Sustainability is the big buzz word in packaging

By Simon Pitman

- Last updated on GMT

Packaging has almost become synonymous with the word sustainability, as countless companies announce initiatives aimed at both cutting costs and making packaging greener, with some of the most recent highlighted here.

Perhaps one of the most significant initiatives came in June of this year, when Procter & Gamble announced that it was switching to sustainable PET for its personal care and consumer goods portfolio.

The initiative was announced on the back of The Plant Pet Technology Collaborative (PTC), a strategic work group that also involves development specialists from four other leading global companies, including Coca-Cola.

It will be focused on the development and use of 100 percent plant-based PET materials and fibres for a variety of consumer products.

PET is extensively used to package a range of personal care products, particularly hair care and skin products, and the plan is to switch to the Coca Cola developed Plant Bottle, a plastic bottle developed using plant by-products.

Yparex launches bio-based adhesive layer

Meanwhile, at the end of August, Netherlands-based packaging material company Yparex announced that it would be the first company in the world to provide a bio-based layer that can be used to make greener packaging for personal care products.

The company says it is the first to develop a >95 percent bio-based tie resin for multi-layer packaging that has all the functionalities of a regular, oil-based tie resin.

It is a petroleum-free adhesive tie layer polymer that offers what the company claims is a more sustainable approach, while also helping to protect the industry’s supply chain from raw material price spikes often related to petroleum-based products.

STV launches carbon neutral printing service

Around the same time as the Yparex rollout was announced, Germany-based packaging provider Seufert Transparent Verpakungen (STV) announced that it had teamed up with sustainability consultants natureOffice with the specific aim of making the packaging for cosmetic brands more sustainable.

The venture offers a carbon neutral printing service to cosmetic companies so that they can brand their clear or translucent packaging as ‘carbon neutral’, thus making obvious its commitment to greener packaging.

According to the PET packaging provider, with the sustainable consultants on-board, it can calculate the CO2​ emissions of every project – from production right through to delivery – offering clients the opportunity to offset these via a choice of high quality schemes.

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