Waste Not

Own-brand packaging sustainability initiatives most certainly are good for the environment. But they also can be good for business.

According to Sarah Bird, chief commercial officer for Oakland, Calif.-based Ecologic Brands Inc., such initiatives could result in increased consumer engagement and loyalty to store brands, as well as cost savings and even an improved banner image within the community.

Packaging sustainability efforts on the store brand side also could help retailers connect with the increasingly important millennial demographic, says Charlie Schwarze, global sustainability manager for Amcor Rigid Plastics, Manchester, Mich.

“Developing a sound and clearly communicated sustainability strategy is one way to attract this important segment of shoppers,” he says. “It all translates into customer lifetime value and getting shoppers in the door, and can be very difficult to measure on a SKU-by-SKU basis.”

Schwarze singles out Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market as one retailer that reaps high margins on the product side through a sound and clearly communicated strategy that creates an “atmosphere of social and environmental responsibility.”

Get started

For retailers that have done little to enhance own-brand packaging sustainability thus far, taking the first steps here might seem daunting.

Schwarze recommends that a retailer start with a thorough internal and external stakeholder materiality assessment.

“Issues may vary broadly depending on the sector and categories where each brand plays,” he explains.

The analysis also offers an opportunity to examine and potentially rethink the type of packaging currently used for certain store brand products. For example, switching from glass to lighter rigid packaging or flexible packaging materials for certain food products could allow retailers to increase supply chain efficiencies and give consumers a high-quality recycled/recyclable material.

“However, this must be communicated to consumers through end-of-life investment — similar to what Amcor and others are doing through the Recycling Partnership,” he says.

And existing packaging suppliers could be part of any assessment process, notes Jim Foster, marketing manager for Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based Clear Lam Packaging Inc.

“The goal would be to understand if new options exist that are made from sustainable materials and identify the corresponding costs,” he says. “The retailer will better understand what [it] has today versus sustainable options.”

Brand managers also could ask their packaging suppliers about any new sustainable packaging that might be available, suggests Adam Aghajani, corporate account executive for A B B Labels, Los Angeles. He notes that in the past, brand managers have asked his company about labels made with recycled material or coming from sustainable sources such as corn or bamboo, but opted against such labels because of their higher cost. But A B B now offers a 100 percent post-consumer-waste label that is in line with the push toward sustainability but is much more cost-effective than the other options.

Source reduction is another avenue retailers should consider if they are just embarking on the sustainable packaging journey. As Bird notes, such applications are easy to implement and result in immediate cost benefits.

“However, it is critical that brands look at sustainability holistically rather than as individual issues to be addressed,” she says. “A natural or organic product in a plastic bottle is only half the story, as is an eco-conscious product shipped from overseas. Brands need to look at the entire lifecycle of their product and value chain to understand where a source change will have the greatest sustainability impact, and should plan their optimization efforts accordingly.”

Shopper input, too, should be considered in guiding efforts here.

“Retailers should also consider conducting consumer research to better understand their shoppers’ demands for sustainability,” Foster says, “and discussing the needs with packaging suppliers.”

David Stanton, business development manager for Minnetonka, Minn.-based NatureWorks LLC — which makes the proprietary Ingeo polylactide polymer from natural plant sugars for applications ranging from bottles and food containers to apparel — suggests going even one step farther.

“Look at the customer base for each store brand, and see what’s most important to each of those customer sets,” he advises.

Take it to the next level

Retailers that have already identified packaging sustainability issues and opportunities for store brands — and have taken steps to improve here — have the opportunity to build on those efforts in the name of continuous improvement.

“Taking a program to the next level means integrating sustainable thinking into the products you’re selling, the employees who sell them and the suppliers who help you make them,” Schwarze explains, adding that it takes buy-in from top management down and much more.

He adds that he is “always amazed” when a Whole Foods cashier shares details about specific items he is buying — for example, the product’s farm of origin and why the product represents a net societal positive.

“Other stores could take this approach in making their employees understand their own company’s sustainability philosophy and responsible packaging to help consumers understand the reason for buying socially and environmentally responsible products,” Schwarze says.

Retailers will need to continue to evolve here as more consumers embrace natural and environmentally conscious products, Bird suggests. Inspiration for that evolution could come from strong national brands that are evolving in the sustainable packaging arena or elsewhere.

“Since solid waste from packaging is a well-understood and tangible problem, brand packaging is in a unique position to initiate change that revitalizes the brand, responds to consumer demand and/or differentiates a product on shelves,” she says. “Packaging options that look at the entire lifecycle by addressing upstream solutions such as lightweight, easily packed products that make transportation more efficient, as well as downstream solutions such as recyclability, reusability or compostability are truly the most impactful.”

Bird points to Ecologic’s molded fiber eco.bottle as a format that offers “a very visible dedication to environmental sustainability that displays innovation and differentiates a product” on the shelf, Bird notes. The bottle features a shell made from 100 percent recycled cardboard and newspaper; to increase transportation efficiency, the bottles can be nested for shipment to the manufacturing facility. The bottle’s components, meanwhile, pull apart easily for recycling.

Because packaging suppliers continue to make sustainability-minded improvements to packaging materials and technology, retailers also should make an effort to stay up to date on new developments.

“Retailers could attend packaging trade shows and webinars on sustainable solutions to better understand the trends, availability and suppliers,” Foster says.

Get the message out

Packaging sustainability initiatives are increasingly important to many consumers, so it’s important that retailers clearly communicate such efforts to their shoppers.

“When consumers see that a company is actively involved on their impact to the environment, it automatically enhances the value of the product and the brand,” Aghajani says.

Retailers could get the message out via a number of avenues, Foster notes, including on-pack messaging, point-of-sale information, displays, circular ads and even social media.

“They could also use consumer testimonials to deliver the message,” he says.

Retailers could leverage their websites, too, for packaging sustainability storytelling related to their own brands, Stanton says.

“Obviously, a national brand is not going to be able to go onto, let’s say, Kroger’s website and talk about how they’ve taken all of these great measures,” he says. “But Kroger can go onto its website and build that consumer loyalty by showing how they’re going beyond the ingredients, going into even smaller details like packaging.”

To have the most impact, however, the store brand message should be a strong sustainability statement delivered across the whole brand range, Bird says —covering not only the packaging, but also the products’ ingredients.

“Consumers are looking for ingredients and packaging which deliver on ‘better for you,’ as well as ‘better for the earth’; they also are looking for value,” she states. “There is tremendous opportunity for retailers with their store brands to address this consumer need.”

No matter what vehicle or vehicles a retailer opts to use to deliver the packaging sustainability message to shoppers, it’s not an easy task, Schwarze points out. So many eco-labels are in use in the United States, and confusion around the recyclability of packaging is widespread.

“Ideally, retailers would be able to communicate sustainability enhancements to products and packaging at the SKU level, which is why the Sustainability Consortium was created in the first place,” he says. “However, this proves difficult because a common methodology must be created to ‘grade’ products according to their sustainability.”

But as transparency in relation to products becomes the norm in the digital age, it will be important for retailers and their suppliers to “lead the charge to define what sustainability really means” and tackle related issues “before they require policy intervention,” Schwarze adds.

Paul Hertensen, CEO of Hernando, Fla.-based B.O.V. Solutions Inc., agrees, trading “green” for the sustainability term.

“The word ‘green’ is not thought of the same by everyone,” he says. “What is ‘green’ and how can you tell something is greener than [something else]? … We need to come up with a definition that is simple, to-the-point so all understand what ‘green’ is.”

Honesty is also critical for any consumer-oriented messaging related to store brands. A lot of “greenwashing” is still taking place, notes Anne Tate Bedarf, senior manager of GreenBlue’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition, Charlottesville, Va.

“It’s important not to overstate an environmental benefit,” she explains. “In fact, the Federal Trade Commission, through its ‘Green Guides,’ discourages use of the term ‘green’ or ‘sustainable,’ but rather encourages specific attributes — ‘20 percent recycled content,’ etc.”

Looking ahead

Going forward, Schwarze also recommends that retailers seriously consider investing in consumer recycling to promote the sale of their products.

“The Recycling Partnership and The Closed Loop Fund are two examples of industry leading the effort to increase residential recycling and smart end-of-life options for packaging in the United States,” he says, “something that must happen to reduce our need for natural resources.”

And the Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s How2Recycle Label program also is available for retailers to use on their private label packaging to provide “consistent and transparent recyclability information” to shoppers, Bedarf notes. Minneapolis-based Target Corp. and Rochester, N.Y.-headquartered Wegmans Food Markets already are using it, she adds.

Honesty is critical for any consumer-oriented messaging related to store brands.