

“AI and ML enable businesses to have a multi-faceted view on a wider scale, enabling real change. After all, you can’t deliver sustainability on good intentions alone: businesses will need to adopt new ways of operating.”

Whether the sustainable innovation is in a particular material, sector or focused on efficiencies within the entire supply chain, the packaging industry is uniting towards its one goal: a sustainable future. n