Supply chain News and trends

Digital technology has made it commercially possible for companies to offer an alternative, more sustainable, and deposit-free recyclable packaging system for take-out food. Suppliers rent their packages to restaurants and end users simply pick up their desired take-out and then return the packaging within a specified period free of charge. The restaurant cleans the used packaging and then reuses it. This article explores how one of the pioneers of this new approach, the German company Vytal, makes the new system work and offer five lessons from its experience.

Traditional food packaging and delivery faces a serious sustainability problem. Consumer beverage packaging accounts for between up to 48% in urban solid waste and up to 26% of marine garbage, and the ineffectiveness of traditional recycling and reuse schemes via cash deposits that lead to perceived higher prices, are cumbersome to handle for food providers, and do not incentivize customers to return containers quickly or at all.

Via EcoVadis

Sourceful, a startup that helps e-commerce companies create sustainable packaging, raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Index Ventures.

Why it matters: As consumers become more educated around supply chain sustainability, Index's portfolio companies, which include consumer startups and large d-to-c companies, will need to rethink every aspect of their existing suppliers.

Driving the news: Sourceful raised the Series A to help e-commerce companies design more eco-friendly packaging, offering a first step in reducing companies' Scope 3 emissions in accordance with the proposed SEC rules.

Via EcoVadis

Russian retailer Fix Price has announced the rollout of eco-friendly branded bags across its estate, which are made form 40% recycled polyethylene.

Over the coming months, all large shopping bags, of which between four million and eight million are sold per month, will be replaced with new eco-friendlier alternatives.

The bags contain no bio-additives or PVC and can be recycled.

Via EcoVadis

Solving the ongoing packaging conundrum demands a significant shift in how businesses think — moving from a linear to a circular model of operation to improve the amount of packaging that can be reused, recycled and returned to the value chain.

Companies are under more pressure than ever before to ensure their packaging does not have a lasting impact on the natural environment. At the same time, consumers are hyperaware of the need to reduce the amount of plastic waste because of its impact on the environment. As a result, more countries are proposing regulation to reduce waste while business leaders have put the recyclability of materials as a top agenda issue.

Via EcoVadis

Where plastics fail in biodegradability and recyclability, some companies are turning to paper packaging, which doesn’t entirely get brands out of the woods of meeting sustainability goals.
Paper packaging, including cardboard, has been a part of cosmetics packaging for a long time as boxes and wrapping, but sustainability goals have been pushing companies to innovate and use paper and cardboard more prominently.

Packaging suppliers are expanded from the days of boxes to create paper tubes, bottles and other containers.

Via EcoVadis

Samsung’s First Look event, held virtually on January 6th, saw the company affirm its commitment to pursuing accessibility, sustainability and innovation in all its latest products and technologies to help redefine the role of the television in consumers’ homes.

 Samsung has embarked on a sustainability journey that puts the environment first in all business operations with several long-term sustainability programs that include sustainable packaging design, solar cell-powered remote controls and the reduction of carbon footprints through the use of recycled materials.

Take a look at the infographic below to learn more about Samsung’s commitment to a sustainable future through its eco-friendly visual display products and processes.

Via EcoVadis

In its journey towards minimizing waste, is the packaging industry losing sight of the crucial importance of making its energy consumption more sustainable? Robert Lilienfeld, founder and executive director of sustainable packaging think tank SPRING, tells us more.

Via EcoVadis

United Nations negotiators have agreed a roadmap for a global plastic treaty that would address plastic production and design, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters, in what delegates said was a key step to agreeing an ambitious deal.

UN member states are meeting this week in Nairobi to agree plans for the first global agreement to tackle plastic pollution, a soaring environmental crisis that is destroying marine habitats and contaminating the food chain.

Via EcoVadis

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) has published its 2021 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report, which includes the company’s plans for advancing its sustainability agenda.
 
The company continues to strive to meet its customers’ expectations for responsibly sourced products that contribute to a healthy planet and community wellbeing. For example, WBA committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030 compared with 2019.
 
Packaging is also a large part of WBA’s sustainability agenda.

Via EcoVadis

Countering the trend for more packaging is the desire for more sustainable measures, especially as climate change becomes of greater concern to consumers.

A 2020 survey by the IBM Institute for Business Value in association with the National Retail Federation found that 57 percent of consumers are willing to change their purchasing habits to reduce negative environmental impacts.

Further, products marketed as sustainable have expanded more than seven times faster than other items, according to a 2020 report from the New York University Stern Center for Sustainable Business.

Via EcoVadis

Leading UK on-the-go food retailer, Greggs, has launched its first full sustainability plan, setting out its ten commitments to ‘help make the world a better place by 2025 – and beyond’.
Greggs’ ten commitments will focus on three key areas that align to the company’s values and where it believes it can make the most difference. These are:

Stronger, healthier communities: to play its part in improving the nation’s diet by helping to tackle obesity, providing free breakfasts to schoolchildren, and giving surplus food to those most in need.
Safer planet: to become a carbon neutral, zero waste business.
Better business: to increase the diversity of its workforce, and to use its purchasing power responsibly, with the aim of making things better in its supply chain.

Via EcoVadis