Do you have a sustainable packaging strategy?
From a purely technical point of view, there is no difference between packaging used for pet food and for human food. The big difference is that packaging for human food communicates its sustainability to the consumer. This rarely happens on pet food packaging. Yet there are definitely sustainable solutions.
What is sustainable packaging?
Against the backdrop of the global consensus to strengthen the circular economy, there is a clear waste hierarchy that applies to packaging: refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle. In order to ensure good mechanical recycling, it is important to design in the ability to recycle packaging from the start. This means, for example, using plastics that are as transparent as possible. So, no composites, but mono-materials or easily separable labels.
Beware of fuzzy claims
Packaging sustainability claims are often printed on the pack using slogans such as ‘100% recyclable’, ‘Now even more sustainable’ or even: ‘Sustainable packaging: disposal fee paid by us’ – which is a legal obligation in Germany.
And this is where the possibility of consumer deception and misleading advertising often creeps in.
In the case of the ‘100% statements’, the consumer should expect exactly that: 100% – that is, the entire packaging. Unless this figure is specified by asterisks elsewhere on the packaging and provides the explanation that ‘100% from recycled material’ refers only to the tray and not to the lid and label.
The perspective of the average consumer
Normally, the yardstick for determining whether a misleading statement is present is the perspective of the average consumer who is reasonably well-informed and reasonably observant and circumspect, and not that of professionals who usually have more knowledge and information. Even more vague, general statements on sustainability, which cannot be supported by facts, are regularly the subject of warnings and even legally binding judgements.
An opportunity
All of this suggests an opportunity being missed in pet food packaging. Why not use the opportunity to communicate to customers also on the pet food packaging and show that you are doing something in terms of sustainability?
For example, if the packaging is made of ‘85% renewable raw materials’ or has ‘57% recycled content’, then say it. But, of course, only if these statements are really true.
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