Manufacturers prioritize packaging as a crucial aspect of sustainability due to its interconnectedness with waste generation, reduction of carbon footprint, and other environmental impact considerations. Packaging is also a crucial factor in mitigating the problem of food waste generation, improper packaging being associated with lower shelf life contributes about 1.3 billion tonnes of food waste annually.
So, what makes flexible packaging a more sustainable alternative? Read more:
Ease of Transport
One of the major ways in which flexible packaging contributes to increased sustainability is in its name –flexibility! The flexibility of this form of packaging allows for easy customization of shapes, formats and sizes of product output. Moreover, flexible packaging also has 5 to 10 times lower product-to-packaging ratio as compared to its alternatives. This makes flexible packaged products lightweight and much easier to transport. In essence, as opposed to the one truckload of unfilled flexible pouches, over 26 truckloads would be needed to carry the same amount of unfilled glass jars.
Lower Waste Generation
On average, glass and metal-based packaging produce 10 times more emissions per ounce (25 grams) during manufacturing than flexible packaging materials. In terms of the amount of waste sent to landfills per 100 grams of product, plastic PET bottles and caps generate over 4 times as much waste as flexible packaging solutions. Taking the European market as an example, it is noted that even though flexible packaging is associated with over half of all food products in the region, it utilizes merely one-sixth of all packaging raw materials.
Better Material Choice
An important quality of flexible packaging is that it can be manufactured by combining a variety of raw materials, from paper and aluminium to biodegradable polymers. They also offer a higher level of customizability as far as branding and other functionalities are concerned, including the use of lamination ink and eco-friendly inks for printing. The benefit of flexible packaging material also stems from the fact that it improves the overall efficiency of entire product lifecycles. A good way to illustrate this would be to consider that merely 1.5 pounds of flexible packaging material are required to contain 60 pounds of beverages, while over 50 pounds of glass, 6 pounds of rigid PET, and 3 pounds of aluminium are required to package the same amount of product in conventional product lifecycles.
Improved Product Quality
Other than the eco-friendly benefits of manufacturing flexible packaging, there are several positives associated with food waste reduction as well. Flexible packaging offers increased protection to its product constituents as compared to alternatives, which is extremely crucial in prolonging the shelf life of pharmaceuticals, food products and beverages. This type of packaging is especially conducive to the use of solvent-free laminating adhesives, which help in retaining the various characteristics of the packaged product, such as flavour, odour, taste and nutritional value in case of food products. These aspects all contribute to the reduction of food wastage, which is a major problem from the point of view of sustainability.
Make the Move, Now!
As a leading lamination adhesive manufacturer in the Asia Pacific, DIC understands the sheer benefits of transitioning to the more sustainable ‘flexible packaging’ and its implications for entire supply chains, no matter what the industrial niche might be. DIC has also witnessed the ongoing mass revolution towards flexible packaging in the food industry as awareness around climate change and environmental sustainability increases. It is necessary that manufacturers and distributors around the globe switch to more sustainable modes of packaging as opposed to relying on conventional techniques, so that they may take accountability for their own carbon footprints.