Environment Blog- February

Lighter products, a lighter earth
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With warning bells ringing about the kind of energy required to create packaging and its contribution to the landfill, packaging has become a hot topic and has  a bearing on company supply chains and product life cycles.

Companies are constantly worrying about the impact of  smaller packages products but  branding experts believe size is immaterial as long as the concept is great, then they would not lose their power over consumers. Besides, extra packaging makes the product heavy and dull, adds to shipping costs, both in terms of fuel costs and carbon emissions and leads to extra end-of-life waste and speculation about waste material used.

In the U.K., Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations has made it mandatory for companies to take full end-of-life responsibility for their products and packaging by fulfilling the clause that those that use 50 tons or more of packaging each year in their products must contribute towards a U.K.-wide recycling scheme.
 

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Public concern for Wasteful food packaging
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A recent Internet-based survey conducted by the Nielsen Company in 48 nations assessed attitudes to climate change, water shortages, air and water pollution and use of pesticides.

Results showed that New Zealanders were the most concerned by trash from food packaging (and the most willing to go to great lengths to curb it) followed by People in Finland, Ireland, the Czech Republic and Norway. The numbers showed an improvement from a previous poll.

Half of those surveyed said they did not mind switching to “convenience packaging”, as well as re-sealable containers or plastic packages used during cooking. Only 30 percent said they were willing to abandon packaging meant to keep food clean and labels with instructions for cooking and use.

Overall, Nielsen said consumers showed an inclination to demand paper, board or glass of recyclable material, rather than plastic or polystyrene.

Incidentally, packaging specialists Multivac as well as retailers such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour or Tesco are either simplifying or cutting back packaging.
 

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