Initial situation
Packaging fulfills a variety of functions. It not only protects food from spoilage and environmental influences, but also enables its distribution from the producer to the consumer. In addition, its ease of handling facilitates self-service at the point of sale. Packaging also serves as a carrier of legal and consumer-relevant information.
At the same time, packaging burdens the environment both during production and disposal. 450,000 tons of packaging material end up in waste every year in Switzerland. The aim of the guideline was to concretize known packaging optimization measures for specific product applications, so that the amount of waste can be reduced. This can save resources and energy during production, transport and disposal.
Guideline for packaging optimization
Using specific examples, we have shown how the packaging for products in the fresh convenience category can be ecologically optimized. It was important to minimize environmental impact and costs, taking into account product protection, processing, logistics, sales, consumption and recycling.
When evaluating packaging, we relied on some of the common R-strategies:
- Refuse means that packaging should be avoided if possible. In particular, secondary or multiple packaging can often be dispensed with.
- Rethink aims to rethink the packaging design. Packaging should be designed in such a way that it can be completely and easily emptied. In addition, monomaterial is preferable to material mix and, if possible, the use of recyclates in the packaging should be checked.
- Reduce focuses on reducing the amount of packaging material, e.g. by eliminating empty space or using thinner-walled containers.
- Reuse can be achieved by designing packaging as reusable packaging. However, the return must also be taken into account, e.g. through incentives via deposit systems.
- Recycle should be considered as a last resort. For recyclability, it is important that the material is suitable for material recycling on the one hand, but also fits into the collection, sorting and recycling systems currently available in Switzerland on the other. After all, packaging that is 100% recyclable is of no use if it is not recycled in the end.
We were able to identify various points and specified for the client and their suppliers how they can practically optimize their packaging ecologically. In doing so, we took into account the various food groups and their specific packaging requirements. Some optimization measures can be applied regardless of the material and type of packaging, while others are specific. In principle, it can be stated that there is no perfect packaging for all applications. With this developed guideline, we have created a simple decision-making basis for specifically reducing the environmental impact of packaging.