Innovation
20 Sustainable Packaging Innovations
We help clients come up with new products, services, and processes, and recently, we’ve noticed an increased focus on sustainability innovations. While it would be lovely to claim that this shift towards social responsibility is entirely noble, the fact of the matter is that customers want eco-friendly products.
A 2018 Nielsen study conducted in the US found that products boasting sustainability claims outsell those that don’t. While the CGS 2019 US Customer Sustainability Survey saw two-thirds of respondents confirm that they consider environmental impact when making purchasing decisions and are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products.
The trouble is that there aren’t enough sustainable options available to meet demand. So what’s the hold-up? For one thing, though lots of brands claim to have recyclable packaging (despite the fact that in certain areas, the facilities to process so-called ‘recyclable’ materials simply don’t exist), they’re having trouble producing recycled packaging. This comes down not only to the low availability of top-notch recycled plastic due to the purportedly reduced quality of recycled resin (eco-responsible packaging is tricky to engineer, and different types of plastics can’t be recycled as one) but also due to concerns over food safety.
Overcoming these problems is not impossible. As this list of sustainable packaging developments proves, it just requires a bit of innovation. These companies are coming up with bioplastics and plastic-alternatives, behavior-change initiatives, re-engineered boxes, circular production systems, and more. Copy ideas for your own industry using our analogy thinking tool.
Henkel & The Plastic Bank
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
While consumers often have good intentions, they simply don’t have access to the right recycling infrastructure – this is particularly a problem in disadvantaged communities. The Plastic Bank is trying to overcome this barrier and incentivize behavior change by monetizing plastic waste. They’ve set up locations where people can return plastic in exchange for tokens (securely received via an IBM-enabled blockchain system) that they can use to buy food, water, phone credits, and more. This creates new economic opportunities in the world’s most disadvantaged communities, they say. This Social Plastic is then sold to socially conscious brands like Henkel. The company’s laundry, home, and beauty care products are to be made from 100% recycled materials - 50% of which will be Social Plastic.Frosch-brand detergent products
CRADLE-TO-CRADLE
Producing truly circular packaging takes a village. That, or corporate partnerships. Just ask Werner & Mertz, Mondi, EPEA Switzerland, Der Grüne Punkt–DSD, and cyclos-HTP who collaborated to develop a flexible, mono-material package for Werner & Mertz’s Frosch-brand detergent products. 85% of the packaging is unprinted, which means it can be recycled without compromising quality, while the remaining 15% is recyclable as it doesn’t contain glues and adhesives. The packaging is Cradle-to-Cradle certified, which means it’s socially responsible in terms of health, reuse, production through renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship, and social fairness.Tide
FRUSTRATION-FREE PACKAGING
Tide is a Procter & Gamble (P&G) laundry detergent brand that used to be packaged in plastic containers. Through a collaboration between Amazon and P&G, Tide switched from bottles to boxes – called the Tide Eco-Box – for waste reduction, sustainability, and environmental conservation. The Tide Eco-Box has around 60% less plastic and 30% less water than the previous plastic packaging. Additionally, the Eco-Box is four pounds lighter and ships to customers in its own container (an Amazon guideline) then transforms into a detergent dispenser. This collaboration was part of Amazon's Frustration-Free Packaging initiative that has so far resulted in the elimination of 458,000 tons of packaging materials.Hasbro
FRUSTRATION-FREE PACKAGING
Hasbro also partnered with Amazon to develop sustainable and innovative packaging solutions for the boxes that hold Hasbro toys and games. This partnership's main objective was to reduce waste while simplifying packaging so as to avoid the "wrap rage" that results from opening traditional packages that have plastic clamshells and wire ties. As a result of this partnership, Hasbro products such as Baby Alive now have reduced the amount of material used in packaging by 50%. Through packaging reinvention, Hasbro products can now ship to consumers in their original packaging (SIOC) without the need for additional shipping boxes.Need help creating innovative packaging?
Replenish
REUSABLE PACKAGING
Why recycle the spray bottles you use to clean the house when you can replace the contents instead? That’s what Replenish suggests. They’ve created a reusable spray bottle that you can fill up by attaching a pod containing concentrated cleaner that you top up with water. When you run out, simply replace the pod.
