Lee Metters, group business development director at Domino Printing Sciences, insists the ‘war on plastic’ ignores the fact that plastic can be one of the most environmentally friendly materials used in packaging, provided that the right material selection, design, and end-of-life approach is adopted.

Designing products and packaging for sustainability is complex – often it is not as simple as switching out one packaging material for another, as all materials have positive and negative attributes which need to be considered.

In 2020, a UK cross-parliamentary group cautioned that consumer pressure to end plastic packaging in shops could actually harm the environment, as many materials that are deemed more sustainable come with a more damaging environmental footprint.

Waste may be an issue with some plastics, however, CO2 emissions are typically lower for both production and transport of plastic packaging when compared with other packaging materials.

By comparison, glass, while fully and widely recyclable, is much heavier than plastic, which makes it much more polluting to transport.

Changing how a product is packaged can also pose significant practical risks for manufacturers, with even small changes causing a knock-on effect to production processes. This often-forgotten consideration includes ensuring that the new material can be reliably and legibly coded with machine- or human-readable codes that last the required life of a product without impacting recyclability.

Losing perspective of plastic packaging’s benefits

Attempts to understand and solve the plastic problem must evaluate both the pros and cons of plastic packaging. In Europe, 24.7 million tonnes of plastic packaging were produced in 2018 . The reason being that plastics provide unparalleled advantages as a packaging material:

This final point is arguably the most important one to consider regarding the advantages of plastic packaging. Worldwide emissions from food waste contribute 3.3 gigatons of CO2 equivalent per year – if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter after China and the US .

Global food supply chains are complex networks, with fresh foods transported significant distances, and going through multiple hands before reaching consumers. Extending shelf life and protecting food during transportation is, therefore, imperative.

Using even a small sum of plastic goes a long way into extending the shelf life of fresh food. Research has shown just 1.5g of plastic wrapping can extend the life of a cucumber by 11 days, while using plastic bags can protect loose produce, like potatoes, to reduce wastage by up to two thirds .

Plastic packaging recycling and the circular economy

More effort and cooperation between governments and key players across the plastics industry to standardise materials and recycling systems is required.

This includes not just plastics producers and recyclers, but brand owners, manufacturers, and retailers too.

Some key areas that organisations should consider are:

For some, a move away from plastics is neither possible nor desirable – the positive news is that plastic packaging can still play a key role in sustainability. For organisations that are currently using plastic as a packaging material, it is important to understand the available options and identify the right solution to suit individual needs.

Developments into new and improved plastic packaging will undoubtedly continue for several years, and coding and marking technologies will need to evolve alongside these. Some of the risks involved in designing for sustainability are being dealt with through the development of laser- and ink-coding solutions for new packaging solutions – including recycled, recyclable, and bio-based plastic packaging.

Neil Hansford | The race for cost-effective, green food-grade packaging has begun

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Raffi Schieir | Will the Plastic Packaging Tax incentivise real change?

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