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Sustainable packaging: saving the planet or costing the Earth?
The recent British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported UK retailers are failing to reduce waste in the supply chain, such as packaging, by 5 per cent by the end of 2012. They have only achieved 0.4 per cent and Tesco, among the 25 of UK’s best-known retailers who have met all the other 14 environmental targets, bar this one a is now trialling new packaging that will keep fruit and vegetables fresher, in a bid to reduce food waste.
So is sustainable packaging saving the planet or costing the earth? The true sustainability of packaging will be debated at the NEC at this year’s BIG Packaging debate, taking place on Wednesday 29thFebruary at the easyFairs packaging event.
“Packaging is a fast moving environmental debate as new materials and the changing destiny of waste twist the argument. Can I feel good about packaging if it is recyclable? Does more plastic round my greens mean less rotting veg in the skip behind the supermarket? Do the public practice what they preach - claiming to want packaging to shrink but buying into the belief that highly packaged equals highly prestigious? I'm hoping to unwrap the answers at the big packaging debate,” comments panellist, Tom Heap, Broadcaster and Writer.
Ninety million tons of food are thrown away each year in Europe alone and the European food experts state packaging as the key to help extend the shelf life of food.
Rob Holdway, Director at Giraffe Innovation Limited who will be on the panel couldn’t agree more, he comments: “Packaging plays a crucial role in protecting, containing and presenting the products we consume on a daily basis. ‘Sustainable’ packaging must be seen in the context of broader and more significant environmental issues. For instance, food waste costs consumers billions every year and innovative packaging can change this. Obviously, there is no point in making something ‘green’ that doesn’t function well and sell! Moreover, green claims must be supported by sound science and analysis.
Rob continues: “Ultimately, packaging eco-design will help the UK move towards ‘resource efficiency.’ Resource Efficiency in product and packaging is defined as “reducing the environmental impact of consumption and production of goods and services over their full lifecycle.” This objective is wholly consonant with the objectives of the UK Government’s Climate Change Act (2008). This requires all parties in the supply chain to assess opportunities for impact reduction strategies which includes key design (i.e. materials selection), production (dematerialisation, resource efficiency in manufacture etc), retail and distribution (reducing yield loss), use (lifetime extension), and end of life (reuse, recovery and recycling etc). Some companies will consider new business models – blurring goods and services – so called product service systems or ‘functional services’. This all presents an exciting opportunity for growth.”
“But from our experience of working with brand owners on hundreds of packaging projects over the last 12 years is that consumers are never keen to pay for something they cannot see tangible value in for themselves,” comments panellist Dominic Box, Managing Director at Tangible Branding. “Whilst there may be a few exceptions to the rule, the general principle is that consumers are buying the product; they do not like to feel they are paying a premium for the packaging, even if it is more environmentally friendly.”
Commenting on the debate, and also chairing the proceedings, Kevin Vyse Owner of KBV Associates said: “There isn’t an organisation operating within the retail sector that doesn’t place environmental concern and consideration high on its agenda.
“However it was revealed in the easyFairs packaging survey that costs where the driving force behindpackaging decisions at the moment and over half (58%) said that the tougher economic climate meant they are less likely to introduce more environmentally sound packaging. The debate between cost and environment is certainly an interesting one and likely to cause quiet a stir!”