Sustainable packaging is not a priority for brand owners, says survey

28-May-2009 - Last updated on 29-May-2009 at 10:12 GMT

The vast majority of manufacturers have not tackled the issue of sustainable packaging, according to a survey of brand owners.

EskoArtwork, Adobe and the International Packaging Institute (IPI) found that sustainability was low on the list of priorities after interviewing brand owners involved in the packaging design process across different industries.

Low priority for most brand owners

Only 15 per cent of respondents said providing sustainable packaging solutions was critical to or already addressed in their businesses today.

The Europe-wide survey appears to contradict much of the current talk about the importance of sustainability.

Nevertheless, packaging consultancy and software provider EskoArtwork is confident that the survey reflects industry sentiment.

“We were pleased with the cross-section of respondents to the survey,” said EskoArtwork spokesperson Dieter Janout. “We believe their responses provide an accurate portrayal of the current state of mind for most brand owners.”

While respondents seemed to consider that sustainability is not critical today, the majority said environmental factors would change the face of packaging.

A total of 63 per cent said that ‘environmental and sociological constraints’ would require ‘significant change’.

The survey also enquired into the driving forces pushing for sustainable packaging. These were identified as consumers (70 per cent), regulations and legislation (64 per cent) and retail requirements (57 per cent).

Other packaging trends

The survey also investigated views on a variety of other trends affecting the packaging industry.

It found that 56 per cent expect a significant increase in the use of digital phototyping and revealed that 50 per cent thought that packaging design will adapt to the opportunities presented by the internet as online shopping becomes more and more popular.

The survey also asked industry insiders about data management and found that 71 per cent agreed that ‘data consistency' across products will have to be managed more effectively and 65 per cent said ‘data ownership’ will need to be clarified more than it is at the moment.