Sustainable is Good | Where design, lifestyle and packaging meet

Reusable Packaging Options for 2012

Innovative Products like the Globe Guard Reusable Box Sealer Can Help Companies Reduce Waste and REUSE

Reusable packaging represents the ultimate in sustainable packaging.  Developing packaging that is truly reusable is something we should all be striving for when we're developing and conceptualizing new packaging solutions.

Reusable packaging is nothing new to Dennis Salazar President of Salazar Packaging and a long time SISG contributor.  Dennis has been focused on producing reusable packaging options for his clients for several years now and launched Reusable Packaging Options to help clients incorporate affordable reusable packaging into their businesses.

To Dennis reusable packaging isn't just about the packaging used to ship products to customers.  Dennis and his company are focused on helping companies reuse corrugated and other materials throughout the entire process of product development to shipment to the customer. 

One innovative product is the Globe Guard Reusable Box Sealer.  The Reusable Box Sealer is designed to help companies reduce packaging waste during testing, product development, shipping preparation and other applications.  The Box Sealer does not require the use of any destructive or wasteful tape or glues and allows a box to be sealed and reopened repeatedly until ready for shipment.  The benefits of this creative product are numerous and allow for significant reduction in corrugated waste.

As we're about enter 2012 companies are looking for ways to reduce costs and eliminate waste more than ever.  To Dennis this represents a perfect opportunity to focus on reusable packaging options. 

"As companies continue their efforts to reduce cost and their carbon footprint in 2012, and assuming they have already reduced their packaging as much as possible and they have utilized high recycled content/recyclable packaging wherever possible, it stands to reason that reusability might be the best option left to deliver meaningful, positive green results," said Dennis.

High BPA Levels found in Holiday Food Staples

The Breast Cancer Fund recently released a report focused on BPA levels found in canned goods routinely used to prepare holiday meals.  The results of the report, BPA Levels in Thanksgiving Canned Goods, is unsettling. 

High levels of BPA were found in holiday staple items like Campbell's Turkey Gravy, Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup, Del Monte Fresh Cut Sweet Corn Cream Style and Libby's Pumpkin.

The report found that in more than half of the products tested a 120 gram serving of the canned item contained enough BPA to show adverse health effects in lab studies.

The study included alternatives to the canned items it focused on including similar products packaged in Tetra Pak packaging or frozen items.

Download a PDF of the report

 

Conscious Box Lets Consumers Try Variety of Green Products

Conscious Box is a new concept in the green marketplace.  Consumers subscribe and each month receive a box of eco-friendly and natural products.  The products have all been carefully screened and reviewed by the staff at Conscious Box before being included.  Companies cannot buy their way into having their products included in the box.

Why is this an interesting idea?  Well I think most consumers who are looking for green or more eco-friendly products will appreciate being able to try products before committing to buy a larger size version. 

With green products there is constant change in the marketplace with new products popping up and other ones failing.  The Conscious Box allows a consumer to try a number of products in small quantities before buying them at the store. 

Lets face it eco-friendly products are expensive and some of them don't work out as we had hoped.  Also many green consumers are highly concerned about waste if a product doesn't work out or isn't something they like.  Conscious Box allows the consumer to try products.

Another interesting feature of the Conscious Box is its packaging.  The makers of Conscious Box placed a high level of importance on making the box and the shipping container as green as possible.  They worked with Salazar Packaging in Chicago to develop the ideal packaging solution for their product. 

Dennis Salazar, president of Salazar Packaging and a SISG contributor said the box and shipper are made from 100% recycled corrugated content produced by wind power.  He told SISG the Conscious Box team was adamant about using the greenest possible packaging.

Read more about the packaging for Conscious Box at Inside Sustainable Packaging

Greenbox Pizza Box

I had pizza the other day from Federal Hill Pizza in Warren,RI and the pizza came in a GreenBox.  I wasn't familiar with the GreenBox but I have to say after experiecing it firsthand its a useful and innovative product.

The GreenBox looks like a normal pizza box however the top of the box is perforated on the inside and splits into four sections that serve as plates.  The remaining bottom part of the box also folds up into a smaller profile box for storing leftovers.

GreenBox is made from recycled corrugated cardboard and is made by Evovention based in New York.

 

Snapple Partners with Maroon 5 on Tea to Benefit Feeding America

Snapple announced a partnership with Maroon 5 on a tea to benefit Feeding America.  The tea blend dubbed "Tea Will be Loved" is a mix of green and black teas with pomegranate and berries.

Tea Will Be Loved will benefit Feeding America, the nation's largest hunger-relief organization, by helping to provide 1,750,000 meals to those in need.

Inspired by the unique personalities of the band members and named for their smash-hit "She Will Be Loved," this limited release Snapple tea will be available at participating retailers nationwide beginning on September 1, 2011.

"We traded in our instruments for lab coats and had the opportunity to take over the Snapple lab to craft our own tea," said Adam Levine, lead vocalist for Maroon 5.

"After lots of taste-testing, we each chose our favorite flavor and combined them to create Snapple Tea Will Be Loved to benefit Feeding America. We love it, and we're excited for our fans to try it."

Tea Will Be Loved is a five-fruit mash-up of the best stuff on Earth, with each band mate choosing their own flavor to add to the tea: pomegranate, orange, blackberry, raspberry and hibiscus.

Tea Will Be Loved features new packaging with 13 specially marked gold Snapple caps with real facts about Maroon 5 and Feeding America.  The band also contributed to the graphic design of the packaging for the new tea.

If You Care Trash Bags

Here is something I came across recently that just makes a lot of sense in terms of packaging. If You Care is selling trash bags in a simple roll - wrapped with an outer band that serves as the packaging.

I thought this design was simple and brillant.  It allows the company to include its brand & product info and it lets the consumer actually see and be able to feel the product. 

Not only is the packaging very efficient the bags are made from 97% post-consumer recycled plastic.  Not bad. 

The bags are currently available in two sizes and are on store shelves now in the US.

 

 

Austin Grocery Store In.gredients to be First Packaging Free Grocery Store in USA

Austin, TX is about to be the home of a unique grocery store, a store which sells products with no packaging.  In.gredients is slated to open this year and become the first package free and zero waste grocery store in the USA.

In.gredients is the idea of brothers Joseph, Christian and Partick Lane of Lane Brothers LLC and friend Christopher Pepe. 

The concept for the store originally began with selling beer and wine and then developed into a full fledge grocery store.  The store will carry local produce, beer, wine, grains, coffee, tea, spices, baking goods, dairy, household cleaners and personal care products. Customers can bring their own containers which will initially be weighed and marked for use.  The idea being people will reuse containers, sacks and glass jars in place of more traditional packaging.

Austin is the home base of national retailer Whole Foods Market who I'm sure will be watching the stores opening very closely.  It will be interesting to see how customers respond to in.gredients and if the concept can work in other cities in the US.

Seventh Generation 4X Laundry Detergent Packaging Ecologic

Packaging is supposed to catch the eye as your stolling through aisles in the store - the new Seventh Generation laundry detergent packaging made by Ecologic does just that.

The new fiber-based container packaging uses 66% less plastic than a similar sized plastic laundry detergent bottle.  The fiber exterior acts as a shell which houses a liner filled with the detergent. 

The liner is made from #4 LDPE plastic and the cap of the bottle is made from #5 PP plastic.

The fiber-based packaging stands out on the shelves in an aisle of products almost exclusively packaged in plastic bottles.

Seventh Generation's new packaging can be completely recycled in most communities.  When the product is gone remove the interior liner and recycle at locations where plastic shopping bags are accepted (usually grocery stores).  Flatten the fiber-based part and recycle with your paper and the cap can be recycled anywhere that accepts #5 plastic.  If your community does not recycled #5 plastic consider recycling as part of Preserve's Gimme5 program. 

 

 

Heinz Ketchup PlantBottle Coming to U.S. Stores in July

Heinz is partnering with Coca-Cola and using their PlantBottle technology in their 20 oz Ketchup bottles coming to US store shelves this July.

The Heinz PlantBottle will contain up to 30% plant-based PET plastic material similar to the configuration used in Coke's Dasani water bottles.

According to company estimates Heinz expects to sell 120 million PlantBottle ketchups in 2011. Heinz has come up with the mantra "Doing Well by Doing Good" to describe their usage of the bio-based bottle.

Coca-Cola's PlantBottle technology uses plant-based sugar cane ethanol from Brazil.  As we reported last week another Coke product Odwalla recently switched their packging to a 100% plant-based HDPE plastic also made from sugarcane.

The new Heinz PlantBottle will be highlighted at the BioPlastek 2011 conference from June 27-29 in NY.  The conference will feature in-depth discussion of the Coke/Heinz partnership. 

In related news Coca-Cola will use the BioPlastek forum to formally announce the national distribution of its Dasani water in PlantBottle packaging.

Coca-Cola Chairman & CEO Muhtar Kent and Heinz Chairman & CEO William R. Johnson with their new PlantBottle packaging

Ecovative Design's EcoCradle Mushroom Packaging Meets Dell

When it was announced at Fortune Green a couple weeks ago that Ecovative Design's EcoCradle mushroom-based packaging was in a pilot program with Dell I thought this would be the perfect story for Earth Day.  So Happy Earth Day everyone!

The story of Ecovative's mushroom packaging is a neat one and just the type of thing I like to highlight on SISG.  The company is the brainchild of two RPI grads and is focused on eco-friendly solutions to packaging and insulation - two markets that need continued eco-innovation.

Ecovative's co-founder Eben Bayer @ Fortune Green

At the Fortune Green conference Dell announced they were eight months into a pilot program with Ecovative.  Their engineers had worked with Ecovative's to design a version of their EcoCradle mushroom packaging to secure Dell servers during shipment.  The final result was a EcoCradle material that incorporated local cotton waste from Austin, TX into the mushroom-based material.  The EcoCradle packaging supports servers which often weigh more than 100lbs.  The project is exciting for Ecovative and also shows Dell's continued commitment to reducing packaging waste.

Last year furniture company Steelcase began shipping products using EcoCradle packaging.  Steelcase is using EcoCradle packaging made of agricultural byproducts like seed husks and cotton burrs bound together by mushroom roots.

Co-founders Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre have been experimenting with applications for mushroom-based material since 2007 when they came up with an idea for home insulation as part of a studio course at RPI.

Moving forward look for EcoCradle packaging to expand into more consumer products.  The company is working on a wine bottle shipper and does custom work for clients.