Consumers are driving a desire for sustainable, environmentally friendly business practices. One of the ways this plays out is through the desire for more sustainable packaging rather than wasteful packaging and unsustainable packaging materials like plastic. Major brands are leading the charge in sustainable packaging, which is to be expected. Your brand can learn from the example these big brands are setting, and a food packaging consultant can guide your way forward.
How Are Big Brands Making Sustainable Packaging Commitments?
These are just a few examples of the many corporations making a commitment to changing their packaging to reduce their impact on the environment:
Walmart
Walmart created its Project Gigaton, which has the goal of eliminating a gigaton, which equates to one billion metric tons, of greenhouse gases from the worldwide supply chain by the year 2030. The brand recognizes that the majority of these emissions are coming from the product supply chains, so it is aiming to do its part in influencing those supply chains.
Packaging is one component of the chain Walmart is focusing its efforts on. It is encouraging its suppliers to follow reuse and regeneration ideas. For example, suppliers could create 100 percent recyclable packaging, use bio-based materials in packaging, reduce packaging, and switch to reusable packaging containers.
Kraft Heinz
Kraft Heinz has created a pledge to improve its product packaging by the year 2025. Its sustainable packaging goal includes transforming all of its packagings to ensure it is compostable, recyclable, or reusable. Kraft Heinz Europe has the aim of creating circular packaging for the Heinz Tomato Ketchup bottle that takes recycled material and transforms it back to food-grade packaging by the year 2022. Also, the brand committed to cutting its global packaging weight by 50,000 metric tonnes and already exceeded that pledge.
Nestle
Nestle is focused on having completely recyclable or reusable packaging by the year 2025, as well as minimizing plastic waste. Its specific initiatives have included using more sustainable materials for straws instead of plastic, using plastic-free and paper-based packaging, and using biodegradable and compostable materials. The brand develops business components to go toward its sustainable packaging efforts, including the Nestle Institute of Packaging Sciences and packaging sustainability managers.
How Sustainable Is Your Business’s Packaging?
Now that numerous major brands are pushing for sustainable packaging, this is something consumers will expect. Consumers may include product packaging in their decision-making when choosing one brand over another, so it’s important to keep up with this trend to stay competitive. Research finds that consumers want this, as 72 percent of global consumers said they would spend more on products that are sustainably packaged.
How Can a Food Packaging Consultant Help?
Your brand may have the desire to improve your product packaging for numerous reasons: to keep up with competitors, to give consumers what they are looking for, and to make environmentally responsible business decisions. Yet how do you switch from having the desire to actually making the shift to more sustainable packaging? That’s where we come in. At The Greater Goods, we can offer your business a food packaging consultant with the expertise to guide your brand to sustainable packaging. We solve problems like this for businesses every day and can help your business find the right suppliers to meet your sustainability commitments.