Flexible Packaging: The Stuff You Don’t Think About
As a packaging professional, can you relate to this scenario? You have a great looking flexible package for your new snack product. The graphic design is outstanding; the material composition will keep the product fresh and tasty; and the reseal structure is easy to use and airtight. All that’s left to do is get the […]
Need Sustainable Packaging? Have Some Flexibility
Packaging continues to follow other industries in the quest to become more environmentally friendly. Consumers are much more aware of packaging, and many are choosing products packaged in a sustainable manner. This means the packaging is recyclable, or biodegradable, right? Not always. Today’s consumer is concerned with ‘over-packaging’ to a much greater degree than even […]
The Road to Sustainability: Pressure-Sensitive Label Edition
When it comes to pressure-sensitive (PS) labels, there are multiple ways to design for sustainability. In developing an earth-friendly package, any of these approaches can be used by themselves, or in combination with others. Let us look at these options: Recyclable Labels Recyclability is probably the first thing one thinks of when designing a sustainable […]
Removing Barriers to Recycling Flexible Packaging
Flexible packaging is very popular due to versatility and marketability of the structures. Flex packaging serves a variety of markets, with a large share found in the food sector, most likely due to the packaging’s ability to be resealed. It’s also lightweight, efficiently transported and provides a very visible brand billboard at retail. Along with […]
Recycling: Coming to Terms With the Terminology
Everyone knows what recycling means, right? It’s not a new concept, and nearly all of us have been participating in recycling efforts for some time now. We likely have some sort of sanitation receptacle at home where we put all those things we’re told to recycle, and the contents of this container are collected on […]
Life Cycle Assessment Part 1: Revealing More Than Meets the Eye
We’ve all heard the ‘tip of the iceberg’ analogy for explaining how there is more to a given subject than meets the eye. A Sustainability Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can help reveal environmental impacts, both positive and negative, of a package or label beyond its primary sustainable traits. In fact, an LCA can be run for […]
How Green Is Your Packaging? A Simple Sustainable Packaging Audit
Summer is officially underway, and everything is ‘greening up’ outside. Some businesses experience a little slow down in summer, and that may be a great time to take stock of packaging strategies. A packaging audit can help identify areas of strengths and weakness in your strategy and reveal opportunities to improve performance. In this “season […]
The Next “R” in the Sustainable Triad: Reuse
A few months ago, we introduced the concept of material reduction in the development of sustainable packaging and labeling (material reduction). It is the first element of the “Reduce – Reuse – Recycle” fundamentals we are all aware of. This month we talk about ‘reuse’ of packaging and packaging elements as a strategy to achieve […]
Designing Packaging to Optimize Recyclability
We are all in agreement about recycling everything we can for a healthier world and conservation of resources. Recycling is a key element of an overall circular economy strategy. This is as true for packaging as any other consumable. Yet despite our best efforts, not every package we target for recycling gets recycled. There are […]
