Much talk about sustainable packaging has been recyclable packaging thrown around the packaging industry over the past few years. Not that sustainable packaging, or at least the concepts behind it, are brand new, but the popularity of such techniques have been on the rise of late for a number of reasons.

Sustainability has arguably grown from several different concepts or issues. For example, a healthier attitude toward eating habits has assisted in growing the popularity of sustainable packaging. People began paying attention to where their food came from, what ingredients were used and how the product was made. Likewise, the trend toward recycling and the notion that the planets resources are not unlimited have helped form the basis for sustainable packaging. Sustainability in packaging can arguably be seen as a gathering of these and other issues in an attempt to reach a truly beneficial end, and because of this the definition of sustainability has been, and continues to be, difficult to define.

While you can see that this definition is much more detailed than the first, it still leaves some room for interpretation. In the first bullet point, how do you define beneficial, safe and healthy? Further down, who determines how to optimize source materials, what are healthy materials and who defines the best practices?

In no way are these questions saying the coalition has failed in their definition of sustainable packaging, they have not. In essence, the definition will always be evolving based on new technologies in processing machinery, packaging machinery and even in logisitics.

Truly sustainable packaging will encompass the entirety of the packaging process, not just the package, not focusing just on recycling. Packagers must take into account the raw material that is used in creating the product, but also the package that they choose for that product. The shipping analysis will begin at the delivery of the raw materials for the creation of the product and the package components and continue right through to moving finished products to the shelf. In addition to the creation of the package, some thought will need to be put into what will happen to the package after the product is gone. Another analysis will need to be done on getting the product into the package. What filling machine, capping machine and labeler will complete the job without wasting enegry and resources? The analysis is arguably never ending and the definition of sustainable packaging will likely change whenever any of these or other aspects of the packaging process progress or change in any way.