Page 46 - Packaging News Mar-Apr 2020

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BEVERAGE PACKAGING | www.packagingnews.com.au | March-April 2020
Sea change
When it comes to sustainability in beverage packaging, consumer sentiment has changed dramatically. The ground beneath beverage packaging producers is shifting, and many are shifting along with it, making investments into recycling facilities, and innovating new ways of packaging drinks. Ian Ackerman reports.
16,000 tonnes of material that was a bottle before that we make into a bot- tle again, but we need to turn that into a solution in Australia.”
Mal Karmelich, key account direc- tor at Tetra Pak, agrees that consumers started looking at packaging differ- ently as a result of the plastic bag ban.
“Our 2019 Tetra Pak index tells us consumers believe we’re reaching a tipping point. They see themselves as being directly responsible for the world around them. Consumers are looking to make more informed choices around packaging – they’re looking for packaging made from renewable and recyclable materials every time they walk down those supermarket aisles.”
But, Karmelich points out, there are two contradictory trends in the mar- ket. “On one hand, consumers are demanding convenience and premi- umisation, and we know that they’re willing to pay for things that make their lives easier. But these products usually come with more processing and packaging, which is the opposite of the other trend: people are saying they don’t want processed food in more packaging, they want things that are as close to natural as possible. It’s a paradox, and it’s a real challenge for manufacturers.”
Geoff Parker, chief executive offi- cer, Australian Beverages Council, tells PKN sustainability has risen as a
MANY producers have taken hard looks at the full value chain and are now taking decisive action to make their businesses and products more sustainable.
The beverage packaging industry is in the midst of a sea change, where consumers are demanding recyclable, recycled, and convenient beverage packaging. And this has set up a challenge that
packaging producers are rising to.
IT STARTED WITH BAGS
This change in consumer sentiment gathered pace after all Australian states and major territories (except New South Wales) banned single- use plastic bags for shopping. Coca- Cola Amatil (CCA) Australian bever- ages managing director Peter West tells PKN that when supermarkets stopped giving out free plastics bags, it made for a dramatic change in the psyche of Australians.
“It is, by far, the most dramatic change we’ve seen in consumer
sentiment,” he says. “So, now if someone buys a bottle, they want to know that it becomes a bottle again, and they want to see solutions.”
CCA last year switched to using 100 per cent recycled plastics in its single- serve plastic bottles, meaning seven out of 10 bottles are made of recycled material. West says that switch was part of a strategy to move incremen- tally to more sustainable packaging.
“Rather than trying to be perfect and get the whole portfolio, we exe- cuted what we knew, which was below one-litre, which is seven out of ten of our packs,” he says. “The reason we’re not using 100 per cent recycled material in our larger bot- tles, is because of the sheer amount of pressure that is in the bottle – it’s equivalent to three times the pres- sure of your average car tyre.
“This a good first step, but one of the key things that consumers would asknowis,howdowefindawayto change that to a closed-loop solution within the Australian market. We import the rPET today – that is
Packaging converters are responding to consumer demand by moving to rPET alternatives.