Sustainable packaging: green and indestructible

Among other things, by 2020 must be integrated in the Unilever supply chain half a million small farmers and traders. "We want to be a sustainable company in every sense of the word," says the director of Unilever, Paul Polman. However, for this director, the most important thing is not the conservation of nature, but the economic result. For many consumers, the sustainable performance has become an important purchase criterion. Previously it just wondered the origin, the type of production and packaging, but ecological goods are currently valued more and morally "clean". Therefore, the United States, pike research, market research firm believes that global sales of packaging in the period from 2009 to 2014 will increase from 88 to 170,000 million of dollars, twice. "The environmental awareness of consumers has clearly increased due to the current debate on the climate", explains Clint Wheelock, director of Pike Research.

With the protection of the climate, social aspects have an increasing role. Modern consumers want to have a healthier life and therefore valued natural foods, which are packaged in a totally secure manner and who have a genuine taste. This clientele is also becoming increasingly important, so that the manufacturers of products perform a social commitment and offer correctly treated goods. "We note a trend towards ethical consumption," explains Jens Lönneker analyst, the Rheingold Cologne market research company. Says, trade fair is established for some time between the so-called Lohas (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability), i.e., the Group of consumers that orients its lifestyle for health and sustainability. The trend is increasing now among the largest of 18 years who instead of conventional beers and soft drinks like beer or soft drinks of fair trade in bottles of design.

For the industry, the trend towards sustainability is a blessing and a curse at the same time. On the one hand it must develop new products and campaigns involving him great costs. On the other hand, the growing demand for sustainable products is a promise of economic growth. For this reason, large corporations, powerful financially, as Coca Cola, Kraft Foods and Unilever follow wide-ranging sustainability strategies. They provide support to environmental, nature and health care organizations, either made direct aid for the development by themselves. They also invest in more efficient production and packaging facilities. "Up to 2020 will reduce our consumption of material by a third," promises the director of Unilever.

Sustainable material: aluminum cans does not exactly have a reputation for ecological, but its recycling rate is 96%. Source: Alcoa.

Packaging manufacturers help the industry reduce its ecological impact. Designed new packaging and develop production processes to do so. It is not an easy task: through minor material thicknesses and lower proportions of materials that consume many resources, saving raw materials, without that why should suffer the tightness or the resistance of the packaging.

"The most important thing is the protection of the product," says Stefan Glimm, managing director of the German Association of the aluminium industry (GDA). Not in vain, security is the main thing: according to the Organization European packaging and environment (Europen), the value of resources integrated into food products is much larger than the value of the container that protects the product. Therefore the product losses due to inadequate packaging cause more emissions of CO₂ that saved by avoiding unnecessary packaging.

In developing countries, the losses of food are a big problem: according to data of Europen, 40% of the goods is lost in the supply chain. In this way, a better protection of the products in these countries could be a substantial download for the environment. Also in the edition of Interpack, to be held from 12 to 18 May 2011, the largest event worldwide in the sector of packaging, food protection will be one of the main themes.

The special 'Save Food' exhibition, designed together with the World Organisation for agriculture and food of the United Nations (FAO), shows how the different elements of the chain of value creation in terms of packaging, logistics and transport can make a contribution against the global waste of food.

Manufacturers of packaging show with multiple innovations that safety and ecology should not be opposed. For example, the company of the United States.UU Sonoco present at Interpack 2011 solutions for efficient packaging of your new "True Blue Line". According to Jeff Schuetz, spokesman for the company, with a uniformly high resistance, they require less material or can be recycled more easily than the existing containers so far.

Optimized transport: Coca-Cola reduces its emissions of CO₂ with shorter distribution routes. Source: Coca-Cola.

The industry already uses this range regularly. The German manufacturer kraft foods food used for its brands of coffee Maxwell House, Nabob and Yuban, instead of metal cans, new recyclable cardboard packaging designed by Sonoco. Unilever has redesigned the plastic bottles for their care products of the Suave brand with the help of Sonoco's hair: the new packaging need 16% less material, but thanks to its new convex form, are more resistant than their predecessors.

The Association of the industry German packaging of plastic (IK) has confirmed on the basis of such innovations: the plastic is ideal for the production of sustainable packaging. "It is very versatile," explains Isabell Schmidt, responsible for IK for the environment and sustainable development. The plastic protects, is transparent and thanks to the low weight of the packaging can save transport costs and avoided emissions of CO₂. And the sector wishes to further increase its contribution to sustainability. "The aim is, among others, to produce still lighter packaging and further increase the degree of recycling", says the Schmidt.

In addition to the plastic, which is the material most commonly used packaging around the world, also the materials most commonly used packaging as a paper/cardboard, glass and metal/aluminium provide opportunities to maintain a strategy of sustainable packaging, since each has its own advantages. For example, the paper smooth and corrugated, according to a study by the Dutch Institute of research CE Delft, cause an emission of CO₂ lower than most other types of containers, what you get, among other thingswith a more efficient production and a lower emissions due to transport.

The equivalent of CO₂ of the paper and related materials is 676 kilograms of CO₂ per tonne of material. In terms of other materials for conventional packaging there is a minimum of 1,000 kilograms of CO₂. Glass, for its part, can not be rated due to its weight low, but it is reusable, recyclable and absolutely safe. "The glass is inert and there is little interaction between the content and the packaging," explains Johann Overath, executive director of the German Association of the glass industry. In addition, almost exclusively manufactured with raw materials present in nature in abundance.

Ecology is a triumph: often, bioplastics containers are made of renewable raw materials-this fits into the strategy of sustainability of many companies. Source: Messe Düsseldorf.

It is very appreciated by consumers who appreciate the pure taste and want to consume products with "healthy" packaging. According to a survey of the European Association for glass containers, 75% of surveyed Europeans preferred glass containers, because they contribute to a healthy lifestyle. Also the Tin and aluminum protect foods and can be easily recycled. In the aluminium, recycling is 82.3%, in this metal beverage cans reach 96%. "This percentage should be increased closing circuits", says the managing director of GDA. In addition, the sector wishes to save material. "The objective is to protect more products with less aluminium", he added.

However, established packaging materials manufacturers must have the growing competition of bioplastics. It is true that can not be so versátilmente used as conventional plastics with base of crude oil, but more and more perfect characteristics. The British company Innovia films offers a new feature, under the name of Natureflex, a plastic sheet degradable for packaging food, 100% compostable. This multi-layer, according to Andy Sweetman, marketing director, biolámina provides an excellent barrier effect against moisture and gases, crispy maintained permanently by foods such as cookies.

The German maker of bioplastics FKuR Kunststoff bet by the improved barrier effect: the company produces, among other things, bioláminas multilayer, which also provide security against leaks in ecological diapers for children. The bioenvases particularly suitable for low temperatures, a new development of FKuR, are used to pack frozen foods.

The spectacular evolution of bioplastics is also mirrored at Interpack. In 2005 there was a special exhibition of 250 square metres of net area, covered by manufacturers of bioplastics, while in 2011 will be about 2,000 of the regular exhibition area.

Manufacturer of machines for packaging may also contribute to the costs of packaging to descend quickly. The technical Association of food processing machines and machines for packaging, of the German Association of the construction of machines and facilities (VDMA), not only sees potential for savings in materials for packaging. There is also a key contribution to sustainable production in the reduction of energy consumption and means of production of packaging through modern technology machines.

Efficient production: modern packaging lines consume less energy and reduce costs. Source: Messe Düsseldorf.

Thus, for example, could be the decentralized servotécnica, who works in a way more dynamic and efficient than large drivers. It is true that the costs of acquisition of these machines are high, but according to VDMA, these costs are depreciated rapidly in the course of the life cycle of a modern installation thanks to lower energy consumption. Product manufacturers who bet on sustainability does not benefit only in the place of sale, but already in production.