1.
PACKAGING FOR THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
SIEM HAFFMANS
PARTNERS FOR INNOVATION
SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING

2.
“It’s not about the packaging! 90-95% of the
environmental impact of a product-packaging
combination is in the content.”
Siem Haffmans – Partners for Innovation

3.
WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING?
SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING is integrating environmental criteria in the design process
of a product-packaging combination. This means that besides the normal criteria, such
as: marketing, functional, economic and technical criteria, also environmental criteria
are taken into account.
The scope of sustainable packaging is the complete life-cycle
of the product-packaging combination.
This can result in improving the current packaging system, but
also in developing a complete new product-packaging system
for the circular economy or even packaging solutions with a
positive impact!
Sustainable Packaging

4.
STATEMENT: “THE MOST SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING IS
NO PACKACKING”
LUSH – Shampoo
“Our passion is to get rid of packaging when designing a product. We
use as little packaging in the shops as possible and give you the choice
to go completely naked - we mean the products, not yourselves. About
half of our products can be taken home with no packaging. We save
nearly 6 million plastic bottles globally from selling shampoo bars
alone”.
Nedvang “Prevention” price.
Argumentation of the jury: “This producer has found a way to
eliminate the whole packaging, by rethinking the way how products
are being used. This has led also to reduced use and transport of
water. The solution: a solid piece of shampoo soap, that last as long as
three bottles (250 ml) of shampoo.” (Nedvang, 2012).
Sustainable Packaging
Photo: Lush / Nedvang Prevention Award 2012
(www.lush.com)

5.
STATEMENT: “SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING = EFFECTIVE
PACKAGING”
Sustainable Packaging is about finding the optimum
between reducing the amount of packaging material
(weight and volume) and minimizing product loss
(protecting the product).
WESTLAND CHEESE
Maaslander (Westland Cheese), introduced in 2011 a reclosable
envelop packaging for sliced cheese.
“This new packaging has reduced the amount of plastic with more
than 65%. Beside that the packaging is easy to open and can be closed
leak proof, so the cheese keeps fresh and tasteful for a longer period”,
says Robin van de Bruinhorst, brand manager of Maaslander.
Sustainable Packaging

6.
STATEMENT: “SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING = EFFECTIVE
PACKAGING”
Optimal Packaging (The Consumer Goods Forum, Global Packaging Project, 2011)
Sustainable Packaging

7.
“Packaging isn’t part of the problem of sustainability,
it is part of the solution”
Julian Carroll – Managing Director EUROPEN

8.
WHY SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING?
Three Shades of Green (based on: Prof. Ab Stevels & Boks, 2003)
Sustainable Packaging

9.
BUSINESS GREEN @ PHILIPS
The optimum balance between the different shades of
green, or Business Green, is a consideration that every
company has to make for its own.
Philips strives to make the world healthier and more sustainable
through innovation and the goal is to improve the lives of 3 billion
people a year by 2025. For a sustainable world, we see the transition
from a linear to a circular economy as a necessary boundary condition.
EcoDesign considers the following Philips Green Focal Areas, and
Packaging is one of them.
Sustainable Packaging

10.
BUSINESS GREEN @ UNILEVER
Packaging is an integrated part of the ‘Sustainable
Living Plan’, committing to a ten year journey towards
sustainable growth.
As part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan they have set a bold
target to halve the waste associated with our products by 2020. They
will achieve this through a combination of reducing, reusing, recycling
and eliminating certain packaging materials.
By 2020 Unilever is planning to reduce the weight of packaging that
they use by a third through:
> light weighting materials
> optimising structural and material design
> developing concentrated versions of our products
> eliminating unnecessary packaging.
Sustainable Packaging

11.
OPTIMIZING THE LIFE CYCLE
A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a very useful instrument to assess the
environmental impact of products and packaging.
LCA: Life Cycle Assessment (Chalmers University of Technology, 1998)
Sustainable Packaging

12.
PREVENTION OF FOOD WASTE
Worldwide, a third of the food intended for human
consumption is wasted, according FAO figures.
How much food is wasted by Dutch consumers?
> Dutch consumers are wasting more than € 2,4 billion edible food
per year. That is equal to € 400 per household per year.
> Every individual consumer is wasting more than 50 kg food per
year. So we are buying 20% of our food for the waste bin.
Source: Milieu Centraal
Sustainable Packaging

13.
Active Packaging
Active packaging can prevent food waste.
FreshPaper™by Fenugreen is a simple piece of paper that
keeps fruits & veggies fresh for 2-4 times longer, organically.
> Paper infused with herbs (fenegreek)
Mondi Consumer Coatings offers an innovative anti-microbial
packaging solution under the brand name Sanocoat.
Sustainable Packaging

14.
OPTIMIZING THE PRODUCTION PROCESS
Packaging can have additional functions in the production
process. Smart packaging can reduce the production costs,
which makes a higher packaging price feasible. For producers
of packaging materials it is a challenge to find these added
values of the packaging.
DSM introduced in 2010 the Pack-Age™, an innovative ready-to-use
packaging solution for the natural ripening of hard to semi-hard
cheese. The packaging film is moisture-permeable, so cheeses can still
dry under air as they do in the natural ripening process. As the
packaging is moisture-permeable, during ripening the cheese will dry
as natural ripened cheeses would, and its taste, texture and dry rind
will all develop in a similar way. “Pack-Age can be compared to
professional cyclists clothing featuring breathable membranes and
wind stoppers”, says Corstiaan Hooft of DSM Innovation Center.
Winner: NVC Bronzen Noot 2012.
Sustainable Packaging

15.
OPTIMIZING THE SUPPLY CHAIN
Weight and volume reduction of the packaging can
save storage space, transport costs and shelf space in
the supermarket.
Albert Heijn reduced the volume of dishwasher tablets with 40%,
compared to other brands.
Shelf-Ready Packaging (SRP) saves labour costs for the retailer and
gives a better presentation of the products for the brand-owner
(Unilever).
Sustainable Packaging

16.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
“Shifting toward a circular economy isn't about returning
soda cans. It is about changing your business model,
changing how you design, your materials, your vehicles,
so you can recover the parts or components, so you can
sell them or lease them in another way."
Ellen MacArthur, Ellen MacArthur Foundation

17.
PACKAGING FOR THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
The circular economy is an industrial economy that is, by design or
intention, restorative and in which material flows are of two types,
biological nutrients, designed to reenter the biosphere safely, and
technical nutrients, which are designed to circulate at high quality
without entering the biosphere.
Circular Economy Model (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2012)
Circular Economy

18.
PACKAGING FOR THE TECHNICAL CYCLE
In the Netherlands more and more packaging waste is
collected and recycled every year.
Glass packaging is collected for more than 80% with a separated glass
collection system, which saves more than 400.000 tons of waste.
Paper and Packaging Board is collected and recycled for approximately
90% and the paper fibres stays in the technical cycle.
Plastics recycling is relatively low with 40-50%, but growing. Suez SITA
has build a sorting installation in Rotterdam for separating plastic
waste from households, to make it suitable for recycling. This
installation sorts 30.000 tons per year and will be doubled in 2015.
The quality of the sorted streams is high and constant. This makes the
fractions wanted by recycling companies.
Circular Economy

19.
PACKAGING FOR THE TECHNICAL CYCLE
A packaging solution can be designed for the technical cycle.
This means that it contains the highest possible percentage of
recycled material and/or that it can be recycled again at the
end of the life cycle.
Innocent Drinks was the first producer that introduced a 100%
recycled PET bottle on the market in 2007. The bottle is also 20%
lighter and has a food contact approval.
“Changing to 100% recycled PET is reducing the CO2 footprint of the
packaging with 55% and thus saving 1.000 ton CO2 per year”,
according Innocent sustainability manager Jessica Sansom (Innocent
Drinks, 2008).
Circular Economy

20.
PACKAGING FOR THE TECHNICAL CYCLE
Pool systems
Transport packaging, such as crates and pallets are very well
suitable for reuse with a deposit or pool system.
The Dutch Food Retail Association (CBL - Centraal Bureau
Levensmiddelenhandel) has developed a pool system for
transport crates, in cooperation with the Food Industry.
The black crates are a indispensable part of the supermarket.
Since the introduction more than 23 million crates are rotating in
this pool system.
The HDPE crates are rotating in the system on average 10 times
per year and can be used for several years. Recycled material is
used for the production and at the end of their lifetime they can
be recycled again.
Circular Economy

21.
PACKAGING FOR THE BIOLOGICAL CYCLE
Biobased Economy is about the transition from an economy based on
fossil fuels to an economy that runs on biomass feedstock. In a bio-
based economy so it is about the use of biomass for non-food
applications. These applications include components, chemicals,
materials, transportation fuels, electricity and heat.
Big brand owners including Danone, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Heinz and
Tetra Pak have launched or integrated bioplastics in their packaging
strategy.
Is there competition between food, feed and bioplastics regarding
agricultural area?
According European Bioplastics, the global agricultural area and the
way it is used shows that about 0.001 percent used to grow feedstock
for bioplastics come nowhere near the 97 percent used for pastures
and growing food and feed.
(source: http://en.european-bioplastics.org/press/faq-bioplastics/#competition)
Circular Economy

22.
PACKAGING FOR THE BIOLOGICAL CYCLE
PLANT BOTTLE
The Coca-Cola Company and Heinz, launched in 2009 the first
recyclable bottle that was partly made from biobased materials. The
PlantBottle™ is since than introduced in more than 40 countries and
until end of 2014 more than 25 billion PlantBottle are brought on the
market (Coca Cola, 2015).
PlantBottle packaging uses materials that are up to 30% plants-based,
without sacrificing performance or recyclability.
One of the monomers or building stones of the PET, monoethylene
glycol (MEG), is made of sugarcane. Research and development is
done to make also the other monomere of PET, purified terephthalic
acid (PTA), from biobased resources.
Avantium has entered into joint development agreements with The
Coca-Cola Company, Danone and ALPLA to further develop and
commercialize PEF bottles.
Circular Economy

23.
PACKAGING FOR THE BIOLOGICAL CYCLE
Synprodo and Synbra Technologies, have developed a biobased and
biodegradable foam, based on Polylactic Acid (PLA).
BioFoam® is a new, patented foam that is comparable to EPS
(expanded polystyrene). The raw material for BioFoam consists of
biopolymers, which are made of vegetable materials (an infinite
resource). This makes BioFoam the first foam to have an organic base.
The consequence is that BioFoam, like Expanded Polystyrene (EPS),
can be reused. In addition, it is biodegradable and it can be industrially
composted at high temperatures under the influence of moisture and
bacteria. BioFoam is durable and is suitable for long-term use in
virtually all technical and packaging applications.
Circular Economy

24.
PACKAGING FOR THE BIOLOGICAL CYCLE
The biggest challenge is to use the specific properties
of biobased materials, such as the biodegradability or
specific barrier properties.
Loose-fill materials can be made from biodegradable starch foam.
Because this kind of products have a big chance to end up in the
environment, the biodegradability is a big advantage.
PaperFoam is a packaging material made of paper fibres and potato
starch. The packaging is biodegradable, compostable and can be
recycled with the paper. (www.biofoam.com)
Circular Economy

25.
REVERSE LOGISTICS
The Circular Economy needs smart and efficient return
logistics to get products and resources back, for reuse,
remanufacturing and recycling.
Remia introduced a packaging that facilitates the return logistics of
used cooking oil. The yellow packaging can be delivered in yellow
containers placed in supermarkets and other strategic locations.
The cooking oil is reprocessed to bio-fuel. (www.hergebruikfrituurvet.nl).
In case of e-commerce business, many websites offer the flexibility
of cash on delivery (COD) to their customers. So web shops also have a
growing need for smart packaging solutions for reversed logistics.
Circular Economy

26.
CRADLE TO CRADLE
“Use as much packaging as is desired to protect and
differentiate the product, because that package will become
a biological or technical nutrient after its first use”.
William McDonough & Michael Braungart, MBDC

27.
The ultimate challenge is to develop packaging solutions
with a positive impact!
In ‘Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things’ (2002) and
‘The Upcycle’ (2013), Michael Braungart and William McDonough
stated: “doing less bad isn’t good enough. Zero impact is not the final
goal, according we must strive for a positive impact on our ecosystem.”
Cradle to Cradle

28.
Network Sustainable Packaging
This presentation is based on our experiences in the Network
Sustainable Packaging. The Network organized from 2010-
2013, ten workshops for different market segments and three
general meetings about sustainable packaging in The
Netherlands. More than 200 professionals from packaging
industry attended this meetings and shared their views and
insights.
The Network Sustainable Packaging was executed by:
> Netherlands Packaging Centre (www.nvc.nl)
> Partners for Innovation (www.partnersforinnovation.com)
> Financially supported by Netherlands Agency (www.rvo.nl)
Download the full publication (in Dutch) at:
www.partnersforinnovation.com/en/publications/reports/
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