Some years ago, while working with a renowned retailer in France, I embarked on a journey that profoundly shaped my understanding of sustainability in business. This retailer, dedicated to enhancing community life and fostering positive impacts for suppliers, employees, customers, and the environment, gave me the invaluable opportunity to lead their brand strategy and manage their private brands marketing. Among our varied product range, bottled milk held a significant volume, but its packaging posed environmental challenges.
The Challenge: Rethinking Milk Packaging
Our initial packaging – non-recyclable bottles, an aluminium and plastic opercule for preservation, a paper label for branding and legal information, and a colored cap for fat percentage identification – was far from ideal in sustainability terms. As a team committed to environmental stewardship, we knew improvements were necessary. Our first step was to simplify: by integrating the fat percentage color coding into the label, we could standardize the caps to white, enhancing their recyclability.
The Innovation: PET Bottle, an apparently sustainable packaging
The real challenge, however, lay in the opercule and the bottle. Glass, though recyclable, was logistically impractical, and cardboard, while an alternative, faced recycling facility shortages in France at the time. Our solution? PET – a fully recyclable material. By incorporating RPET (recycled PET) and ingeniously developing the preform, we eliminated the need for an opercule without compromising product security. This innovation represented the epitome of environmental consciousness: recyclability, material reduction, post-consumer material reuse, and maintained product safety, all without additional costs.
Testing and Launch: A Consumer Success
Our tests with clients were overwhelmingly positive. We knew effective communication about the opercule's removal and the bottle's full recyclability was crucial to avoid customer confusion or disappointment. The stage was set for a successful launch, demonstrating our belief that there's always a Sustainable Packaging solution if you're willing to ask the right questions.
The Unforeseen Challenge: Recycling Realities
However, in our zeal to innovate, we overlooked a critical aspect: how these bottles would be processed in sorting and recycling facilities. Despite their recyclability, they resembled non-recyclable bottles and were, unfortunately, incinerated due to their indistinguishability. Being the sole user of these bottles, it was impractical for sorting facilities to adapt, compounded by the risk of misidentifying non-recyclable bottles as recyclable.
Lessons Learned: Collaboration and Real Impact
This experience taught me that impactful sustainability requires collaboration beyond just one company. It's not enough to innovate in isolation; partnering across the entire chain, including with competitors, is essential for meaningful change. Sustainability in packaging isn't just a marketing claim – it's a commitment to genuinely improving our environmental impact. It's not about gaining a competitive edge, but about striving towards a common goal in a complex ecosystem.
Moving Forward with Collective Responsibility
As we continue to navigate the challenges of sustainable innovation, this experience remains a guiding light. It underscores the importance of holistic thinking and collaboration in our quest for environmental stewardship. The journey to sustainability is a shared one, and together, we can make a real difference.
Useful