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Best of both worlds: Balancing sustainability with production savings

Our quarterly survey uncovers a trend: The right structure and graphics are important for package innovation, but ‘green’ materials and cost-consciousness are driving the equation.

COST REDUCTION. By using flexible-film bags, Clorox reduced packaging material weight by 80% and achieved other cost efficiencie
COST REDUCTION. By using flexible-film bags, Clorox reduced packaging material weight by 80% and achieved other cost efficiencie
Dragon Rouge

A sample of 15 new package innovations was presented to SI readers during June and July. Shelf Impact! selected the packages from across product categories, and they were compared and contrasted by about 250 survey respondents. Those who participated included brand and marketing managers, designers, and materials suppliers.

The four leaders

The respondents selected the following four packages as rising up the innovation ladder a little more than the rest of the group:

• Clorox achieved a whopping 80% reduction in packaging material weight by replacing polypropylene pails with flexible-film-bag packaging for its Fresh Step Cat Litter. The use of flexible film decreases costs across the supply chain and in material usage, warehouse storage space requirements, and shipping weights.
• A new technology called Coil-to-Can, marketed by Exal Corp. and Alcoa Rigid Packaging, might be the key to driving the future aluminum beverage-bottle market. This multifaceted technology allows for the manufacture of eye-catching, resalable, shaped aluminum bottles at substantially higher line speeds, and with 30% to 40% less weight than previously possible. These benefits make the bottles a viable option for higher-volume beverage applications while also offering marketing and production benefits.
• In the same vein, Thorntons Melts resorted to a cellulose-based, biodegradable film to protect the savory flavor and texture of its melty pralines using eco-friendly package material. Manufactured from renewable wood pulp, metalized in-house, and suitable for home composting, the film offers a tight twist-wrap for the melts with an attractive metallic finish containing such a low metal level that it only slows the film’s degradation by a few days.
• The fourth package is an innovation that owes its success to some of the more traditional benefits alluded to during previous quarterly surveys: an innovative product concept served by a well-thought-out structure. The result is the marriage of clear functional benefits with brand building. Indeed, The Nest Collective’s Revolution Foods Mashups, a line of organic fruit purees for infants, comes in a stand-up pouch pack format that allows for modular food dispensing. Tots can squeeze product directly into their mouths. For babies, parents can either squeeze the product onto a spoon or attach a dispensing spoon for a one-piece squeeze-and-feed approach.

Annual Outlook Report: Sustainability
The road ahead for CPGs in 2025 and beyond—<i>Packaging World</i> editors review key findings from a survey of 88 brand owners, CPG, and FMCG readers.
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Annual Outlook Report: Sustainability
Conveying Innovations Report
Editors report on distinguishing characteristics that define each new product and collected video demonstrating the equipment or materials as displayed at the show. This topical report, winnowed from nearly 300 PACK EXPO collective booth visits, represents a categorized, organized account of individual items that were selected based on whether they were deemed to be both new, and truly innovative, based on decades of combined editorial experience in experiencing and evaluating PACK EXPO products.
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Conveying Innovations Report