Page 15 - Packaging News Mar-Apr 2020

March-April 2020 | www.packagingnews.com.au
| INDUSTRY INSIGHT 15
The first step is to take the “low-hanging fruit” opportunities. These are actions con- verters and FMCG companies can take without broader value-chain co-ordina- tion, and usually with close-to-zero impact on operating costs, capital expenditure needs, functionality, or attractiveness of the packaging. These include:
• removing unnecessary use of packaging;
• developing existing packaging by increasing the use of recycled content, while also considering different types of plastic that could improve the product’s
sustainability profile;
• substituting materials, such as introduc-
ing more mono-materials, to decrease the complexity of the combinations of differ- ent materials used; and
• communicating the sustainability narra- tive of products better.
The second step towards sustainability is
the “harder but doable” category. This group of applications requires building a new approach from the ground up and col- laborating with upstream and downstream partners. One example of this step in Australia is Brownes Dairy partnering with Tetra Pak to make a fully renewable milk carton for 25 products – which equates
As FMCG companies and retailers discover the need to move ... to more of a partnership and collaborative approach, new opportunities could emerge for packaging converters.
to more than 17.8m cartons per year. The packaging is made entirely from plant- based renewable materials.
And, the third group of initiatives are in the “system-level changes” category. This step requires changes to the broader packag- ing and recycling system, where develop- ment and implementation costs are also much higher. The report says, “this is what our colleagues refer to as ‘concerting effort around improving co-ordination across the value chain’.” Some examples of these sys- tem-level changes include improving exist-
ing recycling infrastructure, recycling tech- nologies and circular value chains. Initiatives to raise awareness in consumers and drive community support for behavioural change around recycling is also important. “Another example entails developing new types of materials; involving fundamental scientific research and requiring collaboration within players in the substrate-making industries. There are already several examples of such initiatives, but so far these have mainly been driven by brand owners rather than packag- ing companies,” the report says. ■
McKinsey & Company published The Drive Toward Sustainability in Packaging – Beyond the Quick Wins in February 2020. The full report can be found on the company’s website at: www.mckinsey.com/industries/paper-for- est-products-and-packaging/our-insights/ the-drive-toward-sustainability-in-packag- ing-beyond-the-quick-wins.
The report has five authors: David Feber, a partner in McKinsey’s Detroit office; Daniel Nordigården, an associate partner in the Detroit office; Anna Granskog, a partner in the Helsinki office; Suku Ponkshe, an asso- ciate partner based in Atlanta; Peter Berg, a senior expert in the Stockholm office.
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