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Businesses Big and Small Embrace Sustainable Packaging

March 31, 2010

Image: Gingerbread Folk

As consumers become increasingly concerned with reducing their environmental impact, and companies try to find ways to become more efficient, a growing number of businesses big and small are moving toward sustainable packaging models. 

It's simple to see why: when manufacturing, labour, transportation and other costs are taken into account, companies are finding that sustainable packaging models make real business sense. With the costs of materials and transport continually rising, companies no longer have to be particularly green minded to see that this is a strategy that can work for them.

The benefits are as clear as they are simple. By using fewer materials, companies save money on both manufacturing and transport. And by using sustainably sourced materials, businesses can tap in to the increasingly lucrative green market.

In the midst of the ongoing financial crisis, many companies are seeing the benefits of more sustainable business models firsthand. In their 2009 Green Winners report, global strategic management consulting firm A.T. Kearney showed how companies who made a true commitment to sustainability during the financial crisis performed better on average than their competitors.

In terms of packaging, companies that develop sustainable models will be joining an increasingly robust market. A 2009 study conducted by Pike Research projected that sustainable packaging will make up 32 percent of the global packaging market by 2014. (It currently makes up 21 percent.) This means more supply chain options, more industry support and tools, and more innovation.

Image: Pike Research

Big business gets on board

Perhaps the clearest sign of sustainable packaging's profitability and cache is the major companies now adopting it. And while consumers always have to be vigilant of greenwashing, there do seem to be real steps being taken in a number of industries. 

Take Apple, for instance. Apple recently redesigned the packaging for the second generation of their MacBook laptops. The new laptop boxes now have 53 percent less volume than their predecessors, and the boxes themselves are made from 25 percent post-consumer recycled material. 

Because of the more compact size, Apple estimates that it can now fit up to 80 percent more units per shipping container, which means less emissions and less transport costs. (Now if they could only make a completely recyclable laptop.)

McDonalds Australia, meanwhile, a company not traditionally known for its environmental credentials, has begun using recycled PET (RE-PET) sundae cups, replacing the rigid polystyrene it had been using. 

Computer giant Dell is also taking innovative steps to reduce the impact from its packaging: in 2009, it announced it was starting to replace the paper, plastic and foam in its packaging materials with bamboo.

Small business leads the way

Many of the biggest innovations in sustainable packaging, however, are being made by smaller businesses. One such Australian company is NSW-based Gingerbread Folk. The company––which, as its name suggests, makes gingerbread biscuits––is the first Australian business to package their products in completely 'home compostable' packaging. Customers simply put the packaging in their compost bins, and within three weeks, it's gone.

When Gingerbread Folk began doing business, they used standard packaging––boxes made from PVC, and bags made out of BOPP (biaxially orientated polypropylene) and polypropylene-but as time went on, the company's founders, husband and wife Karen Sharman and Dominic Mason, became increasingly unhappy with the impact of this model, and sought a more sustainable way of doing things. After a lot of research, they found a solution.

The company's new plastic is made from compostable film, which is manufactured from wood pulp sourced from renewable, managed plantations. Their cardboard display boxes, meanwhile, are now sourced from sustainable forestry, and are not chlorine bleached, meaning they can be readily recycled by the council. 

To help customers get used to this very new way of doing things, and to encourage them to compost, each Gingerbread Folk package comes with a note on the packaging letting consumers know what to do and reassuring them that, yes, it is ok to put plastic in the compost!

While Gingerbread Folk invested significant time and money into developing this new form of packaging, it soon paid off in spades: sales increased, and the company was the subject of a number of glowing media profiles. As an increasingly number of companies are finding, sustainable packaging really does pay off. 

 

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