Simon Says: Shoppers want more sustainable products, but brands are struggling to keep up

True to form, I’m back to talking about sustainable packaging trends. This week, the below article from Forbes talks about consumer brand sustainability commitments and how they match up with their actions. As I’ve said in the past, sustainability is a broad topic and open to a variety of interpretations; recycling, composting, emissions, bio-renewable, etc… Consumers are driving brands to produce and package their products more sustainably, and while companies are making commitments to increase recyclability of packaging, some of their actions - such as buying up small, ethical brands - are more for appearance vs. substance. Per the below article, many companies have not addressed the environmental impact of both their supply chains, which contribute the majority of the carbon emissions of the FMCG sector, and business models, which focus on ‘driving more consumption’.

This impacts the printing ink and OPV market as well. We see strong, consistent pressure up the value chain from brand owners to increase the bio-renewable content (BRC) of inks and coatings with the goal to reach ever-higher levels of renewably-source raw materials. The concept of biomass balance, which helps to offset fossil hydrocarbon used in production, has not caught fire in the NA printing industry who are focused more on the contents of each pound or kilo of printing ink or OPV coating. Even though not expressly stated, we assume that high bio-renewable content inks also need to support recyclability, as the paperboard and corrugated industry is already highly circular. We’re striving towards the goal of increased BRC in our products, but I couldn’t help but notice the parallels between the below article and current focus in the industry.

Have a great weekend,

-Simon

Shoppers Want More Sustainable Products, But Brands Are Struggling To Keep Up

• 90% of the sector’s carbon emissions lie in the value chain, leaving companies exposed to raw material risks and product consumption risks,
• Buying ethical brands is all very well, but it will not be sustainable if fundamental business models, based on driving more consumption, don’t also change.

Consumers are becoming far more environmentally aware, and some of the world’s biggest brands are struggling to keep up with the pace of this change in taste. ...