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Put TBL at the center of the business agenda

When the Triple Bottom Line is viewed as the cornerstone of corporate behavior, sustainable packaging solutions deliver game-changing wins.

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No matter where you are or what business you’re in, you’re getting battered with environmental or green messages from every information source imaginable. It’s not going to stop any time soon, either. But maybe that’s a good thing.
A renewed and refreshed corporate model focused on economic, social, and environmental principles, often called the Triple Bottom Line (TBL), is fast becoming the new mainstream business model. And it’s focused on the right stuff: people, planet, and profitability. Isn’t that what makes the world go round? Why not help it go round for generations to come?

We packaging professionals shouldn’t be too surprised by all the fuss over sustainability. Think about the real or perceived packaging crises we’ve weathered in the past few decades, from litter in the ’60s to oil and energy in the ’70s to solid waste in the ’90s. In many ways, these foreshadowed today’s concern about sustainable packaging.
What makes us such a lightning rod where these issues are concerned? Why does this happen to the packaging industry when in fact our contribution to such problems is really very minor? The answer is fairly simple: It’s because we are so visible. After all, what doesn’t come in a package? The packaging sector is a huge target, representing $450 billion globally.

So whether we like the attention or not, maybe it’s time to view the sustainability hubbub not as a crisis but rather as an opportunity. After all, we can make a significant difference and a positive impact on the future of society.
First we need to get re-educated, beginning with terminology. Figure 1 identifies more than 20 terms that are a part of the new lexicon in sustainability and sustainable packaging. Are you familiar with these?

Once we understand how important TBL has become and that a working knowledge of the new terminology is essential, we must adopt a new approach to the package development process. This new approach should start at the back. We need to think Cradle-to-Cradle; we need to think Design For the Environment; we need to think Design for Recovery. By rethinking the process and significantly elevating TBL in our thought patterns, packaging will be able to make significant progress, resulting in new innovations.

Across the value chain, packaging will become a new and recognized leader and implementer of TBL practices, and it will lead to game-changing solutions. The packaging value chain is already hard at work and starting to make a difference.

Consider the changes we’re seeing, and keep in mind that these changes are not confined to any single level of the value chain:

• Raw material suppliers: Efforts here range from developing new ingredients and components to improving bio-materials and developing new materials from renewable resources. Look for continued advances from this component of the value chain and look for raw material suppliers to take a leadership role in sustainable packaging.

• Converters: New inroads are made as converters offer new materials and programs on sustainable packaging. Converters are also developing unique new business propositions that provide package waste-to-value solutions to reduce material waste going to landfill and bring new revenues to brand owners. Consider, for example, the new Sonoco Sustainable Solutions business, S3™, which is focused on waste reduction and waste-to-value creation.

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