Perceptions towards packaging are often misguided....
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| The iceberg principle, packaging and its product |
While
some lay audiences may still regard packaging as a symbol of excess waste, it
is actually quite the contrary, i.e., an indispensable waste prevention tool.
This perception paradox constitutes what the iceberg principle™, the backbone of any consideration regarding packaging and sustainability.
This perception paradox constitutes what the iceberg principle™, the backbone of any consideration regarding packaging and sustainability.
Usually,
packaging is just taken for granted. Largely overlooked until it has properly served its
function, it then suddenly becomes a useless and dispensable artefact that has mysteriously
emerged in the household.
In
fact, packaging is just the tip of the iceberg!
It is the last standing piece of many energy and resource-intensive processes that enable our well-being. The real impacts of all these processes, unfortunately, usually remain hidden below the line of sight.
It is the last standing piece of many energy and resource-intensive processes that enable our well-being. The real impacts of all these processes, unfortunately, usually remain hidden below the line of sight.
Retrieving
the environmental story of each product is not a simple task. It not only requires
technical skills and experience, but a good knowledge of complex and diverse upstream
fluxes that consume resources and generate waste.
Any
professional involved with packaging should develop a good life-cycleperspective of its supply chain, but such a proper understanding cannot be expected
from everybody. The average consumer will most likely continue to focus its
distorted attention on packaging waste, the most conspicuous item at the end-of-life.
The iceberg metaphor is not only qualitative. When assessing the energy footprint
of food products, it also roughly holds in quantitative terms. As just about
10% of the iceberg stands above the water, just about 10% of the food-packaging
systems energy are embedded in the package itself. Production, transportation
and preparation represent the remaining 90%.
Although
this 10/90 estimate generally constitutes a good rule of thumb, it varies from system
to system. Animal products such as meat and cheese, for example, tend to exhibit
lower packaging-product energy ratios: they not only require large energy
inputs, but are also usually packed in highly energy-efficient plastic solutions. When assessing global warming impacts, these ratios are usually even smaller. And as far as
water footprints, they are often closer to 1/90 or 1/900, i.e., one or even two
orders of magnitude lower.
Packaging definitely bears some environmental impacts, like any other consumer products. But these impacts are justified by the noble function it carries along the supply chain, protecting and distributing much more valuable products.
Our perceptions are flawed. To spot the iceberg lure at sea in all its grand dimensions, our perspective needs to evolve from an emotional to a technical one. The key issue is not be how to save on packaging, but how to make supply chains smarter and more efficient.
Packaging definitely bears some environmental impacts, like any other consumer products. But these impacts are justified by the noble function it carries along the supply chain, protecting and distributing much more valuable products.
Our perceptions are flawed. To spot the iceberg lure at sea in all its grand dimensions, our perspective needs to evolve from an emotional to a technical one. The key issue is not be how to save on packaging, but how to make supply chains smarter and more efficient.
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| Engraving by Willy Stöwer: Sinking Titanic |
Non-holistic approaches lead to wrong decisions. Improper packages bring heavy product losses at all levels. And with operations involving large quantities of fast moving goods, sometimes hundreds of thousands of high-value products a month, some of these consequences can be very serious, dramatic indeed.
Do not be fooled. Avoid the Titanic syndrome. Packaging is an investment, a sustainable one.
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Teddy Lalande. December, 2016.
thanks
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