A new report from Global Industry Analysts (GIA) states that demand for sustainable packaging is forecast to reach US$142.42 billion by 2015. Europe and the USA represent the largest regions for sustainable packaging, together representing about 70% of global demand. According to another report from EL Insights, 27% of products in major US retailers are estimated to use sustainable packaging this year.
This all sounds very commendable, and of course it’s what consumers are demanding. Or is it? An e-news bulletin from www.greenerpackage.com recently carried a story on Frito-Lay, whose SunChips plant-based bags for this brand of snacks have been rejected by consumers as being too noisy!
Earlier this year, PepsiCo, owners of the famous Frito-Lay brand, made the switch from traditional petroleum-based flexible film to a 100% plant-based bag.
Little did they suspect that the package would offend the ears of snack munchers, to the extent that the company is rumoured to be facing double-digit sales losses for SunChips.
How do you measure noisiness? Apparently, an air force pilot, using a sound meter, determined that the crinkling sound of the bags was louder than the normal range of noises in his jet’s cockpit! Imagine how annoying that would be in a cinema…
Well, PepsiCo did its best for the environment, but is sadly reported to have gone back to traditional film for five of its six SunChips varieties, with only the Original flavour still packed in the bio-based bag. It seems that while consumers are often very vocal in their criticism of excess or ‘non-green’ packaging, the reality is that the majority are not prepared to sacrifice convenience or personal preference for ethics.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the grocery retail sector has been concentrating on reducing waste, and the achievements here have been ‘spectacular’, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which reports a reduction of 1.2 million tonnes of food and packaging waste over the past five years.
The ‘waste hierarchy’ adopted by the UK Government puts waste prevention above recovery. The results of a voluntary agreement between the UK grocery sector and the Government’s waste reduction delivery body, WRAP, show 670,000 tonnes of food waste and 550,000 tonnes of packaging have been avoided since the agreement began in 2005: a great achievement and without the need for legislation.
Maureen Byrne
Editor
Maureen Byrne
