Food packaging and sustainability throughout the value chain continue to influence consumer decision-making and boardroom discussions. As climate awareness and trade policy shift material sourcing, innovative food packaging is playing an increasingly important role in how brands deliver winning products to market and from supplier to manufacturer.
The current trends in food packaging highlight the need for flexible sourcing, continued innovation, and accurate messaging to align business practices with shifting consumer priorities.
What Is Sustainable Food Packaging, and Why Does It Matter?
Sustainable packaging for food products is designed to reduce the environmental impact of package materials and processes throughout their lifecycle. Biodegradable and recyclable food packaging are two prominent examples. These products must also maintain high food safety and quality standards, adding another layer of consideration to selecting packaging materials compared to other CPG use cases.
Many of today’s food packaging designers seek to prioritize sustainability, from sourcing through disposal, by exploring bio-based or natural alternatives to plastics or other petrochemical compounds.
Some of the most common examples of sustainable food packaging materials include:
- Biodegradable films
- Bioplastics
- Glass
- Plant-based fibers
- Recyclable cardboard and paper products
- Recyclable metals
Single-Use Packaging’s Lingering Legacy
Nearly all food packaging is designed as single-use, and most of it ends up in landfills. Paper and paperboard packaging accounts for 14.3% of municipal solid waste (MSW) in the US annually, and plastic packaging represents more than 18%. These items spend decades in landfills and pose significant environmental risks if not stored properly.
Eco-friendly, sustainable packaging materials break down much sooner, resulting in less long-term waste. Because sustainable packaging often uses recycled content, it also requires less energy and fewer fossil fuel inputs to manufacture, lowering its carbon footprint. Ultimately, this cradle-to-cradle model benefits manufacturers, consumers, and the planet.
Designing for Sustainability: Food Packaging Trends
Manufacturers know how important packaging is to their product and their customers. Size, shape, color, material, label design, and shelf positioning influence consumer habits in many ways. Any of these characteristics can establish or ruin someone’s perception of brand trustworthiness and quality, and convey dietary or marketing information, such as clean label claims.
Many emerging trends in food packaging are directly or indirectly shaped by sustainability, as well as related improvements in new food packaging technologies.
1. Biodegradability. Biodegradable packaging, which includes a range of natural materials and bioplastics, breaks down naturally without harming the environment. Biodegradable plastics made from corn starch are derived from polylactic acid and polyhydroxyalkanoates, and they decompose in landfill conditions decades faster than traditional plastics.
2. Compostable packaging. Compostable packaging is both biodegradable and specifically formulated to break down into non-toxic components. It decomposes faster than other biodegradable packaging, which is one reason it is more commonly used in food service applications, such as restaurants and hospitality.
3. Edible materials. There’s a growing effort to use a mix of carbohydrates and proteins to create edible packaging. Engineers are looking at seaweed, potato starches, milk proteins, and other bio-based components to make food packaging designed to be ingested along with the food. Using plants is a good place to start; the polymers in fruits and vegetables are already effective barriers to oxygen and liquids, reducing spoilage.
4. Agricultural by-products. One of the most exciting innovations in food packaging is the use of bagasse (from sugarcane production), wheat straw, and rice husk as packaging materials. Biodegradable and compostable, these materials improve upon other options because they’re sourced from the waste of agricultural operations, offering manufacturers a lower-cost base material and minimizing resource consumption.
Tilley’s Sustainability Contributions
We understand that sustainability matters at every link in the supply chain. We’ve improved our processes and invested in operational capabilities to help clients meet their environmental goals, including:
- Operating a bulk delivery fleet, which allows us to source large product quantities with minimal packaging and control the materials used for repackaging
- Recycling or reconditioning pallets to reduce waste
- Using customer-specific totes to cut down on packaging materials
- Reconditioning and sometimes reusing totes and drums for tech-grade products
We know these eco-conscious efforts matter to our customers- and their customers, as well. To learn more about our sustainability initiatives and practices, contact our team to speak with a Tilley representative.
Sustainable Food Packaging Headwinds: Price and Scale
Despite advancements in sustainable food packaging technology, its widespread use faces two important hurdles.
- Cost: Sustainable materials tend to have higher production costs compared to traditional plastics. While larger brands can absorb those added costs, smaller operations may find the cost of biodegradable and eco-friendly packaging inaccessible.
- Scale: As in most early-stage industries, sustainable food packaging manufacturers lack the infrastructure to process and distribute at scale. This contributes to higher prices and makes it difficult for global manufacturers to meet demand without significant capital investment with long-term returns. Additionally, not all sustainable materials decompose efficiently in landfills, and most municipalities lack the appropriate infrastructure to store and break down these products.
Get the Total Package with Tilley Distribution
We know that food packaging is critical to meeting consumer preferences and ensuring a safe, quality product. Tilley’s specialty ingredients packaging services improve efficiency between supplier and manufacturer while upholding the industry’s highest safety standards. Let our team improve operational efficiency and solve your toughest supply chain challenges; contact us to speak with a Tilley representative today.
