Q&A: Sustainable Packaging with Karin von Kienlin
The world creates around 141 million tonnes of plastic packaging per year.
Eight million tonnes of this ends up in the ocean.
With regulations on packaging sustainability being introduced around the world, businesses need to transition packaging to more environmentally friendly materials.
L.E.K. Consulting is a globally known strategy consultancy firm with 22 offices around the world.
Karin von Kienlin is a Senior Partner at L.E.K. based in the Munich office.
In her 30 year career, Karin has worked with clients in the industrials sector including industrial equipment and technology, building products and packaging.
Throughout this work she has been supporting growth and organisational change.
Karin shares her insights on sustainable packaging with Sustainability Magazine.
How are advancements in technology enabling more sustainable packaging solutions?
With brand owners indicating that 35% of their packaging outlay is going toward sustainable materials, there are investments in technological advancements aimed at recyclability of material as well as using recycled content in packaging.
Innovation here is critical as our latest survey shows that brand owners expect their expenditure on sustainable packaging to grow to 43% by 2027.
Innovation can take the form of design for recycling, i.e. developing packaging formats that are fit to be recycled in existing recycling infrastructure, such as glass, paper or cardboard.
Another trend in design for recycling is substitution of plastic for fibre based packaging. New coatings can achieve barrier properties on carton board that are recyclable and enable substitution of multimaterial, multilayer plastics that are often not recyclable.
The recycling infrastructure has also advanced over the past few years with retailers, converters, infrastructure investors and recycling equipment producers investing in improved recycling capability and capacity.
Availability of higher quality and consistency recyclates enables application of increasing share of recycled content in personal and home care packaging as an example.
New technologies are also helping consumers be more sustainable, while also making the packaging itself more sustainable.
A great example of the former is called ‘smart packaging’, which can gauge temperature or direct consumers to useful information like storage instructions. Through the use of smart packaging, brands are finding new ways to engage consumers whilst reducing waste.
What are the challenges of reducing plastic usage in packaging?
It is important to focus the efforts on reducing plastics on the right applications. For many applications, plastic cannot be substituted without material disadvantages to the packaged good. There are also plastic formats that are recyclable such as PET bottles.
However, many plastics, especially multi-material laminate structures, are not recyclable and that is plastic usage that should be reduced.
The challenge is that available alternatives may have some disadvantages that consumers, hence brand owners, would shy away from. Regulation can help overcome these challenges, for instance by introducing deposits to encourage returning of packaging, by taxing unsustainable materials so the price gap to more sustainable materials closes or by outright ban, for instance for specific single use plastics.
Unfortunately, more than eight in 10 (82%) of brand owners identified slow and ineffective regulatory change as a barrier to turning to more sustainable packaging. In fact, around 28% of the participants considered the slow pace of regulatory change as the primary obstacle.
Additionally, some participants mentioned that they do not have access to enough sustainable packaging materials, which can hinder the switch from plastics.
Economic pressures are also a major consideration at the moment, making it harder to reduce plastic usage as brand owners grapple with the challenge of balancing growing sales and cost-efficiency with their sustainability goals. Identifying effective strategies can be difficult and despite a strong commitment to sustainability, these financial pressures frequently lead brands to re-evaluate and shift their priorities.
How can brand owners rebalance their priorities?
It is possible for brand owners to strive for sales growth and cost savings alongside progress on sustainability goals. There are sustainable packaging materials that are both environmentally friendly and help save costs.
Another key challenge that brand owners identified was the pace of regulatory change, which is something that companies could look to address.
Working as an industry with regulators to help establish an environment in which new, cost-efficient, sustainable packaging options can safely be brought to market should be a key consideration.
Ultimately the need to become more sustainable will prevail and more sustainable packaging formats will win share over less sustainable formats if key packaging properties are achieved and the price differential is not prohibitive. Therefore, exploration of CO₂ reduction options alongside new material and format trials are key in honing competitiveness.
A final thought would be to really educate their consumers, helping to drive growth. By using packaging as a vehicle to educate consumers on the company’s sustainability practices and commitments, brands can drive greater brand loyalty and sales.
What does the future look like for sustainable plastics?
We expect to see continued investment in this area as brands look to respond to consumer and regulatory demands, slow as they might be, and drive awareness of this approach through their packaging choices.
Sustainability is integrated alongside other business priorities and this suggests that sustainable packaging is a key factor in business strategy and product marketing, not just a case of meeting environmental targets.
Clearly the economic aspect of this will continue to be challenging. However, there are cost-effective sustainable alternatives that brands can adopt for specific consumer audiences, and through continued consumer engagement and education they can use sustainable packaging to drive brand loyalty and sales.
With new alternatives and economies of scale as sustainable packaging becomes more widely used, these factors will combine to drive growth and profitability going forward.
The future of sustainable plastics looks promising but it is reliant on innovation, agile regulatory support and customer understanding.
There are undoubtedly challenges on the horizon for each of these factors, but the overall outlook is a positive one with the shift likely to accelerate in the coming years.
What advice would you give to businesses trying to reduce plastic use?
The advice for those trying to reduce plastics use is three-fold:
- Assess your market position and customer base and understand their sustainability priorities
More sustainable packaging does not have to be more expensive, but if it is, people are typically willing to pay more of a premium for expensive goods.
More ecologically minded customers are also more interested in and willing to pay for sustainable packaging, hence packaging for an ecological niche brand will more easily adopt sustainable packaging than a large, budget brand for cost conscious consumers.
Target customers priorities as well as competitive offers help define what packaging formats are most appropriate to differentiate and appeal.
- As part of the packaging change, you should alter your product and packaging design in a way that reduces the amount of material used while still being appealing to your target audience.
- Focus on recyclability
We are seeing a number of brands, particularly in the beauty space, work to improve recycling infrastructure and processes while also engaging consumers in-store when they go to buy new products. This not only helps to reduce costs but creates more engagement, meeting dual business priorities.
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