SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING UPDATE

Sustainability and Biodegradability:
Packaging That 'Goes Away'?!

By Eric Brody and Wendy Jedlicka

Legislators, manufacturers, and consumers around the world are starting to get their arms around the idea that sustainability is not a casual fad, but a fundamental shift in the way we approach everything we do. For early adopting organizations and firms working towards this goal for decades (plus the ones that never stopped doing it since they were founded generations ago), this finally means the realization of investments they have made in all of our futures.

Many new to sustainability, though, approach it like a mix-and-match fad rather than a holistic system-pulling out single ideas like magic "easy buttons." They think these buttons will fix all their ills if they do one simple step-dooming their effort before it's even begun. For sustainability, biodegradability is becoming the easy button du jour.

One of the key issues people need to sit up and take notice of is that end-of-life issues such as biodegradability account for a very small fraction of the total impact a consumer goods package will have on the environment. On the flip side, end-of-life efforts can have big, undesirable impacts when used to replace a material with recycling systems in place. The biodegradable look-alike without its own material handling scheme ready to leverage its benefits can disrupt profitable material streams. This causes otherwise useful resources to go to landfills and incinerators rather than diverting it to its next incarnation of useful feedstock.

Nature's Path is working the system to its best advantage by delivering the same product with 10% less box, 100% recycled paperboard (a renewable resource), and expired pulp fibers available for compost at the end of production life.

The easy gains?

Many designers and packaging suppliers like the ease of touting biodegradability as a consumer perception feature. In reality, the biggest impact a package designer can have is to demand materials that have high post-consumer recycled content (maximizing current resource flows), and reducing the size of the packaging (minimizing fuel use).

Biodegradability is the end of the road for a production resource-recycling keeps valuable resources in the active production loop. Paper pulp (wood, kenaf, bamboo, agripulp, etc.) is a great example of a renewable, biodegradable material that makes many useful production trips before it's ready to retire as compost fodder for the next growing cycle.

On the marketing side, calling something biodegradable is an easy way to make the consumer feel all warm and fuzzy about a product, but it can be misleading and considered false advertising by the Federal Trade Commission. In order to be called biodegradable or compostable the item must meet standards in the U.S. (ASTM) and Europe (EN). And, more importantly, even if the item is technically biodegradable, the industrial compost collection system and infrastructure needs to be readily available in the target market in order to get a biodegradable or compostable label. A difficult mark to hit, as commercial composting does not exist in all markets producers may want to sell into.

Biodegradable or compostable packaging in communities without commercial composting may end up in the landfill where anaerobic digestion produces methane-a very potent greenhouse gas. On the plus side, in the many communities that burn their waste, the environmental impact of most biodegradables has about the same impact as burning food or yard waste. In contrast, petroleum-based materials are not only more toxic, but release additional carbon from carbon cycles that are millions of years old.

As the drive to integrate sustainability into mainstream business increases, people need to resist the temptation to look at material selection with the same superficial criteria used in the past. Simply being a "good" material is not a guarantee it is the right material for the job at that moment. Just like biodegradable is not the magic button that triggers the package at end-of-life to simply "go away." But rather, when applied to its best advantage, it's a tremendously important and sustainable element when integrated into a well-considered plan to manage resources on many levels.

Eric Brody is the sustainability manager at Nau (www.nau.com), a technical outdoor and lifestyle clothing company that is looking to merge beauty, performance, and sustainability and spark a dialogue among individuals and companies who are committed to doing well by doing good. Eric is also the founder and coordinator of Portland Green Drinks, is on the executive committee for the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, and sits on the advisory committee for the Oregon Natural Step Network.

Wendy Jedlicka, CPP, is president of Jedlicka Design Ltd. (www.jedlicka.com), is chapter chair for o2-USA/Upper Midwest and liaison for the o2 Global Green Design Network (www.o2.org), and packaging and economics faculty for Minneapolis College of Art and Design's groundbreaking Sustainable Design Certificate Program (www.online.mcad.edu).