Environmental issues play key role in packaging trends

“The main purpose of packaging is to preserve and protect the content,” says Andrew Marthinusen, executive director of the Packaging Council of South Africa (Pacsa). “Therefore, when changes to packaging are considered, the entire supply chain must be taken into consideration; including handling and transportation.” Independent research has shown that without the benefits of packaging, refrigeration and transport, the losses between grower and consumers are as much as 44% in the developing world compared with little as 2% in the developed world with those facilities. “The packaging industry’s biggest challenge is to retain its core purpose but, in line with all industries, it needs to review all its production processes to protect the environment by avoiding unnecessary waste – particularly in the area of energy and water. “Dealing specifically with packaging, designers need to consider returnable packaging, reduce packaging mass wherever possible and avoid obvious over-packaging. To help solve the problem designers should utilise recycled material in packaging. This will hugely reduce the carbon footprint of the pack compared to a virgin pack,” Marthinusen explains. “We should not only measure companies in terms of the final waste that is produced. The packaging industry is not doing a bad job and about 41% of the the entire packaging and paper industry is recycled through voluntary initiatives. One of the biggest problems we have to contend with is the use of multilayers consisting of different materials during the design and manufacturing of packaging which can make recycling impossible. “The current economic fireball that has hit the world has put the recycling industry under tremendous pressure since the prices of virgin raw materials have collapsed thus making some recyclable sectors unviable. This is a worldwide problem that in the short term may set back the entire industry,” Marthinusen concludes.