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Smart and Handsome: Design Innovations In Sustainable Packaging

April 7, 2010

Image: Boxed Water Is Better

Twenty years ago, sustainable packaging was far from hip: in the shadow of the maximalist packaging approach many big companies were taking in the early 1990s, eco-friendly packaging was seen as a well meaning but ultimately bland alternative to the blaring packaging on offer pretty much everywhere else, the province of health food companies and do-gooder activist businesses.

No more. As consumers try to put their money where their consciences are, a range of progressive design companies around the world have responded by coming up with new packaging designs that are as innovative as they are great looking. As we'll see, these designers are popularising a simpler, more rough-hewn aesthetic that, if it catches on, has the potential to revolutionise the way we package our goods.

In this week's post, we're going to take a look at four of the best and most inspiring eco-friendly packaging designs we've seen. (Thanks to The Dieline, those fine purveyors of all things beautiful in packaging, for the tips and photos.)

Boxed Water Is Better

The strikingly simple design for the Boxed Water Is Better line of water in Tetra-Pak cartons (see image above) came about when a US start up of the same name started searching for a more environmentally friendly way to package bottled water, and realised they needed to away with the bottle entirely.

Boxed says that 85% of the cartons are made from renewable plantation wood. They ship the cartons flat to the filler, which represents enormous savings in terms of transport costs when compared to empty glass and plastic bottles. (Boxed says that a load of its flat boxes fits on two pallets, or 5% of a truckload. The same number of empty plastic or glass bottles would require five truckloads.)

To top it all off, Boxed donates 20% of its profits back to organisations working to protect the resources their product is made out of––water and trees.

Pangea Organics

Image: The Dieline

U.S. sustainable cosmetics company Pangea Organics have truly taken sustainable packaging to the next level. After pioneering a package for their cosmetics that, when soaked in water for a day and planted, actually grew organic basil, last year the company raised the bar even higher, offering a great-looking package for their holiday cosmetic gift sets that, when soaked and planted, will grow a spruce tree!

So how did they do it? Pangea's packaging is made from 100% recycled newsprint, and contains no dies or glues. Which meant all they needed to do was to add seeds to their packaging, and it was safe to put in the ground. Pangea estimates that if everyone who bought the holiday gift set planted their spruce tree, they will have helped plant 122,000 trees.

Eco take-away

Image: The Dieline

Take away packaging has been traditionally seen as one of the worst packaging offenders. We don't have to think back that far to remember all the polystyrene containers littering the side of the road. Packaging has got marginally better over the years––as we wrote last week, even giants like McDonalds are starting to get on board––but there's still a very long way to go, with immense amounts of waste still being created each day around the world from fast food, and immense amounts of energy and petrochemicals going into creating fast food packaging.

Enter Tal Marco, an Israeli designer who came up with a solution to simple it's amazing it hasn't been thought of before: banana leaves. Banana leaves are the ideal packaging for fast food for so many reasons: they're abundant and readily available; they last long after they've been cut; their waxy surface can handle even the greasiest of foods; there's no need to use glue; and the packages they make can be ripped open along their natural seam.

Of course, this isn't an entirely new idea: banana leaves have been used to hold food in traditional cultures for hundreds of years. What's new is the possibilities for their widespread use in the west. Marco says that, using die-cutting technologies, the leaves can be shaped into forms to package a variety of retail products. Now that's truly sustainable packaging. 

lite2go

Image: The Dieline

One of the most outside-the-box sustainable packaging ideas in recent times came from San Francisco ecodesign studio Knoend, who came up with a design where the packaging actually is the product. The product, the lite2go, is an energy-saving lamp. But its packaging is where things get really interesting: when the lamp is put together, the packaging becomes both the shade for the lamp and the fixture contained within it.

The whole package contains only five things: a recyclable polypropylene shade, an energy-saving light bulb, a standard cord and socket, a recycled-paper label and manual, and hemp twine for assembly. Could this be the future of packaging? Let's hope so. As these innovative, inspiration designs show, anything is possible.

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