Commentary

The Next Industrial Revolution Has Begun

by Ted Mininni , Op-Ed Contributor, September 2, 2009

There's a revolution brewing. We're rethinking about the manufacture of consumer products and packaging.

The first Industrial Revolution featured a burst of creativity, ingenuity and inventiveness, enabling goods to be mass-produced. The next Industrial Revolution will utilize those very assets, along with the latest technological advances. By becoming better stewards of our energy, natural resources and the environment, we can make products and packaging better than we have in the past.

Environmentally friendly packaging is gaining impetus daily, thanks to companies like Wal-Mart. The retailer signaled a major trend with its Sustainable Packaging Scorecard in 2006 for its 65,000+ suppliers with the ultimate goal of becoming "packaging neutral" by 2025. Translation: having all packaging that flows through its distribution chain recyclable, reusable, compostable or recoverable for future use by 2025.

Wal-Mart's purchasing power sent ripples throughout all consumer product sectors. Its ambitious agenda pushed product companies to adopt sustainable packaging measures. While still a brave new world for business, measures can be implemented, one at a time, making a positive environmental impact, while being economical. However, to be effective, companies must have a sustainable mindset from the top down, in every aspect of their businesses.

Environmentally friendly packaging reduces, reuses, recycles, removes, renews. Reducing excess packaging is the most sustainable of steps to take. By cutting down on overall packaging footprints and extraneous materials inside of packaging, there are substantive savings. Many companies are steadily doing just that.

As a result, more products can be packed into shipping cartons and more cartons onto pallets. Fewer truckloads reduce energy costs and harmful emissions into the environment. The "reduce" concept has many ramifications, all of which can add substantially to profits.

Reusing packaging is the next most sustainable step. This actually used to be more widespread than it is today. In the past, old-fashioned milk bottles were reused by local dairy producers. Today, the return deposits on soda cans enable manufacturers to collect, clean and reuse them. Reusable convenient food packaging helps eliminate waste, especially when repurposed.

And how about developing packaging that is literally part of the product? Hasbro Sigma 6 GI Joe Action figures packaging turns into carrying cases that hold the figures and their accessories.

In their book, Cradle to Cradle, William McDonough and Michael Braungart make the case that products and packaging can and should be reconfigured using a closed-loop process. It's the ultimate recycling.

Since the Industrial Revolution, a "cradle to grave" system has been in place; products and packaging ending up in landfills at the end of their useful life cycles. In a "cradle to cradle" system, materials are perpetually circulated and reused in "closed loops." This extracts maximum value from materials already in use without ending up in landfills, virtually eliminating the heavy waste streams we have today.

Many companies purchase packaging made from post-consumer waste. Recycled packaging and packaging made from renewable sources are a way of life for natural-product companies that have practiced sustainability for decades. For example, Kashi cereals and Tom's of Maine oral and personal care products use recycled packaging. Widespread distribution has made mainstream consumers and mass market product manufacturers more aware of recycled packaging.

There was a time when packaging was meant to deliver products intact, retain integrity; to keep them safe for consumers. Now, packaging itself has to become safer and healthier for society. It must deliver the usual benefits, while minimizing negative effects on the environment.

Let the next revolution begin so we can start eliminating million tons of product and packaging waste from worldwide landfills. We'll all be able to breathe a little bit easier.

green eco-friendly, packaging

4 comments about "The Next Industrial Revolution Has Begun ".

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Adam Hartung from spark partners, September 2, 2009 at 12:48 p.m.
Americans are very late to this thinking as a result of artificial economics - primarily the notion that the cost of waste is nothing more than the cost of a piece of dirt to pile it on, or the cost of a boat to haul it out and dump it into the ocean.
Twenty years ago I was in Germany sharing a beer with a colleague. After finishing, bored, I peeled off the beer label and put it in the bottle. He became agitated. "You've ruined that bottle" he told me.
I learned everything in Germany had to be recycled. They held businesses accountable for all packaging - from cradle to cradle as you say. If your packaging didn't make it back you paid a fine based upon their calculations of the true cost of having "used up" a natural resource and the cost of creating "pollution" which was anything that wasn't composted.
We've been negligent in calculating the true cost of waste. Everybody is familiar with the piles of plastic shopping bags we see all over the streets almost everywhere we go. It's about time we start being smarter about this issue. In the end, we'll save money.
Reply

Max Clark, September 2, 2009 at 12:51 p.m.

Fantastic article! The revolution is beginning and the cradle to cradle concept is growing. Manufacturers and those who sell products are going to have to take responsibility for their products, their packaging and the impact those items will have on the environment. Some states don’t have the funds to enforce all the bans and environmental issues that they passed into law so they are considering one more law; a law that will put the onus for “Producer Responsibility” right where it belongs…on producers. I believe you are going to see producers of products becoming more aware of the cradle to cradle concept on their own or it will be forced upon them through government mandate. I’d like to see producers step forward and take the initiative on their own.
I also believe that consumers are becoming smarter and better educated regarding environmental issues. Brands that are environmentally friendly will be the brands that consumers purchase.
As an environmental company, we have introduced a biodegradable water bottle that we believe will change the way consumers look at plastic. Our bottle is designed to biodegrade in a microbial environment leaving behind biogases and humus. Thinking along the lines of cradle to cradle, we are supporting and encouraging the development of bioreactor landfills. Bioreactors are a new design for landfills that enhance biodegradation and capture the gases produced to make clean energy. We are currently working on biodegradable labels for packaging and biodegradable caps.
William McDonough and Michael Braungart introduced the concept of cradle to cradle, now it is up to consumers and producers to put it into action. It’s the right thing to do and something that can have a huge impact on the environment for us and future generations.
Max
http://www.ensobottles.com
“Bottles for a Healthier Earth”

Cara Giudice from Ze-gen, Inc, September 2, 2009 at 3:23 p.m.

Thanks for a great article! The Cradle-to-Cradle design concept not only helps us to create a more sustainable future, but it is more economical for us all in the long-term. It is too easy to throw something out and forget about it what the consequences are of the material when it ends up in the landfill. Encouraging producer responsibility and more eco-conscious product design is a truly sound way of reducing our footprint on the environment and eliminating unnecessary landfilling. Check out: http://ze-gen.com/rethink/rethink/eco-conscious-product-design for a post on eco-conscious products.

Rich Cohen, September 2, 2009 at 6:17 p.m.

We've seen a significant spike in interest and sales. Our focus is creative and innovative sustainable packaging (www.DistantVillage.com) and tree-free adhesive labels using recyclable wild grass paper and adhesive, as well as a reclaimed release liner. Authenticity of 3BL sustainable packaging is a major concern for our clients and there are few good alternatives.