Environmentally Friendly Honest Packaging

The financial crisis is raging, the environment is suffering, people are losing their jobs and those in employment put in an extra hour or so to show their commitment. We are living in the fast lane with information overload and we are expected to react immediately.

The body is present but the soul would be elsewhere. – There’s a resistance to all that's lacking:A lack of time, a lack of confidence, a lack of peace, a lack of simplicity.

In contrast to the fast lane is the rural idyll where children can run about and play and where home-made food with lots of fresh home grown vegetables are served every day. Wherewe listen and have time to immerse ourselves in whatever interests us. The fast pace of life is set aside and we leave our cares behind.

The True Values
We want to return to authentic family values with simplicity and warmth at the core. At the same time, we are reluctant to let go of all the nice things we brought with us from our trip down the fast lane; the career, money, travel and all the other advantages. But more than anything, we want the smiles and the laughter again.

This is the situation the food industry is facing. Food is a crafted product that needs skill. The problem is that the modern consumer doesn’t have the time or the inclination to acquire the necessary skills. There have to be easy to follow instructions, and only a few ingredients, choice ingredients of a high quality.

Hand in hand with increasing uncertainty about the world’s well-being, there is more emphasis on doing things right from a purely moral point of view. It is an opportunity for the individual to make a positive contribution to what is at times an overcharged environmental debate. The purists may go too far, but they will influence the rest of us in our choices. We will continue to check out the special offers, but we will tend to go for the products which are basically honest in their appearance. When choosing between two packets of bacon which cost the same, we will probably take the packet where it says that the pigs have been allowed to forage in the open. Then we will have contributed in a small way to a better world.

It is the food producers’ ability to communicate true values, Local food is very much in demand, but other cultures have influenced our taste buds so regional dishes from other parts of the world will be a welcome alternative. While we might not be able to afford or dare to travel where pepper plants are cultivated, we use pepper in our cooking. We are unwilling to spend too long on its preparation so the food producer has to make it easy and convenient for us.

Hygienic and Environmentally Friendly Packaging Solutions

Easy and convenient
Packaging must be easy to open and must incorporate functionalities that make our lives comfortable. For example packaging which can be divided into several portions so you don’t have to open more than you need. Or packaging which is so attractive that you can bring it to the table.

Packaging is the food’s face to the outside world. Transparent packaging where consumers can see what they are buying. Innovative design which can minimise visible meat juices or simple, practical compartments which keep flavours separate and make the ready meal more inviting.

A clear trend
We are seeing a growing demand for transparent food packaging throughout Europe, with southern and central Europe leading the way. We see a clear trend in both meat trays and packaging for ready meals. Individual food producers are going a step further and introducing packaging so that the food product is still visible to the consumer but stands out in the refrigerated counter. This is a clever combination, where the entire packaging is a transparent colour or the base features a unique coloured pattern. Consumer surveys have shown that the shape of the packaging is the most important recognition element, followed by the colour of the packaging. Pictures, text, symbols and other elements take longer to register. So the food producers who employ several of these effects are the ones that enjoy success.

A lasting pleasure
Plastic packaging is also gaining a foothold with ambient shelf stable products. Using the right technology and production processes, most cans and jars can be replaced by plastic. It means that this entire market can differentiate its products in terms of shape and design. It is an important consideration when consumers are choosing a product from endless rows of tins on the supermarket shelves.

Less environmental impact
From the consumer’s perspective, the plastics industry is criticised for polluting the environment due to a lack of recycling options. Today this is changing

We will see packaging which has less environmental impact. It will weigh less, the materials will be replaced by environmentally friendly alternatives; for example, reclaimed PET from plastic bottles is rapidly gaining ground around the world. Anything superficial will be dispensed with as long as it is still convenient for the consumer. For us,up to 50 per cent bottle scrap has become standard without any deterioration in packaging properties.

Polypropylene can also be made more environmentally friendly by replacing the oil-based raw materials with natural talc. This packaging is more stable than standard PP packaging, enabling producers to reduce the thickness without affecting stability. Talc also gives the packaging a matt, uniform appearance that contributes to improving the presentation of meat in refrigerated counters.

Producing plastic packaging from a 100 per cent monomaterial ensures that the internally generated scrap can be reused in production. This is a significant advantage in comparison to multiple layer materials such as barrier PP, which must undergo an extensive process to separate the layers.

Even now we can see that the packaging’s ‘carbon footprint’ is a competition parameter which isincreasingly important to food companies. However, there is no doubt that price; quality and function are still the first consideration. The market expects packaging manufacturers to deliver the same quality and functionality with as little environmental impact as possible – and, of course, for the same price or less.

Process innovation
Innovative design that adds value or which appeals to the consumer is important. If packaging producers can minimise production stops by supplying packaging of high and uniform quality, the food producer saves money. During the production process, it is important that the packaging is stacked with exactly the same distance between, the trays for example so that the denesting equipment operates without any interruptions. Today, food production takes place on a constantly moving production line and the fewer stops there are, the lower the costs. It demands a lot of the trays, but specially developed stacking methods make light of this problem.

Minimising the stack height is also an important factor for production. The lower the stack, the less transport, handling and the less storage space is required. Process innovation is therefore an important factor in all development.

The future is simple
Given the fierce competition, it is essential that industry constantly responds to new consumer wishes.Packaging is just a small element in the grand scheme. But it can be the element which determines whether the product is a success or a failure.

Our idea of packaging for the future is that it must be simple in design with the least possible environmental impact. Preferably it should be combined with the right amount of process and product innovation as this translates into money on the bottom line. Of course, that is what counts for all of us at the end of the day.