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landfill in the southern U.S. However, the load was refused there, and at other ports. As
Chaz Miller wrote in 2007 for Waste 360, “The economy was hot, and news was slow.
Garbage, which is just the effluence of our affluence, was the perfect target. Greenpeace,
Phil Donahue and Johnny Carson all used the barge as fodder. Six months after it sailed,
the garbage barge’s trash was burned in a Brooklyn incinerator, and the ashes buried
back in Long Island. The media didn’t attend the funeral.”
Thus began a concerted effort to reduce the volume of trash by increasing recycling
rates of used packaging in the U.S. Efforts to establish an economically viable infrastructure
for various packaging materials and engage all stakeholders continue to this day.
While sustainable packaging is not a difficult concept to understand, it is
complex. Is it replacing a rigid container with a pouch? Is it removing a carton and
letting a toothpaste tube stand on its own on a shelf? Is it creating one bulk pack instead
of multiple single-serve items? Is it using PET instead of PVC because PET can be
easily recycled? Is it changing from a round to a square container so as to be more cube
efficient? Is it faster set-up times on the packaging line to minimise the amount of
product and packaging waste? Yes, it is all of this – and more.
Sustainable packaging is no longer focused on just recycling. Just as packaging
is not the only eco target, although it is still top of mind for many. Right or wrong,
packaging is frequently scrutinized and used as the measure of a company’s overall
sustainability, even though it may contribute only a small percentage to the total eco
impact compared to other things, such as transportation, and water and energy use.
The idea of looking at the entire life cycle of a package – from raw materials all
the way through to disposal – gained ground in the early 2000s. However, much of the
focus remains on end-of-life.
In an exclusive interview with Packaging Digest in 2013, Jim Hanna, director,
environmental impact, Starbucks Coffee Co., explains, “Consumers, especially in the
U.S. and Canada, define sustainable packaging by focusing on end-of-life. That’s caused
us to focus a lot of effort and resources into creating solutions for our packaging because
we know that’s what resonates most with our customers.”
But in seeking the broader, more encompassing definition of sustainable packaging,
most packaging professionals refer to the definition of sustainable packaging developed by
the Sustainable Packaging Coalition in 2005 – sustainable packaging [4]:
• Is beneficial, safe and healthy for individuals and communities throughout
its life cycle.
• Meets market criteria for performance and cost.
• Is sourced, manufactured, transported and recycled using renewable energy.
• Optimises the use of renewable or recycled source materials.
• Is manufactured using clean production technologies and best practices.
• Is made from materials healthy throughout the life cycle.
• Is physically designed to optimise materials and energy.
• Is effectively recovered and utilised in biological and/or industrial closed
loop cycles.
Brand owners and packaging developers continue to search for more sustainable
packaging materials. For example, efforts to develop plant-based bioplastics for