Roadmap to sustainable packaging design

9/30/2011

Packaging and Sustainability – starting points

 Packaging is part of the chain and it fulfills an
important function
ROADMAP TO SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING DESIGN
PROF. DR. IR. ROLAND TEN KLOOSTER
 Loads in the chain are often unknown

 Every packaging is sustainable because it protects the
product: lever function
 Not one packaging is sustainable because every
packaging uses scarce sources (oil, gas)

Roadmap to Sustainable Packaging Design

Sustainability - approach Energy consumption – daily life (source Incpen)

 The best packaging is no packaging
 This means: if you need a packaging, use it, but do it
as good as possible
 Needed: insight in functions
 Take care: the knowledge field of packaging is rather
unknown
 Strategic choices have to be made and responsibility
has to be taken

Roadmap to Sustainable Packaging Design 4

Need for food – energy consumption - chain analysis Need for bread – energy consumption - chain analysis
(Incpen) (Incpen)

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Need for bread – energy consumption - chain analysis
(Incpen)

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Need for ice – chain analysis

Carbon Foot Print Ben & Jerry's (Website B&J - 2008)

Sourcing of ingredients
(chocolate, fruit, cereals)
Energy needed for cooling

Dairy supply chain

Transport finished product

Packaging

Rest

Roadmap to Sustainable Packaging Design Roadmap to Sustainable Packaging Design

LCA’s are tools Sources for optimizing – viewpoint sustainability

 Sustainable Packaging Coalition (Jedlička, W., 2009, pp 189-196).
 Some remarks
 Natural Step Framework (Jedlička, W., 2009, pp 197-200).
 It’s all about the P from Planet
 O2 International network for sustainable design, 5Rs (Jedlička, W., 2009, pp 200-
 How about People and Profit? 203).
 Figures are not always right  Wall-Mart, 7Rs (Jedlička, W., 2009, pp 204-205).
 Parts of the chain are rather unknown  Cradle to Cradle (Jedlička, W., 2009, pp 205-212).
 Use phase is skipped  EUROPEN (EUROPEN, May 2009).
 Human energy is not taken into account  Ecodesign, 10 golden rules (Lagerstedt, J., Luttrop, C., 2006).
 Many LCA’s are not according to ISO  Ecodesign checklist (Brezet, H., van Hemel, C., 1997).
 Ecodesignweb (Lofthouse, V.A., August 2008).
 Ecodesign handbook (Fuad-Luke, A., 2004)
Judith van Voorthuizen / Lenneke Koopmans / Jos de Lange / RtK

Roadmap to Sustainable Packaging Design Sustainability and Packaging 30-9-2011 12

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STARTUP DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE

Sustainability - approach

Three stages
 Start up: Strategic choices have to be made
 Development: In the design stage design choices are
being made about materials, dimensions, etc.
 Life cycle: Finally is has to be executed


STARTUP CHECKLIST 1

 Did you design a packaging with an understanding of the market it will be
sold in, and meet the consumer choice and expectation?
Benchmark existing packaging on the market.
Make a strategic choice based on the functions a packaging should and
can fulfil. Use the scheme of packaging functionalities.
 Did you design a packaging that fulfils its functions efficiently?
Look at the triangle theory.


Packaging functionalities

Product functionalities Functionalities of use
DESIGN
Design related Objective:
Design (styling) To be able to use
the product
Psychological
Conserving/
Way of use
Protecting

Business Management
Packaging costs Distributing

Process costs
Informing
Societal
Politics
Regional/global

More strategically based More tactically based Roadmap to Sustainable Packaging Design

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DESIGN PROTECTING/CONSERVING
Product
Vulnerability, type,
taste, ingredients,
components, etc.

Proper
packaging Kind of
Packaging design protection
Material, is statically
thickness, defined Falling height, shelf
shape, colour, life, temperature
structure, etc. range, etc.


MAY FALL FROM 1,5 M WITHOUT PACKAGING



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PROTECTING/CONSERVING CHECKLIST 1
Product
Vulnerability, type,  Did you design packaging and product together to minimise the impact of
taste, ingredients, both?
components, etc.
Design methods: pv-combi
Use LCA tools if needed
Indicative: on base of weight, CO2 emissions, amount of MJ, amount of
Proper waste, etc.
packaging
Packaging design Protection
Material, is statically Falling height, shelf
thickness, defined life, temperature
shape, colour, range, etc.
structure, etc.


CHECKLIST 1 CHECKLIST 1

 Did you design for modularity, combine functions or share use?  Did you consider the use of refills/consumables?
Functional specification, function hierarchy, idea generation techniques, A formula can proof if it makes sense to make a packaging reusable.
morphological mapping with functions Aspects to take into account are: average travelling distance, energy for
 Did you design a packaging with the right sizes, which provides an cleaning/making the packaging reusable (think about new labels, new
appropriate amount for the function? caps, etc.), trip time, total investments
Is the amount of product fitting for the market? Has research proven this?  Did you select components with a classic styling for returnable
 Did you think in services (rent), not in products? packaging?

Define the function of the product. Ask yourself if the function can be Economic shelf life of products that are styled classic is longer.
executed without a physical product. Participation in a pool can be a solution as well.


REUSABILITY CHECKLIST 1

 Items to take into account  Did you eliminate or optimise primary or transport packaging through
 Transport distance design?
 Cleaning energy See the pallet as a system
 Cycle time Consider the combination of primary and secondary packaging
 Pool dimension – number of items
 Inter stack ability
 Investments
 Design and engineering


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BRIEFING

 Be sure choices on strategic level about packaging are being made
 Try to optimize the way packaging fulfills its function

 The briefing should be clear about this:
Design a packaging that …


DEVELOPMENT
DEVELOPMENT


DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT


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 Did you select materials with maximum recycling potential, which can be
 Choice of materials Did you select materials with the lowest recycled without quality loss (recycling or up cycling)?
environmental impact, while offering maximum performance for the
Metals and glass can be recycled easily without quality loss. For paper
required task?
and board and plastics recycling means down cycling because fibres and
Lowest impact versus maximum performance molecule chains are shortened because of the recycling process.
Consider differences in weight  Did you select sustainably managed renewable or (continuously) recycled
Look for best practices as well source materials instead of primary materials?
 Did you select reusable, biodegradable or compostable materials? Ask the material supplier after the percentage of recycled content in the
Remind that all materials are reusable but the process to make them packaging material. Especially for secondary packaging the percentage
reusable within the requirements set by the packaging function can be can be high (corrugated carton board, solid board, plastic crates). For
complex. Many additives, colorants and inks contain toxic matter. This metals and glass the percentage of recycled material can be high. Metal
makes reuse for food application in many occasions not possible. packaging can be made out of 100% recycled content, for glass the
quality for critical applications goes down if it is more than 50%.



 Did you select materials with lower production energy levels, like  Did you select safe and healthy materials and avoid hazardous/toxic
materials with a high recycled content? substances? If toxins are unavoidable, did you minimise the amounts and
The energy content of materials is expressed in MJ/kg (or GJ/ton). There use closed loops?
are key figures per material but for individual companies, differences can Toxic materials influence a LCA for a great deal. Try to determine if toxic
be large. Take processing to packaging (box, bottle, can, cup, etc.) into materials are being used. Especially watch additives, colorants and inks.
account and relate them to weight and compare the amount of MJ per Many bright colours contain toxic matter.
option.  Did you optimise all remaining problematic ingredients or materials?
Use as less as possible. Did you do testing or did you look for research
reports on this subject to minimize the amount?


2002

Recall in 2009
because of 4 methyl-
benzophenone from
high gloss UV
lacquer


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CHECKLIST 2 CONSTRUCTION

 Did you optimize the number of materials being used?
 Did you optimize the seize, weight, thickness of chosen materials?
 Did you design for disassembly and recyclability? Are components easily
separable, especially hazardous components?
 Did you design graphics to increase recycling rates?
 Did you replace metals or metal layers for barriers with materials that
require less energy and pollution?
 Did you maximise material strength, create minimal structures by using
compression, tension and triangulation?


OPTIMAL DIMENSIONS DIMENSIONS

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CHECKLIST 2 DEVELOPMENT

 Did you label material type, source and recycle fraction?
 Did you invest in materials to reduce maintenance and prolong life? Did
you select the best suppliers, and check with them in the design process?
 Did you select a supplier that practices green chemistry?
 Did you use materials extracted from nature, because they tend to be
low-embodied-energy materials? Techno sphere materials have much
higher embodied-energy values.


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DEVELOPMENT CHECKLIST 3

 Did you optimize distribution of the packed product?
 Did you fully use the surface of the pallet?
 Did you use the collomodule system?
 Did you do an analysis of the load in the chain on the product and/or
packaging?
 Did you choose the best construction of the secondary packaging?
 Did you choose the best materials for the secondary packaging?


OPTIMAL PALLET LOAD

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DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT


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CHECKLIST 4 COLOURS OF SLEEVES AND CAPS

 Did you consider the graphic design in relation to the printing technique of
all the items?
Colors are very critical, depending on the printing process. Check and
double check this before printing. Print a test series.
 Did you consider the graphic design in relation to the packaging process?
Labeling or folding can cause a packaging which is not very nice because
small details can influence the image of the packaging. Be sure the
packaging design has been checked with the chosen materials and
construction.


INFLUENCE OF GRAPHICS INFLUENCE OF GRAPHICS

57 58


Barcode fully accross the bottom

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LIFE CYCLE CHECKLIST 5

 Did you optimize the packaging for use in the chain?
 Do you separate the different materials?
 Do you collect data about damage?
 Do you recycle there were it is possible?
 Do you inform customers about the made choices?



 Did you consider the technical as well as the aesthetic lifetime of the  Did you characterise energy, water, and resource consumption, and their
packaging? sources? Did you identify the contents of all components at 100 ppm
 Did you promote long life through possibilities for maintenance, repair, level?
upgrading? Did you prearrange this by labelling, manuals, form and  Did you minimise the ecological footprint of the packaging and minimise
material use? the energy, water, and resource consumption?
 Did you reuse materials/components (recycling is mostly down cycling)?  Did you select renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels?
 Did you recover the material efficiently? Did you create well defined plans  Did you select local materials and recourses (lower transport energy)?
for the disposal of the packaging (for returnables as well)?  Did you meet the emission standards and improve post-production air
 Did you design a take-back program for packages to increase recycling and water quality to be as good or better than pre-production?
rates? Did you give an incentive to return the packaging: rebates,  Did you increase energy efficiency within processes and ecosystems?
recognition, and rewards?



 Did you minimise the number of production and assembly steps?  Are all packaging components suitable for the proposed disposal type,
 Did you minimise the number of parts and joining elements? including inks, surface treatments, additives, fillers, adhesives, and
 Did you select the most environment friendly production processes (e.g. more?
clean production technologies, minimise waste, air and water pollution)?  Did you prevent overdesign: close the loop? Closed-loop recycling
 Did you select collomodule system dimensions for most efficient use of significantly reduces environmental impacts.
transport space?  Did you communicate disassembly instructions clearly?
 Did you select a reusable or recyclable transport packaging?  Did you test the package to confirm biodegradability, including all
 Did you select the most environmental friendly transport type and did you components (add-ons, printing) and did you check the infrastructure for
consider the return journey as well? composting?

 Did you reduce the transport weight and/or volume?
 Did you reduce the transport distance?


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CHECKLIST 7 HOW TO MAKE A COMPROMISE?

 Did you examine the economic health, environmental restoration, social  Design the packaging in stages
equity?  Strategic choices are starting points
 Did you collect data about sustainable development, manage the  Be sure the product is protected/conserved well enough
sustainable development, and publish the results in the public domain?  Make a balance between different options (calculations
 Did you meet the market criteria for performance and cost?  Optimize for distribution
 Did you examine the impacts on people in the supply chain?  Then make the final decisions about printing techniques and colours
 Did you confirm if the supplier labour and trade practices match with  Make appointments in the chain
company?
 Check if commitments will be fulfilled


CONCLUDING REMARKS

 Packaging is a profession
 May be investment in knowledge about packaging and packaging design
(engineering) processes is the most sustainable solution THANK YOUR FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Roadmap to Sustainable Packaging Design

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Roadmap to sustainable packaging design

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