Sustaining innovation in paper and board

Once dominated by aesthetics, package design decisions are increasingly driven by sustainability concerns; where once a product just had to look good on the shelf, today its backstory is important as well. As the largest segment of the consumer market - with a 34% share - paper and board packaging lies at the heart of this growing trend. Under pressure from customers, environmental groups and, in some cases, their own ethos, converters are now making radical changes to the way such products are sourced, transported, used and, ultimately, disposed of.

One of the leaders in the field is the US multinational Johnson & Johnson. The company's focus on sustainability goes back a long way; in 1943, then chairman Robert Wood Johnson wrote the company's credo, including the phrase "We must maintain in good order the property we are privileged to use, protecting the environment and natural resources". He also wrote a book entitled People Must Live and Work Together, or Forfeit Freedom, in which he argued that firms had a responsibility to do good for the world.

"He was talking about protecting the environment and not over-using resources in the '40s. For the time, it was pretty forward-thinking," says Al Iannuzzi, senior director of environment, health, safety and sustainability at Johnson & Johnson. "Sustainability has been strongly tied into our credo for decades now.

"We were also one of the first companies to put out publicly facing sustainability goals where we reported on our progress. The first set, in the '90s, were called pollution prevention goals. They were geared towards reducing the amount of energy we used."

More recently, the company has set about improving the sustainability of its paper and board packaging. It has set itself the impressive goal of ensuring all such products, as well as all office paper, contain more than 30% fibre from either certified forests or post-consumer recycled content.

Meeting these targets has led Johnson & Johnson into intriguing new territory. For years, it was thought post-consumer recycled content could not be used for medical device packaging. But, in a bold example of original thinking, the firm has proven otherwise.
"Our packaging engineers and developers did not believe it could be done," says Iannuzzi. "But one of our medical device products, Stratafix, now uses post-consumer recycled content in its packaging. This is now something that we are actively focusing on."

A raw deal

The company is also stepping up efforts to use sustainable raw materials for its paper and board packaging.

"Our preference is to try and source Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper. That way, we know it comes from sustainable forests that have been audited and accredited," says Iannuzzi.

"We do currently use other certifications as well, such as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, but we're in the process of trying to move the company more towards the FSC. We think it is a more robust certification."

Beyond using sustainable sources and incorporating post-consumer recyclables, Johnson & Johnson is also looking at a much simpler way of making its paper and board packaging more sustainable - using less of it. The firm has completely redesigned the packaging for one of its drugs - a paracetamol called Tylenol - entirely removing the outer cartonboard box.

"It's an approach we call 'out of the box'," says Iannuzzi. "The tablets are usually in a plastics container that is encased in cartonboard. But we've come up with a new design where it is just a plastics container that could also be stackable. You can certainly use sustainability as a way to innovate.

"Using less packaging like this is also going to reduce the cost of the product, and it is better for the customer - they have less to manage."

Despite Iannuzzi's enthusiasm, however, sustainable innovation is not always easy to implement. Many customers - consumers and businesses - are used to packages of a certain size and shape. If the design is altered, product manufacturers worry that sales will suffer as a result.

"Let's take retail," he says. "From a marketing perspective, shelf space is a big deal. So trying to get the right size package is a little bit of a hurdle. You have to get over it internally with your marketing people, but also with the retail customers. They're used to specific visual features, and certain amounts of shelf space.

"There are similar considerations for medical products. A lot of packaging is made to be a certain size. So, if you reduce that, you can throw things off a bit for the receiver. These are things we have to work with our customers on."

Troubleshooting

Johnson & Johnson is also facing its own specific problems. Clearly explaining objectives to so many people, particularly when operating in a decentralised structure, has proven challenging. Collecting all the data from the firm's suppliers - needed to effectively measure progress - further adds to the difficulties.

"We're still working through these issues, and we've been doing more centralisation of some of our corporate functions," says Iannuzzi. "We look at sustainability as a journey more than a destination. There are constantly new things to be working on, and fresh ways to make our packaging more environmentally friendly."

The firm is by no means alone in its bid to improve sustainability in paper and board packaging. Consumer goods giant Unilever is currently aiming to source 75% of the materials it uses for such products from certified forests and recycled material by 2015. More boldly still, the company hopes to up this figure to 100% by 2020. Like Johnson & Johnson, it is also working to improve data collection and reporting processes; wanting to ensure information is detailed and auditable.

For Johnson & Johnson, paper and board is ultimately just a small part of a wider push towards sustainable packaging. The firm's Healthy Future 2015 strategy also includes eliminating PVC, reducing size, upping bio-based material usage, and increasing recyclability and post-recycled content.

"All new packages also have to go through our Earthwards process," Iannuzzi adds. "We look at minimisation, and trying to reduce the effects of the materials we're using. Then we carry out a life cycle review so that we can focus improvements on the highest impact areas."

Iannuzzi also believes that the growing strength of the sustainability movement is soon going to produce even bigger, more visual changes to packaging design.

"One thing that's starting to make a comeback is the refillable pouch," he says. "You buy an original, larger container, like shampoo, that you keep at home. And you also purchase a refillable pouch, which uses a lot less packaging.

"It was more popular years ago, but consumers weren't receiving it too well, so it died out. But I think we're in a different age now. People are more receptive to refillables.

"It is certainly a concept we are thinking about. One of our products in Europe is currently looking at moving to a pouch - it is in the design stage at the moment."

Johnson & Johnson's determination to improve the sustainability of its packaging processes is admirable. More impressive still is the progress the firm has made so far. Yet much remains to be done.

In China and India, the emerging middle classes are developing a taste for Western-style products, especially foods. This will no doubt cause demand for paper and board packaged goods to soar. Europe's economic recovery, fuelling consumer spending, is also sure to add to the sector's pressures.

Balancing the world's needs for paper and board packaging with growing environmental concerns will no doubt require even more innovation in sustainability - the WWF estimates that 12-15 million hectares of forest are currently lost each year - the equivalent of 36 football fields every minute. Let us hope, for the health of the planet, that more firms follow Johnson & Johnson's lead in this vital area.

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