This is the ultimate guide to help you start 2025 by improving your packaging.
As a packaging engineer, I know that packaging plays a critical role in protecting products, but it also significantly impacts the environment. Designing sustainable packaging requires balancing functionality with environmental considerations, ensuring both product safety and reduced ecological footprint.
This guide outlines 10 practical strategies to incorporate sustainability into your packaging processes. From selecting the right materials and optimising designs to ensuring recyclability and compliance with local regulations, these tips are designed to help you create packaging solutions that meet both functional requirements and sustainability goals. Whether you're re-evaluating your current practices or designing new packaging, this guide provides a roadmap for engineering packaging that is both effective and environmentally responsible.
Rethink: Do you really need packaging? Partner with stores that can offer "naked" products, allowing customers to use their own containers and eliminate packaging altogether.
Design: The design and material selection phase is critical. Prioritise the purpose of your packaging while considering its end-of-life impact. Remember, "Waste is a design flaw"
Reduce: Minimise the materials used in your packaging. Opt for thinner boxes, fewer layers, and only include secondary packaging if absolutely necessary.
Reuse: Can your packaging be part of a reusable system or serve another purpose? Refill options are gaining popularity, and industries such as hospitality are increasingly adopting reusable models in response to regulations.
Recycling: If reuse isn’t feasible, ensure the packaging can be recycled in your local market. Recycling systems vary widely - what is recyclable in Germany may not be recyclable in Australia. Always account for local recycling infrastructure.
Recycled Content: Supporting a circular economy requires a market for recycled materials. Incorporating recycled content into your packaging helps drive this. For example, Cardboard with 100% recycled content is already widely offered (100% recycled content means that it is made completely using recycled paper). Recycled content doesn’t mean recyclable, and yes, packaging with recycled content such as the cardboard mentioned above is also recyclable but the terms “recycled content” and “recyclability” have two different meanings. Ideally, we want recyclable packaging with minimum of 50% recycled content.
Go Monomaterial! Avoid combining materials like PET and polyester, as this makes separation and recycling difficult, lowering the material's post-use value. Cosmetic packaging often fails to be recycled due to its complexity. Design packaging using a single material whenever possible.
Compostable Packaging: Use compostable packaging only for food contact or as a last resort. It must be certified (e.g., AS5810 and AS4736) and collected by a facility equipped for composting. Compostable packaging does not decompose in landfill. Organic material and compostable packaging in landfill release methane, a potent greenhouse gas that traps up to 25 times more heat than carbon dioxide. Ensure compostable packaging is disposed of correctly.
Kerbside Collection: Before choosing a "sustainable" packaging option, consider the kerbside recycling system in your area. Confirm that the material can be recycled through kerbside collection and validate claims with a Recycling Assessment.
Labelling: Use the appropriate labels to guide consumers on disposal, especially for packaging with multiple components requiring separate disposal. In Australia and New Zealand, use the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL).
Additionally, leverage your channels to educate consumers on how to properly dispose of or reuse packaging. Whether through your website or social media platforms, it’s your responsibility to be transparent and provide clear information about your packaging's sustainability. Be mindful of greenwashing and instead highlight the genuine steps you're taking to reduce your environmental impact, while encouraging customers to actively participate in the process.
By integrating these strategies into your packaging design and development process, you can create solutions that not only meet performance requirements but also contribute to a more sustainable future. We have the responsibility to design with both functionality and environmental impact in mind, driving innovation that aligns with global sustainability goals. Together, we can build packaging systems that protect products and the environment.
Comments