True Sustainability in Packaging Must Include the Entire Process

Over the last few years, there has been a lot of conversation about sustainable packaging in the packaging sector. Although sustainable packaging, or at least the principles behind it, is not new, its popularity has risen in recent years for various reasons.

Sustainability may be traced back to several different concepts or situations. Sustainable packaging, for example, has grown in popularity as a result of a healthy approach toward eating habits. People started to think about where their food originated from, what ingredients were utilized, and how it was manufactured. Similarly, the recycling trend and the realization that the planet's resources are finite have aided in the development of sustainable packaging. Sustainability in packaging may be considered a bringing together of these and other difficulties to achieve a beneficial objective. As a result, the term has been and continues to be challenging to define. BOPA film manufacturer/supplier

"The invention and use of packaging that results in greater sustainability" is a simple definition of sustainable packaging. This is taken from a Wikipedia page and offers nothing to explain the phrase. The Sustainable Packaging Coalition provides a better description, stating that sustainable packaging:

•Throughout its life cycle is helpful, safe, and healthy for individuals and communities;

•Meets both performance and cost standards in the market;

•Renewable energy is used to obtain, produce, transport, and recycle the product;

•Makes the most of renewable and recyclable resources;

•It's made with eco-friendly production methods and best practices;

•Is manufactured from components healthy throughout the life cycle;

•Is physically built to optimize materials and energy;

•It can be efficiently recovered and reused in biological and industrial closed-loop systems.

While this definition is far more thorough than the previous one, it still allows some space for interpretation. How do you describe helpful, safe, and healthy in the first bullet point? Who decides how to optimize source materials, what constitutes restorative materials, and who defines best practices farther down?

These issues do not imply that the coalition's definition of sustainable packaging is incorrect; it is not. In essence, innovations in processing, packaging, and even logistics will continue to evolve the concept.

Sustainable packaging will consider the entire packaging process, not just the package, and will not just focus on recycling. Packagers must view the raw material utilized in the product's creation and the packaging that they chose for that product. The shipping analysis will begin with the arrival of raw materials to develop the product and packaging components and will continue until the final items are moved to the shelf. In addition to the package's design, some attention must be given to what will happen to the packaging once the product has been consumed. Another examination of getting the product into the packaging will be required. What filling, capping, and labeling machine, if any, will do the operation without wasting energy or resources? The research is probably never-ending, and the concept of sustainable packaging is likely to evolve as these, and other components of the packaging process develop or change.