Packaging gets greener

Any business that manufactures or imports plastic packaging containing less than 30% recycled content is now liable to pay the Plastic Packaging Tax.

Manufacturers have shifted towards including more recycled content in their plastic packaging products due to the tax.

This means that most plastic packaging has at least 30% recycled content in it, except when they must be made from virgin materials for goods like food.

"Sustainability continues to be a major influence, especially due to the Plastic Packaging Tax, as does the current macroeconomic climate, comments a Kite Packaging spokesperson. "Our clients want to reduce their overheads and the rising cost of PRNs also makes this an area to consider. As plastic products containing 30% or more recycled content are tax exempt, they are a great way for our customers to streamline their spending. Not to mention, these products power a circular economy which protects our planet."

Kite's bestsellers are single and double wall boxes. These are available in a vast selection of sizes as their versatility makes them perfect for shipping many items. Packaging tapes and stretch wrap are other core products, including Kite's 5×5 nano pallet wrap and dispenser. This exclusive product reduces stretch wrap consumption by up to 60% whilst also lowering health and safety risks when compared to other hand-operated systems.

Kite is paving the way for logistics as one of the first UK businesses to incorporate a drone helicopter into its warehouse. The drone is responsible for stock-taking, conducting cycle counts in five hours which is considerably faster than any manual operation. Not only has this technology helped improve the efficiency of the operation, but it has also eradicated the need for mobile elevating platforms, increasing workplace safety for warehouse operatives.

Kite has launched an app which is designed to make the experience of browsing, buying and reordering packaging more convenient and accessible for credit account customers. The app offers a personalised platform with round-the-clock access to Kite's products and services with a quick barcode scanner and a personalised product section for increased efficiency.

"Employee share-ownership gives Kite a unique culture and attitude unattainable by any other packaging wholesaler, playing a major role in our success," adds the spokesperson. "We are invested in our customers, supporting their sustainability goals through services such as free pallet wrap audits to reduce plastic use; our people, providing training and skill development at every level; the environment, supplying eco-friendly packaging to businesses across the UK as part of a circular economy."

Andrew Grimbaldeston, Commercial Director at Colpac comments: "The cost-of-living crisis is making consumers more discerning, and they want to get value for money. However, the changes being mandated across the world to reduce single use plastics alongside the consumers’ desire to protect the planet is still driving the need and requirement for sustainable packaging."

"Innovation is rarely one big event/product/material, it's about steady and consistent progress over time that delivers real benefits. Packaging needs to fit not just the needs of the product, the packer, the transport, the retailer, and the consumer – but also the waste provider and the recycler. More open collaboration across the supply and waste streams to keep investing and looking forward would be the biggest and best innovation we could have."

Trends in the packaging sector include, reducing cost, reducing packaging, maximising shelf life and the call for packaging that can work across all stages of the supply chain, through to waste management. Colpac's ranges are ideally suited to answer these, for example the ability to film seal many of its packs reduces the requirement for an additional lid, therefore reducing cost, reducing packaging and with the additional advantage of maximising shelf life.

Ranges like Colpac's Stagione answer the one-touch requirement for a pack to work at all stages of the supply chain, from freezing, through in-store regeneration or hot holding, to the consumer reheating at home – and then through the waste stream.

Colpac is well known for award-winning design and materials innovation. It was one of the first suppliers of compostable cartonboard packaging and has more recently developed its award-winning Stagione range which is suitable for a multitude of food types across the seasons. Recently launched Stagione Bowls offer a unique on-shelf appeal with maximum product visibility and value perception.

Colpac's customers include major food manufacturers supplying to major multiple retailers and food on-the-go.

"As a UK manufacturer, we are known for our flexible approach, reflecting unique manufacturing capabilities to deliver high quality design and print solutions underpinned by high international quality standards. We offer bespoke products for a number of retail brands, protecting their food products and helping them to stand out on shelf," adds Andrew Grimbaldeston.

"The broad range and availability of our Colpac stock products is also a benefit to customers who do not have the time or commercials to invest in a bespoke pack. Combined with simple branded labels displaying ingredients, allergens and providing tamper evidence, these deliver an artisanal and sustainable look, reflecting the credentials of the food inside."

John Garner, Antalis Packaging's Head of Sustainability, Innovation and Design, comments: "We are seeing an increased desire for plastics that don't come from fossil oil, and requests to look at the possibilities of using degradable/compostable films.

"Antalis Packaging has an offering available of films made from various sources, from organic sugar beet to agricultural waste and left-over lignin from the production of paper. However, we must be mindful that land use integrity must be maintained, with deforestation for the planting of sugar cane for biofilms surely being counter-productive to longer term objectives."

Right size packaging is becoming an increasingly sought-after solution. New kit and designs have made automation of these requirements much easier. This has led to a more efficient use of materials and transport, i.e., less board required for the shipper, reduced requirement for void-fill, more packs on a pallet so therefore less pallet wrap and pallets required, and more efficient use of vehicles with consequent CO2 reduction.

Antalis Packaging offers packaging solutions to a wide range of challenges, whether it is a bespoke pack design, new packaging, or machinery. The company is also known for its range of specialist packaging products – from boxes and boards, void fill, tapes, shrink and stretch films to strapping and automated equipment.

"We have an unrivalled machinery sales team and engineers, who can offer support selecting the best equipment and provide installation, training and maintenance services. We also offer a free consultation service where we identify when machinery or a new packaging solution can provide improvements," adds Garner.

"At Antalis Packaging, we are constantly developing new substrates to make even traditional products like corrugated board, each of them designed to have a lower carbon footprint in both manufacturing and full LCA than current substrates. Environmentally, we believe that CO2 footprint of materials, products and services has possibly a greater impact on the environment than any other element of packaging. We will therefore always take this into account when we are looking to create a more sustainable solution for our customers."

Laylo, a premium boxed wine retailer – set up by two former senior executives for one of the UK's largest wine companies, Laura Rosenberger and Laura Riches – has partnered with sustainable packaging company DS Smith to bring a fresh new experience to drinking premium wine in the home.

The luxury wine brand first approached DS Smith to help reduce the likelihood of damage whilst the wine is in transit to consumers’ homes. A problem, the founders say, that was occurring frequently and compromised the premium, more sustainable unboxing experience they had hoped to deliver.

To meet these expectations, the new packaging needed to be planet safe without compromising its core function of preventing damage to the wine. To do this, DS Smith's Creative Design Team created a strong, protective, yet elegant design solution.

By offsetting the inner wine packs at an angle, DS Smith was able to reduce the number of exposed edges and corners that could potentially be damaged. The inner fitting works in harmony with the wine packs and the outer pack to cradle, support and protect the product from any drops, impacts and shocks.

As well as ensuring the wine was protected while out for delivery, enhancing the customer opening experience was also a priority for Laylo. DS Smith therefore combined print and structure, with a two-step open and reveal – that demonstrated Laylo's commitment of care for the customer and product.

DS Smith also used the company's Circular Design Metrics software to analyse the carbon footprint of each pack design. The finished design and kraft materials create a pack with a footprint of 202 grams CO2E – whilst ensuring full protection of the wine packs through the e-commerce supply chain. The pack design is engineered to use a size efficient area of material, whilst the kraft paper, with its longer fibres that help the packaging resist impacts and drops while in transit, ensures the product arrives with the consumer looking its very best.

Anne Curtis, Business Unit Lead Ecommerce, at DS Smith, comments: "No one wants to receive damaged goods, especially when they’re expecting to receive a premium product that tastes even better than it looks. However, the demands of e-commerce put intense pressure on packaging as it moves through the supply chain – with some products reaching greater G-forces than an Astronaut travelling through the atmosphere to space.

"This is why we put packages through their paces – we use an impact intensity measurement to see how they fare, and what we find is that the answer is not more packaging, but better designed packaging. This is the kind of innovation our designers are focused on, as well as finding ways to make every item as sustainable as possible."

DS Smith's DISCS™ technology, named after the types of testing it performs (Drop, Impact, Shock, Crush, Shake), replicates a product's journey to ensure packaging is fit for purpose so that the product is safe while in transit and avoids excess packaging. To ensure that sustainability is built into the design of DS Smith's packaging, it has trained over 700 of its designers to use its circular design principles, enabling designers to consider different stages of a product's lifecycle — including creation, maintenance, and recovery.

Paul McKeown, Group Sales Director at Parkside Flexibles, comments: "Sustainability in its many forms is the main trend driving innovation. This inspired the development of our Sustainable 7 approach – the seven pillars of sustainable packaging design that underpin everything we produce.

"We’re also seeing some focus on inclusive packaging too. By focusing on making packaging easier to read, open, and reclose for those with disabilities, we can create innovations that make packaging better for everyone. Examples of this include easy-open tapes and perforations in flexible packaging, or easy-peel lidding films."

Parkside recently developed a paper-based flexible pouch for frozen food applications. The replacement of plastic with paper is a full-circle innovation, with novel coatings making the material more robust and fit for a wide range of product applications. In addition, its monopolymer developments give the flexible packaging industry recycle-ready high barrier materials that can directly replace traditionally mixed material laminates. Traditional mixed material laminates often contain foil, which is hard if not impossible to recycle, at least within the current infrastructure.

Two of Parkside's most well-known innovations in recent years are its Park2Nature and Parkscribe brands. Park2Nature is a market-leading compostable material (fully certified for home or industrial composting), while the development of laser technology under the Parkscribe brand gives the company the ability to create functional solutions in both lidding films and flexible packs. It means Parkside can deliver precision scoring for peel and reseal, easy open, serving consumer trends such as portion control, convenience, and inclusive, easy open packaging.

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