Companies bet on green packaging

Amid increasing environmental concerns, some companies are rethinking how they approach packaging, aiming to minimize their environmental footprint while reducing waste and potentially cutting costs.

Packaging company DS Smith argues that better packaging could save companies $46 billion per year by reducing global logistics costs.

Wasted space is a key concern, with many goods shipped in oversized boxes and the like. With better-designed packaging, companies can reduce wasted space, allowing them to move more packages per shipment and reduce the amount of materials used.

Sustainable packaging may also attract customers. McKinsey has found that up to 70 percent of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable packaging. More than 60 percent claim to have already gone out of their way to buy sustainable packaging, while 57 percent have made significant lifestyle changes to reduce their environmental impact.

Nestle has pledged to make all of its packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025 and has allocated $2 billion in pursuit of that goal. Unilever aims to recover half of its plastic packaging and this past March, allocated $15 million to the Closed Loop Partners Leadership Fund.

Market analysis firm Market Research Future estimates that the sustainable packaging market was worth $305.31 billion in 2020 and will reach $470.3 billion by 2027.

Governments are also working to reduce waste. Canada aims to achieve zero plastic waste by 2030 and India has announced plans to phase out single-use plastics, such as plastic bottles. In the U.S., Connecticut is moving to implement minimum recycled content requirements and Maine implemented the first Extended Producer Responsibility law, requiring producers to contribute to environmental stewardship.