The Sustainable Packaging Conundrum: Why Green Packaging May Be Trickier than You Think

by | July 17, 2024

Worldwide, food and beverage brands and manufacturers are looking for ways to create a more sustainable food supply chain and reduce the industry’s environmental impact. But in an industry this big, backed by arguably the most complex and fragmented supply network in the world, there are no easy answers. Could sustainable packaging present a possible path forward?

Food and beverage packaging, historically, has been a major consumer of non-renewable resources, and a significant source of global pollution. With some sources suggesting that as much as 350 million tons of plastic waste is produced each year, much of it from single-use bottles, wrappers and other food and drink containers. Naturally, brands with commitments to global sustainability have put a strong focus on packaging in recent years.

In spite of that focus, however, the search for sustainable packaging solutions hasn’t been a simple one. As the industry increasingly focuses on the net carbon impact of the entire product value chain, innovations which may look good through a narrow lens don’t always deliver in terms of aggregate impact. Let’s look at some of the complicating factors surrounding sustainable packaging initiatives, and consider what it might mean to take a more global view.

Hype vs. reality in biodegradable and recyclable materials

For decades now, the food and beverage industry has searched for packaging materials that won’t simply end up bobbing around the planet’s oceans forever, either because they can be recycled into other items, be composted into beneficial material, or be made to biodegrade naturally.

Researchers have achieved meaningful progress in all of these areas, from materials that can be created with future recycling in mind to various strategies for biodegradability and composting. But we’re still a long way away. 

Biodegradability in particular has had trouble living up to its initial promise. As it turns out, some “biodegradable” polymers merely break down into microplastics, a significant environmental concern in their own right. Others perform better, but only under very specific environmental conditions. And though scientific progress continues to be made, significant challenges remain for use cases where packaging is required to provide a high level of barrier to moisture and oxygen. Materials that can meet manufacturers’ requirements for barrier properties and biodegradability have been created, they have remained comparatively costly, and suffered from low adoption. 

Similarly, compostable containers have not performed as once hoped. While compostable materials do exist, the typical back yard compost bin won’t get the job done for many of them. Rather, industrial composting facilities with precise environmental controls are required – facilities that don’t exist in many communities.

Moreover, even where adequate composting infrastructure does exist, some compostable materials leave unwanted contamination in their wake, either because of the presence of toxic compounds like PFAS, or because of upstream confusion on what is and isn’t’ compostable, often resulting in conventional plastics making their way into the composting process. Composting facilities in some states have explicitly excluded compostable packaging from their facilities for these reasons.

And in a now well-known issue, recycling hasn’t proven to be a reliable solution for managing packaging waste, especially for plastics. Multiple studies have found that “recycled” plastic is rarely recycled at all, with much of it ending up in landfills or incinerators, or simply being dumped back into the environment.

Less is more

An alternative approach to creating more sustainable packaging solutions is simply to look for ways of using less packaging overall. Some companies have realized significant reductions in plastic usage by redesigning packaging to require less material. Though conventional plastics may still be used, the net environmental impact of packaging reduction can still be very positive. 

Once again, however, challenges around barrier properties and protection for fragile or squishable packaged goods remain. Packaging solutions that offer a smaller environmental footprint at face value can have the opposite effect if, for example, shelf life is reduced, requiring more intensive logistics to keep fresh product on shelves, or resulting in increased product waste.

Reusability rising

An interesting area is around reusable packaging; durable containers designed to be used many times, if not indefinitely. In the UK where action against single-use plastics has been strong, retailers have taken steps to enable reuse and refill of containers that customers either purchase from the retailer or bring from home.

Reusable packaging presents an interesting model, because the net environmental effect depends in large measure on how many times a given container ultimately gets used. And of course, if the manufacturer or retailer takes on the task of cleaning and sanitizing containers, other potential impacts in terms of water usage, chemical cleaning agents and energy costs begin to creep in, potentially creating a complex model. 

Looking at the lifecycle

The reality is that the industry-wide movement toward sustainable packaging doesn’t present a single, straightforward path. Rather, it’s a winding road, with multiple potential avenues to explore, and challenges along the way. Progress in one area can create challenges in another, and a local success may not result in a positive global outcome. That said, innovation continues, with research advancing on multiple fronts.

As CPG/FMCG brands and manufacturers push forward on sustainability, it’s increasingly important to look at environmental impact through a lens of total product lifecycle. TraceGains Sustainability Management is here to help. For years, TraceGains has been the industry’s trusted, go-to solution for managing a vast array of supplier data. Sustainability Management builds on the proven TraceGains solution set by layering in global sustainability data from industry leaders Sustained and DitchCarbon. With environmental intelligence covering carbon and emissions data at both the supplier level and the ingredient level, Sustainability Management offers a unified toolset for understanding the complex tradeoffs in sustainable innovation, all within a proven platform backed by the industry’s largest network of global suppliers. 

Reach out to learn more.

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