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| Green Packaging |
1. Quantity.
Using the least possible number of packages and
packaging is not only good for the environment and can improve the image of
companies before citizens aware of the protection of the planet, but can also
be a source of wealth for companies. Putting containers and packaging on the
market means an increase in direct and indirect costs (such as taxes on
packaging or the obligation to present and implement business plans to prevent
packaging waste). To give a simple example of the favorable trend to follow:
soda cans are now made with 17% less aluminum than a decade ago and water
bottles have an average of 12% less plastic than ten years ago.
2. Materials.
The trend with the greatest future in the
packaging and packaging of products are biodegradable materials. While new
alternatives of this type arrive, producers and consumers should opt for
recyclable and/or reusable containers and packaging. In addition, it is
important to reduce the variety of compounds used in the same container or
packaging in order to facilitate recycling. As Ecoembes (managing body of the
recycling of packaging in Spain) recalls, in 1982 the traditional detergent
drum combined various materials such as cardboard, plastics, and steel.
Currently, only a single type of plastic is used, which facilitates its
recycling, achieving that each box weighs six times less.
3. Innovation.
Improving the design, formulation, weight, and
dimensions of the packaging is part of the concept known as ecodesign. We are very
critical of the excesses in the packaging but we should also know that every
year thousands of small improvements are implemented that make, applying
innovation, many containers and packaging are lighter, occupy less space or
contain less raw materials. In the ‘Ecoembes Ecodesign Good Practice Finder’
you can see many of these real solutions.
One of the most recent examples in this area is the Spanish
company Carelli 2007 SL, awarded at the World Packaging Organization (WPO)
World Awards of this year 2019 for its proposal for a 100% biodegradable and
soluble household detergent Flopp Water. The first prize in the section Materials
and components of packaging has been for the German company Feurer Febra GmbH
for its Airpop® packaging for chemical, pharmaceutical and laboratory products
that integrates in a single modular structure of 100% recyclable cardboard the
set of components.