Page 3 - Packaging News magazine Sep-Oct 2022

Sense and Sustainability
SUSTAINABILITY IS A term now used so frequently in packaging dialogue, it punctuates almost every conver- sation. It’s a dominant theme at expos and conferences; the subject of articles, podcasts, and research reports; and the hero category of a burgeoning number of awards programs.
Jobs with sustainability in the title are on the increase; most packaging companies and brand owners now have some sort of sustainability policy, and their websites have sections dedicated to their sustainability goals.
It makes sense. Sustainability’s impor- tance as a goal in the broader societal context – that we as humans will be able to co-exist on planet Earth, safely, with resources not irrevocably depleted, with the environment not irretrievably dam- aged – cannot be disputed.
Sustainability is the defining market driver of the 2020s for the packaging industry. It’s driving investment, research and innovation. It’s motivating much positive change.”
In the packaging arena, there’s con- sensus that sustainability is today’s biggest trend, bearing the strongest influence on packaging design and material choices. A recent report by market analyst Smithers refers to sus- tainability as the defining market driver of the 2020s for the packaging industry. It’s driving investment, research, and innovation. It’s motivating much posi- tive change. The articles in this issue of PKN attest to this, from moves to mono materials, to advances in chemi- cal recycling, collaborations to boost circular plastics production, and steps to increase uptake of recycled content.
Sustainability is pervasive. And so it should be. But there is a small part of me which feels that with a word so overused there lies a danger of it losing meaning, of people paying lip service to
it when setting agendas or writing design briefs, because it’s so ubiquitous it can’t be left out.
It has infiltrated marketing speak too. Sustainable packaging claims abound, some legitimate, some that require deeper scrutiny, and some that are clearly greenwash – but that’s a topic for another day.
I’m not suggesting the term has hit its expiry date. But I am hearing con- versations in packaging circles about what comes next. A fellow packaging journalist recently suggested ‘respon- sible packaging’ rather than sustainable packaging, to link it more closely with extended user responsibility.
Another idea, expounded by Avery Dennison’s Cath Cornaggia in this issue’s cover story, is that the natu- ral evolution beyond sustainability is ‘regeneration’, an all-encompassing approach that covers products, tech- nologies, supply chains and business models that focus on replenishing resources. Cornaggia makes a strong case that digitised supply chains and intelligent solutions hold the answer (read more on page 18).
Circular economy, allied to sustain- ability and central to any regenerative model, is also a term applied with increased frequency and now added to our growing green lexicon.
All this said, sustainability as a practice and term, true to its definition, will live on. New concepts will doubtless evolve as a natural offshoot of the quest for sus- tainability itself. The hope is that the resulting actions will be meaningful and sustainable – beyond a word on a page, a label on a pack, a trophy in a board- room. It is to the industry’s credit that the quest for sustainability is taken seri- ously by all stakeholders; the challenge is to keep it so.
Enjoy this issue of PKN, which comes with a fresh new design layout, while remaining a tried-and-true resource for our industry, sustained for more than 60 years. ■
Lindy Hughson,
Managing Editor & Publisher
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