Page 19 - Packaging News magazine Jan-Feb 2022

January-February 2022 | www.packagingnews.com.au | FMCG PACKAGING
19
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
digitisation of packaging
be replaced by a QR code which will have all the functionality of the UPC plus everything else a smart pack requires. The project anticipates that the GS1 Digital Code will be the prime vehicle for this roll out.
Maryann Moschides, CMO & GM at Scanbuy, explained that its digi- tal platform, which is already in use by many major brands to provide the tailored information for consumers, has seen a dramatic pandemic effect, with 162 per cent growth in unique consumers engaging with QR codes between January 2019 and October 2021. In addition, the company pro- cessed 19 per cent more unique user scans between January and September 2021 and from Q3 2020 to Q3 2021 saw a 29 per cent increase in packaging engagement. Phillips said in the six months to November 2021 SmartLabel pages on PepsiCo brands had received 5.6 million visits, showing a strong upward trend.
This is probably not just accounted for by the pandemic, as consumers become much more familiar with accessing information via smart- phones. Indeed, a recent US survey by Acosta found that six in 10 shop- pers are now comfortable using digital tools while shopping.
HEALTH GOES DIGITAL
With pharmaceutical traceability and patient compliance high on the agenda, the talk given by Roberto Lattuada, CEO of myHealthbox, cov- ered a topical subject and echoed sustainability themes too. The patient information leaflet is going digital, he proposed. The objective is to make the use of medicines safer by offering up- to-date instructions electronically (so no need for a paper leaflet) available on any device.
While various regions are at dif- ferent stages of the transition to electronic product information (EPI), the need for pharma companies glob- ally to have a strategy in place to transition from paper to this format is imperative, he contends. Europe is well down the road in this respect with Japan not far behind, while USA and Canada are in the initial stages.
The benefits of this truly connected
packaging idea are very strong, he claims: greener, safer and smarter – so information can be updated easily and in multi-language versions. In one of the two case studies he pre- sented, a company was able to achieve considerable cost saving by only hav- ing a local market language leaflet (printed on recyclable paper) with all other languages available via the EPI.
SMART INTERSECTS WITH SUSTAINABLE
Matt Morris, sustainability lead and Pari Gaikwad, head of digital, both from Cambridge Design Partnership (CDP), chose Smart Sustainable Packaging Innovation as their sub- ject. Gaikwad opened by posing the question ‘Can Smart and Sustainable co-exist?’ Morris showed an example of where even ‘legacy’ packaging is under review and how the UK’s larg- est food retailer Tesco’s packaging for chicken proteins has been changed from black plastic to light grey to make it easier to sort in the recycling stream.
“But with an RFID tag attached to a standard water bottle adding 10
ABOVE: A combination NFC/RFID label.
BELOW: Digital watermarks are repeated across the packaging to ensure readability when in the recycling process.
per cent to the carbon footprint of the pack, how can brands sell the concept of using tags to their stakeholders?” he asked.
The answer, says CDP, is to focus on the intersection between smart and sustainable and demonstrate the benefits that it brings beyond just the packaging itself. An obvi- ous winner in the current Covid-19 world is the use of traceability and tracking devices to monitor vaccine distribution. Another clear bene- fit is to use connected packaging to encourage sustainable behaviour, such as improved medicine compli- ance and better recycling habits to reduce waste of both the product and the pack. An example of encouraging re-use is ClubZero, a very utilitarian drink container using an RFID tag to track the containers and make it convenient to drop it off at any of a number of recycling points. It works across retailers, so ideal for smaller outlets in high density locations.
The presentation concluded by making it clear that different packs and products would require different smart technology solutions and, in the sustainability arena, the trick is to choose the lowest impact solution for the given requirement. In addition, advances in smart packaging tech- nologies, such as printed integrated circuits can greatly reduce the carbon footprint when compared to silicon- based RFID tags. Morris ended this talk with one of the more memorable comments of the event: “Smart pack- aging and sustainable packaging are not necessarily oxymoronic”.
HOW IT LOOKS
HOW IT PERFORMS