A Green Potential?

If you’ve never heard the word “sustainable,” you probably live on a different planet. The term has been unleashed in full force during the last couple of years, as concern for our environment continues to grow. It especially has had a dominating presence in package printing. As a material that leans toward being environmentally friendly, paperboard has the chance to step up and lead the sustainable front.

The Freedonia Group expects that demand for corrugated and paperboard boxes in the U.S. will rise 2.5 percent annually through 2012 to $39.9 billion, and sales of corrugated and solid fiber boxes will increase 2.7 percent to $28.8 billion. Growth will be supported because of its low shipping costs, and “demand will also be supported by the good environmental profile of corrugated boxes, which will become increasingly advantageous as interest in sustainable packaging continues to rise,” says the report.

The Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC) asserts that paperboard already has an environmental advantage. According to its Web site, paperboard is “a sustainable material using specially-raised crop trees, waste products like sawdust and wood chips, and recycled paper/paperboard fibers,” and is recyclable. The PPC also cites paperboard’s physical design, clean production, effective recovery, and waste management as advantages. “Paperboard packaging is a valuable resource considering that the fibers in paperboard packaging can be recycled, and usually are, multiple times,” according to the PPC.

It also comes from forestland, a natural, renewable resource, according to the Abundant Forests Alliance (AFA). The AFA supports sustainable forestry certification programs conducted independently from the industry that grant certification to forestland managed according to strict environmental guidelines and standards. “[Paperboard is] as abundant today as it was a century ago thanks to improving sustainable forestry practices,” explains Rod Lowman, president, AFA. “Additionally, the fibers in paperboard can be recycled, biodegraded, composted, or incinerated to produce energy. The PPC points out that 70 percent of the industry’s raw material needs is met with recovered paper fibers.”

Paperboard itself is made from earth-friendly materials, but the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) would argue that it is only potentially sustainable. “I say potentially, because that resource is only as renewable as its management,” explains Martha Leflar, project manager, SPC. “If we deplete any resource at a faster rate than it is replenished—from crude oil to corn—it is not a sustainable material.” And, though paperboard has sustainability potential, its recovery rate isn’t as high as it could be, according to Leflar. “At end of life, paperboard has many available positive options, it can be recycled, composted, or burned for energy recovery; however, the EPA cites the current paperboard recycling rate at 11.9 percent for 2005,” she explains. “There is much improvement to be made in this area.”

Converters step it up

Many paperboard converters have already taken strides to becoming more sustainable. For example, Vanguard Packaging, Kansas City, Mo., has made it its mission to seek out vendors that follow environmental sustainability practices, to use recycled raw materials and products when possible, to design and sell products that will be 100-percent recycled at the end of their useful life, to reduce the amount of energy it consumes throughout daily operations, to reduce the amount of energy consumed by its vendors in products they make or sell, and to set far-reaching goals and evaluate its progress toward these goals. Vanguard President Mark Mathes is involved in sustainability initiatives as chairman of the Association of Independent Corrugated Converters (AICC) Sustainability Committee, and a member of the Fibre Box Association Sustainability Committee, the Wal-Mart Sustainability Value Network, and the Wal-Mart CPG Committee that advises on issues relating to the Wal-Mart Scorecard.

Cadmus Whitehall Group, Charlotte, N.C., is also incorporating sustainability in its packaging business. “At the corporate level, there is tremendous interest in environmental sustainability. We have worked hard to stay ahead of this curve in a number of ways,” says Wade Bryant, technical services manager. “Paperboard made from properly managed forests is clearly a renewable resource and therefore has a lot to offer in a sustainability program. It is easily recycled and features a high-quality print surface with a wide range of products available. We see numerous opportunities to replace plastics for certain types of packaging, for example.”

Cadmus is conscious of its environmental footprint, and earned the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) Chain of Custody Certification last summer. The company also aims to use fewer materials in its designs, as well as those that are environmentally friendly. Bryant says, “we focus on recycling and other ways to reduce the environmental impact in the day-to-day operations of our business.”

Obviously, paperboard rarely goes onto shevles by itself, as it typically has inks, coatings, or adhesives integrated into the final package. “We need to assess the entire package design to see how it is impacting recycling or composting recovery systems,” says Leflar. “Are the inks we are putting on the paperboard suitable for release back to the environmental through compost?”

Mid-Atlantic Packaging (MAP) is a converter that has been working with environmentally conscious suppliers to answer that very question. In striving toward creating the most sustainable package as possible, MAP has reduced the volatile organic compound (VOC) amounts and hazardous content of its flexographic inks. The inks that MAP uses contain a soy-based resin, which the company asserts has excellent print characteristics and environmental improvement over conventional resin systems. MAP also uses corn-based starch adhesive for production of corrugated board.

Do consumers care?

More and more stores are carrying reusable grocery bags, instead of disposable plastic bags, and they’re stocking their shelves with packages that are becoming more environmentally conscious. But, are consumers taking notice? Do people stop and take the extra time to read a package to find out how sustainable it is? It’s hard to tell; some say yes, some say no.

“There is no doubt that sustainability is becoming a purchasing indicator for many consumers,” says Lowman. “[But,] right now consumers are sifting through all the ‘green’ initiatives out there trying to figure out what it all means. The best thing to do at this stage in the game is take your ‘green’ language and make it digestible for the everyday consumer. Words like ‘sustainable’ and ‘renewable’ don’t mean a whole lot to consumers...yet.”

Leflar cites studies reporting that only a small percentage of U.S. consumers make purchasing decisions based on environmental concerns. “I don’t know if convincing consumers that sustainability is important is the best leverage point today,” she says. “What is more important to consider is consumption of our natural resources. If companies are not assessing their fossil-fuel use or greenhouse-gas emissions and a carbon tax is levied, they are going to be scrambling. If companies do not consider where their raw materials are going to come from for the manufacture of their products in the future, then as populations grow and consumption increases, they will not have the materials they need to stay in business. This is less of a consumer-driven issue and more driven by the limitations of the natural resources we have when human needs and business needs are beginning to overlap and there are not enough resources for everything.”

Yet, some paperboard packaging converters are still working toward grabbing consumers’ eyes through environmental awareness, and not just aesthetics. Bryant acknowledges that there needs to be a balance between the two, because not all consumers are onboard with sustainability. “From our perspective, an environmental look is another avenue to catch a consumer’s attention,” says Bryant. “An environmental appeal will work very effectively with certain products and target markets while others may still respond better to more visual package effects. While we do see a trend toward more environmentally friendly marketing strategies, there’s clearly still a big demand for more traditional applications.”

So, in the meantime, it seems as though package printers will have to be creative in convincing consumers to purchase attractively packaged products that are also environmentally friendly. “Design and graphics are important,” says Ralph Young, technical advisor, AICC. “We just keep presenting multiple packaging options to our customers and the retail establishments.” In addition, he says that the AICC looks at every angle of the production process to hone in on a completely sustainable process. “We never sleep,” Young says. “We are redesigning individual boxes, improving the cube of shippers, placing more boxes on a pallet, reducing energy consumption, looking toward wind power and biomass fuels, reducing the costs of transportation, using hybrid cars, center lining our combining and converting operations, reducing fiber, hiring more designers, sharing best practices among the members, listening to the customers, and responding quickly.”

Converters may have to exhaust all options before coming up with marketable, sustainable solutions. Creativity is key. And, if you’re using paperboard, it looks like you may have an edge. pP

Tetra Pak Launches First FSC-Labeled Liquid and Food Carton

Late last year, Tetra Pak launched Tetra RecartTM, the first FSC-labeled food and liquid carton. Sainsbury’s, a UK supermarket chain, was the first to use the cartons for its premium chopped tomatoes.

Peter Knutsson, managing director of Tetra Pak UK & Ireland said, “Launching the world’s first FSC-labeled carton for liquid and canned food is a first step in a long and complicated process of having third-party certification for the entire value chain of all our packages. Our ultimate goal is to have all the paper in our packaging certified to the highest standard, currently set by the FSC.”

The FSC logo printed on the carton shows consumers that the packaging material comes from responsibly managed forests and controlled sources certified to FSC requirements. In addition, all Tetra Pak paperboard suppliers in Europe are FSC-certified.

Mario Abreu, director, forestry and recycling for Tetra Pak and member of the FSC board of directors said, “The main raw material we use is paper. We believe that the sustainable use of renewable resources—like wood fibers—is of utmost importance. And we want to convey this message to consumers in the clearest possible way. Today, FSC is the best proof of sustainable forestry. That’s why we prefer wood sources that are FSC-certified.”