Packaging plays a critical role in the baking industry; it protects bakery products from contamination, provides physical protection for contents, enhances food safety, extends shelf life, and delivers significant information to customers. Studies prove that eliminating packaging would exponentially increase food waste and greenhouse gas emissions. Developing optimized packaging is essential to limiting the negative environmental and economic impacts of food waste. However, there are many challenges associated with disposing of and managing packaging at the end of the product’s life, and this is where sustainable packaging innovations are needed.
Sustainability is the focus of most conversations surrounding packaging. Recyclability and recycled content are the main focal points, with almost all major brands committing to ambitious sustainability goals by 2025, 2030 or 2050. The timing for these goals has been pushed out as many companies have realized it is not simple to transition to more sustainable packaging alternatives. Despite the challenges, it is possible to continue innovating and reducing the environmental impact of packaging. Here are some ways companies can make strides in their sustainable packaging journey:
1. Eliminate problematic packaging: the baking industry has a great opportunity to move away from multimaterial and unrecyclable paper/plastic laminated products and move towards recyclable monomaterial solutions, incorporating recycled or bio-based content to accelerate progress toward a circular economy for plastic packaging. Multimaterial packaging products combining different types of plastic, paper, and/or other materials are almost impossible to separate and contaminate the recycling stream. They might not provide the barrier properties required for a longer shelf-life, creating more food waste. Review your packaging portfolio to determine if there are any problematic packaging structures and work towards replacing them with monomaterial solutions.
2. Educate consumers: in North America, most bread, buns, bagels and tortilla bags are made of polyethylene, the most common flexible packaging material in the market, which offers great sustainability attributes: it requires less energy and water to manufacture compared to paper, uses the least amount of material, and provides the best barrier to minimize moisture loss, extend product shelf-life, and minimize food waste. Polyethylene bags are recyclable through the Store Drop-off program, but more participation is needed to increase recycling rates. More communication on and off-package is needed to educate consumers on how to play a role at the end of the product’s life.
3. Downgauging: one of the ways for bakeries to decrease their plastic usage is by reducing the thickness of the packaging. Modern extrusion technology allows for the development of coextruded plastic films combining multiple resins in different layers to reduce thickness without compromising performance. St. Johns Packaging has a lot of experience in this area and can offer solutions for the most demanding applications.
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4. Incorporate recycled content: another way to improve the carbon footprint of packaging is by incorporating recycled content. This reduces reliance on fossil fuels and contributes to the circular economy. But not all recycled resins can be used in food-contact applications; it is critical to work with trustworthy suppliers offering high-quality recycled resins, either from mechanical or advanced recycling processes. St. Johns Packaging is a market leader in this area, having successfully introduced to the UK and US markets the first polyethylene bags made with 30% post-consumer recycled content. These products are food compliant, recyclable under the Store Drop-off or similar programs, and offer comparable properties to traditional bags, with the added benefit of using recycled materials, thereby improving the carbon footprint of the packaging product and helping incentivize the recycling industry.
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5. Incorporate bio-based content: The last area of focus can be incorporating bio-based or renewable materials in the packaging, working with raw materials produced from other industries’ byproducts not in competition with food sources. St. Johns Packaging is able to offer bags with up to 100% bio-based/renewable content, which besides the obvious elimination of fossil-based materials, also offer significant reductions in carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to the circular economy and the fight to slow down climate change.
These five ideas can certainly help companies advance in their sustainable packaging journey. But this should not be a lonely journey; it is important to work hand in hand with packaging suppliers, resin producers, and other parties in the supply chain to find the best solutions. St. Johns Packaging is proud to be a market leader in sustainable packaging solutions and looks forward to seeing more companies commit to bringing real change to the marketplace, where one day we can close the loop on plastic and all packaging can be part of the circular economy.
With a focus on the bakery market, St. Johns Packaging is truly committed to developing sustainable and economically viable packaging solutions for the baking industry, while at the same time reducing food and plastic waste. The elimination of problematic multimaterial packaging, consumer education, downgauging, and the incorporation of recycled and/or bio-based content are all critical in the journey towards Net Zero. By supporting the circular economy, the company hopes to contribute efforts to tackle the enormous challenge of improving recycling rates, reducing the environmental impact of plastic bags, and finding solutions to the plastic waste issue.
