The Coming Challenge: Sustainability in Food Packaging
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The EPAs Proposed updates to the Safer Choice Standard say packages would have to either be designed for reuse or be recyclable and contain a minimum percentage of post-consumer recycled content (by weight): 15% in plastic packaging, 25% in glass packaging, 30% in metal packaging and 50% in fiber-based packaging. Multi-material packaging would be “considered on a case-by-case basis.” EPA also wrote that product labels must not affect recyclability and must include clear instructions, or link to online instructions, about how to recycle.
As food producers well know, food packaging is much more complex than the Amazon boxes received by consumers daily.
An interesting article found in Packaging Digest (January 11, 2024) discusses the approach General Mills has taken to tackle the challenge of food packaging recycling.
About five years ago, the company reviewed its complex packaging portfolio and set a goal of 100% recyclable or reusable packaging by 2030. Today, “we’re about 92% of the way … towards that ambition of recyclable or reusable,” David Chmura, R & D Senior Manager at General Mills, said in October 2023.
The article goes onto give examples of how General Mills grouped the different sustainability challenges into “families”: Reducing, Recycling, & Circularity.
An example from the “reduce” category, the company eliminated wooden spoons that had been attached to the underside of the lid on single-serving Haagen-Dazs cups.
An example of the company’s commitment to recycling and plastics circularity centers on General Mills’ partnership with an advanced recycling company in Europe. The goal was to boost the amount of post-consumer recycled (PCR) polystyrene in form fill-seal cups used for Panier de Yoplait yogurt.
Another sustainability project, for Annie’s microwavable macaroni-and-cheese cups, focused on recyclability and composability. Working closely with a molded-fiber packaging company, General Mills successfully transitioned the product line from polypropylene cups to fiber-based cups.**
Article written by Kate Bertrand Connolly
** Sustainability at General Mills: The Inside Story (packagingdigest.com)
Packaging Dive came out with the 5 packaging trends to watch in 2024 (Packaging Dive January 8, 2024 issue). Of the five, two are related to recycling and circularity issues being legislated or considered by states and the federal government.
Besides California, other states including Colorado, Maine, Maryland and Oregon will also continue preparatory or implementation activities for their own takes on EPR (extended producer responsibility) for packaging.
How to best manage materials after use, whether through disposal, recycling or other avenues — and how to communicate those discard instructions — remains a central challenge for packaging. The area lacks standardization, and debate could intensify this year.
The packaging industry is focusing more on designing for recyclability to improve recycling in general. New scannable codes and apps seek to help.***
***Article written by Katie Pyzyk & Maria Rachal
5 packaging trends to watch in 2024 | Packaging Dive
Back to General Mills and how the company has approached the packaging recycling and circularity challenge.
The starting point…was to create a cross-disciplinary team and deploy a powerful analytics tool to track packaging sustainability data,,,
“Trying to manage all that and sort it out on an Excel spreadsheet was not going to work,” David Chmura said. So, the company pulled together a team with expertise in sustainability, data and technology, packaging, R & D, supply chain management, and finance.
For food producers, now is the time to devote resources for future planning and approaches to meet the changes coming in food packaging requirements. The article mentioned above in Packaging Digest provides one blue print for moving forward.
David Russick is with Innovative Waste Recycling. IWR partners with food producers to collect, haul, and recycle food production waste. David can be reached at david@iwrecycling.com.
