BY
DENNIS SALAZAR
Longtime
contributor and sustainable packaging expert Dennis Salazar,
President of Salazar Packaging in Chicago, begins 2009 with a focus
on recycling.
When
the seven R’s of sustainability were first published, people were
quick to select one as their personal favorite, usually with the
sincere belief that their R of choice was the key to the
environmental fix. The six, wildly popular R’s were:
Remove
– getting rid of excess packaging was an obvious and dramatic
choice no one could possibly dispute plus it made for great press.
Reuse
– the favorite of green minded people who take great pleasure in
making lamps out of milk cartons and other creative sustainable
solutions.
Reduce
- minimizing packaging is always a great idea and can be
accomplished more easily than most people think. Another popular R
for the masses.
Renew
– packaging products that are renewable was instantly the favorite
of the techies in the group that believe science has an answer for
everything that ails us and our planet.
Revenue
– packaging that is cost effective. The natural choice of the
purchasing professionals, accountants and CFOs everywhere.
Read
– taking time to educate ourselves and others. A good option for
most, especially if info gained makes for good cocktail party or
sales call conversation.
I
believe the seventh R that has attracted less attention and interest
by far is - recycle.
“Hmmm.
That’s going to require some effort on my part.”
You
can almost hear the wheels turning and excuses churning as people
quickly realized that all of the other R’s for the most part
required effort by someone other than them. “Let
the designers, manufacturers, engineers, chemists and marketing
people fix the earth, fix it quickly and accomplish it in a way that
requires minimal effort on my part”.
Obviously
I am having some fun with this topic but there is some truth in even
the wildest exaggeration. The fact is that many people are still
waiting for the government, science, big business, or
somebody/anybody else to come up with a cure for the environment. The
ideal solution of course would be one that would result in minimal
change and disruption in my life.
Green
Packaging question - How much do we recycle?
The
short answer is, not nearly enough. I see a few more recycle bins
being used in my neighborhood, and that is obviously a good thing. It
would be better if everyone was forced to participate and I hope that
time will come. I realize small children are being educated on the
environment and the concern and lesson appears to extend beyond a
classroom project of picking up litter in the playground or planting
a tree on Earth Day.
Follow
the Garbage of Eco-Friendly Packaging
Detectives
often say “follow the money” but it this case, you can usually
follow the garbage to find the crime and the criminal. It is the same
thing we advise clients when doing a sustainability audit or are
working to reduce their packaging costs.
On
a recent flight I heard the usual “prepare for landing” message
from the cockpit which was immediately followed by three flight
attendants quickly collecting empty plastic water bottles and
aluminum cans, as well as loads of newspapers and magazines from the
passengers eager to let someone else deal with it. I watched as the
crew dumped everything into plastic bags before final approach. To be
honest, those bags filled with valuable, easily sorted consumer
waste, may indeed be sorted later but I am willing to bet they are
not and will eventually wind up in a landfill.
According
to most sources I found, on an average day there are close to 30,000
domestic, commercial flights. I am not sure what that translates into
in terms of recyclable waste that is not recycled but I am certain it
is a lot.
There
are many, way too many, examples like this and we as green minded
consumers have to let the guilty culprits know that we notice and
care about what they are doing. That is the only way to bring about
the change that is required to help fix the big problem we all helped
create. In the mean time it would not hurt to be a little more
diligent on our recycling efforts at home.
Recycled,
Sustainable Packaging Materials: Great idea for someone else’s use.
There
are times when I mention the fact that our corrugated boxes or some
other product we offer is made of 100% recycled material and I can
see the slightest upturn of a nose or a poorly hidden grimace. Even
though everyone is theoretically
in favor of recycling and simple logic tells us that we obviously
have to use what we recycle, there are still some negative
perceptions that have to be overcome. “Products
made of recycled material are not as safe, clean, strong, cost
efficient or _______ “(Insert
favorite inaccurate information here)
There
are people that still think the phrase “recycled content” is
synonymous with substandard or inferior and nothing could be further
from the truth. In packaging, as long as the correct size, grade,
thickness, weight for a specific application is used, the product
being shipped, protected, contained or bundled, does not really care
if the material is recycled or not. As long as the product works, who
cares where it’s been and by all means, please feel free to test it
alongside your high quality, higher cost, standard, non-green
packaging product.
There’s
a Reason Why There are Seven R’s in Sustainability
I
am quite sure if anyone was convinced that one R would do it, the
other six would be quickly abandoned. After all, no one wants extra,
unnecessary R’s, not even in a game of Scrabble. The fact is that
there are seven R’s in sustainability because the problem is too
big and too complex for any singular solution. The scientists and
economists, as well as the designers and marketers are all going to
do their part if we hope to reverse the direction of this good ship
gone bad.
With
all the big, good and bad headlines in 2008 and what is sure to be an
even crazier 2009, let’s not forget the environmental mission is
not yet accomplished and we must still focus on the basics,
especially the ones we can personally and easily implement on a daily
basis.
One
of the easiest solutions with the greatest possible upside is still,
recycling everything possible and using recycled, whenever possible.
Hope
you have a happy, healthy, prosperous and extremely green 2009!
Dennis Salazar is the president of Salazar Packaging, Inc., a certified MBE (Minority Business Enterprise) company specializing in packaging products, equipment and solutions. With over thirty years in the packaging industry, he is known for his tongue in cheek sense of humor as well as his sustainable packaging passion and expertise.
To contact Dennis, please visit his web site: www.salazarpackaging.com
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