What is Circularity & How Can It Guide Your Packaging Sustainability Efforts?
The concept of circularity has gained a lot of momentum among some businesses in recent years.
Here’s a quick primer on the circular economy and how it’s guiding packaging sustainability efforts across the consumer products space.
Circular Economy 101
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has a well respected and broadly recognized framework for the circular economy that is intended to help transform the way we manage materials in our economy and society.
In short, the idea is that we need to rapidly move from a liner system of managing materials (aka “take-make-waste”) to one where waste is eliminated and valuable materials cycle back into upstream phases of a product lifecycle - or better yet, get reused in their original form.
Let’s dig into the main principles of their framework and look at some examples of how they translate to the consumer packaged goods world:
Eliminate waste and pollution: Solutions that eliminate waste and pollution upfront through innovative solutions at the design phase. An example of this is Apeel, a company that is substituting plastic wrap with an edible alternative that helps to keep produce fresh without adding unnecessary waste to the process.
Circulate products and materials (at their highest value): Designing durable products that can be reused, remanufactured, or recycled to extend their lifespan. For consumer goods products this means creating refillable systems and/or creating packaging out of recycled material. We need to find new uses for existing materials.
For example, only about 5-9% of the plastic that we put into curbside recycling programs are actually getting reused.
Regenerate nature: Enhancing natural systems through nutrients to rebuild capital rather than depleting and destroying it. This is where some fun innovation comes into play. We’re starting to see materials like seaweed, which sequesters carbon, take the place of other more toxic and dangerous materials like virgin plastic.
According to a recent Buy Green Report, 82% of respondents would be willing to pay more for products with sustainable packaging.
The promise of progress is also happening at scale with the global plastics treaty currently in negotiations under the guidance of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with the aim of ending the leakage of plastic waste into the environment by 2040.
We expect this to encourage innovation and more adoption of alternative materials that fit into Ellen MacArthur's circular economy principles.
Circularity & Packaging Sustainability
Materials management and packaging is a material sustainability issue for many companies in the consumer products space.
End-of-life issues related to the use of plastic packaging have grown particularly salient and public awareness and media attention about marine pollution have grown in recent years.
Growing consumer awareness of pollution from packaging has translated into increased competitive pressure for legacy brands as new brands with deeper sustainability credentials and more circular systems enter the marketplace.
Increased awareness have also translated into momentum in the public policy space when it comes to regulating packaging. Initially the regulatory focus was on limiting plastic pollution (think “bag bans”) but more comprehensive laws built around Extended Producer Responsibility frameworks are becoming more common.
There is also momentum at the international level with the United Nations facilitating the development of a legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution.
So how can consumer product brands start to integrate the principles of the circular economy into their product packaging systems?
Here are our recommendations:
1. Define packaging sustainability
Our first recommendation falls into the “obvious but often overlooked” category.
You should define and clearly articulate what you consider to be “sustainable” when it comes to your product packaging. It means different things to different brands and across different industries.
Your definition should be specific to the context of your products and address all material sustainability issues.
Material toxicity an safety is important for some products (e.g. beauty, food & beverage) but not for others. Is sustainable just about end-of-life considerations (i.e. curbside recyclable) - or more than that (I hope!)? Packaging sustainability is often more than just materials selection and end-of-life optimization.
An increasingly common definition we see is something like: safe, reusable, refillable, compostable, recycled, recyclable in practice.
2. Set an ambitious goal
Now that you’ve defined, internally and externally, what packaging sustainability means for your brand in a credible and non-greenwashy way it’s time to align your teams on a goal.
In all honesty, the process of setting the goal may be challenging for a number of reasons. But it’s worth the time and effort because it will help drive change.
We find that having a packaging sustainability goal (for product categories where packaging impacts are material) really helps keep it a priority over time.
Without a goal, it can quickly get pushed into the no time/too expensive pile of deprioritized sustainability efforts.
We see more brands setting goals like: All our primary and secondary packaging will meet our definition of sustainable by 2030.
3. Leverage the design process
Design is a key factor for the North Star of consumer goods sustainability–circularity.
This EEA report explores the transformation required in our production and consumption systems and highlights the pivotal role of product and packaging design in fostering environmental and economic sustainability.
In our experience new custom packaging can make it easier to address circularity in the design process but it’s also much more expensive with longer lead times.
There’s also more to unpack here for repack projects and off the shelf solutions.
In short, we think it’s helpful to calendar out repacks for legacy products so that you can effectively manage the transition (timing & costs) in a way that aligns with your goal.
Watch Out
Be cautious around materials selection, particularly when it comes to bio-polymers with questionable lifecycle emissions benefits and “regenerative” materials with unsubstantiated or verified claims.
4. Use lifecycle assessments
There are so many trade-offs when making sustainability decisions, your choices should consider the unique elements of your business model, offerings, and supply chain.
For example, glass and aluminum are typically more carbon-intensive to produce and ship than alternatives like recycled plastic.
But the only way you will know that and have the data to inform your decision-making when it comes to packaging will be if you do a lifecycle assessment.
There are a number of tools and platforms out there that can help with packaging lifecycle assessment.
Tool we like: We’ve used EcoImpact and think it’s decent but does not produce decision-ready data.
Platform we like: Bluebird gives you decision-ready guidance and a bunch of bells and whistles.
You will also want to consider consumer habits– in this case, they might be more likely to recycle their glass and aluminum in residential curbside programs.
5. Source responsibly
Paper based packaging can offer some strong benefits from a sustainability perspective when compared to other materials.
But it can come with some trade-offs that are not readily captured through a lifecycle assessment. That’s where a responsible sourcing process comes into play.
Forest ecosystems provide incredible valuable services to people and animals including wood fiber for packaging systems. But many forests around the world face major threats from climate change, land conversion and illegal harvesting.
As such, brands should source their paper-based packaging from suppliers that have applied best practices to verifying that the fiber used in their packaging comes from responsibly managed sources.
6. Advocate for transformation
It’s no secret that the materials management and recovery systems in our country are way behind where they should be.
Recycling rates for most plastics is miserably low (<10%). Packaging that is made from materials that are curbside recyclable in theory are often landfilled in practice. The business demand for post-consumer content is relatively low. The externalities associated with packaging waste are not effectively captured by market prices. Our recycling technology is rudimentary. On and on.
We need to better align the marketplace for more sustainable materials management, invest in more and better recovery systems, and educate businesses and consumers - in short we need to transform the system and we need to do it fast.
Smart public policy at the local, state, national and international levels is needed. One kind of policy that seems to show real promise related to our packaging problems is called “extended producer responsibility” (EPR). No single company can address these issues on their own which is why we need collective action and advocacy.
Want to support transformational change but don’t know how to engage in effective advocacy? Download our free business advocacy playbook to learn how.
7. Pick your battles
This recommendation may sound like a platitude but here me out - there are almost always trade-offs when it comes to packaging impacts and sometimes the best option from an environmental or sales standpoint isn’t the most popular one.
Are you optimizing for emissions reduction, end-of-life impacts, safety, marketing? You probably aren’t going to get them all. So decide what you priority is and acknowledge the trade-offs - then move on.
8. Be authentic
Finally, please be authentic when making claims about your packaging sustainability. Not only can this help de-risk your brand from a legal perspective, it’s also important not to blanket statement sustainability efforts.
Some pointers for credible claims:
Be specific
Link to relavent supporting information
Clearly articulate any qualifications
Provide verification from an independent organization when possible
Consumers are getting more sophisticated and want to hear you authentically talk about your efforts (and struggles) so acknowledge limitations and trade-offs when relevant.
It also helps weed out the greenwashers. More brands should consider adding How2Recycle labels to their products.
Want more? The Sustainable Packaging Coalition has TONS for free guidance and resources - check them out!
Article Sources
Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2023). “It’s time for a circular economy.” Accessed at https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/ on 12/07/23
OECD. (2022). “ Plastic pollution is growing relentlessly as waste management and recycling fall short.” Accessed at https://www.oecd.org/environment/plastic-pollution-is-growing-relentlessly-as-waste-management-and-recycling-fall-short on 12/07/23
Forbes. (2021) “Seaweed-Based Sway Is A Way For Single-Use Plastic To Disappear.”Accessed at https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkart/2021/11/03/seaweed-based-sway-is-a-way-for-single-use-plastic-to-disappear/ on 12/07/23
Forbes. (2023).” Embracing Sustainability: The Rise Of Eco-Friendly Packaging Solutions.” Accessed at https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2023/06/23/embracing-sustainability-the-rise-of-eco-friendly-packaging-solutions/?sh=38cb7dff271d on 12/07/23
Human Rights Watch (2023). “Plastics Treaty: Phase Out Fossil Fuels to End Pollution.” Accessed at https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/15/plastics-treaty-phase-out-fossil-fuels-end-pollution on 12/07/23
Eco Enclose. (2021). “Aluminum versus Glass versus Plastic: What Single Use Packaging Option is Best.” Accessed at https://www.ecoenclose.com/blog/aluminum-glass-plastic on 12/07/23
EPA. (2023). “How Do I Recycle?: Common Recyclables.” Accessed at https://www.epa.gov/recycle/how-do-i-recycle-common-recyclables on 12/07/23
Sustainable Packaging Coalition. (2023). Guide to Verifying Responsible Sourcing of Fiber. Accessed at https://sustainablepackaging.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Fiber-Guide-1.pdf on 12/12/23.