Sustainability 101: What is packaging sustainability?

Sustainability 101 is a weblog sequence that you could flip to for details about completely different environmental phrases that will come up at work, throughout discussions with buddies, and even at your loved ones gatherings.

Whether or not we’re buying grocery gadgets wrapped in plastic or receiving a house cargo packed in polystyrene peanuts, packaging is a part of our on a regular basis lives. Nonetheless, a lot of it turns into waste after one use.

In keeping with the Organisation for Financial Co-operation and Growth (OECD), 31% of plastics produced are for packaging – typically single-use and with a mean six-month lifespan. Plastic is broadly used as an efficient packaging materials, however as waste within the surroundings, it could actually have a damaging influence.

Analysis revealed within the November 16, 2024, Journal of Hazardous Supplies Advances reveals that that in landfills, plastic can emit toxins and turn out to be a supply of greenhouse gases (GHGs), and in oceans, it could actually break down into microparticles that might disrupt meals chains and contribute to quite a lot of well being problems.

Another non-recyclable or non-compostable packaging gadgets embody foam, aluminum foil with meals residue, and fused parts resembling cardboard connected to foam that can’t be simply separated for recycling.

How does this affect shoppers’ selections? A 2025 McKinsey & Firm survey experiences that 77 % of respondents take into account recyclable packaging “extraordinarily essential” or “crucial,” whereas 62 % responded the identical about packaging comprised of recycled supplies.

Packaging sustainability: Supplies matter

In a round economic system, industries alter their processes to allow the reuse and regeneration of supplies. The aim is to make merchandise with the smallest environmental influence utilizing the fewest sources attainable.

By specializing in supplies, firms could make their product containers and parts extra sustainable, resembling berry growers utilizing compostable trays or cosmetics producers utilizing refillable containers for post-purchase reuse.

Another methods embody:

Lowering or eliminating pointless parts
Utilizing QR codes to digitize data vs. printed supplies
Incentivizing shopper recycling with rewards or by offering clear directions on learn how to recycle

Utilizing these options will help cut back packaging waste whereas aligning with buyer values. It additionally will help cut back packaging prices, optimize house effectivity, and construct in regulatory compliance.

How Cisco’s technique has advanced to assume “contained in the field”

For Cisco, packaging sustainability is the apply of minimizing waste by decreasing or eradicating sure supplies — resembling single-use plastic baggage and foam — and changing them with different supplies which can be renewable, recyclable, or each.

In 2019, Cisco developed a set of Round Design Rules for its merchandise throughout 5 classes — one among which is packaging and equipment. Product groups and packaging engineers in our Provide Chain Operation workforce collaborate on the outset of the design section to craft a bundle that gives the optimum stability of product safety and circularity. Lots of our merchandise now incorporate recyclable fiber-based cushions like FiberFlute®, paper tube cushions, and molded pulp to switch foam. By means of Cisco’s No Paper Initiative, QR codes for digital product data keep away from materials use altogether.

A very good instance is the Cisco Ceiling Microphone Professional bundle, which is absolutely fiber based mostly. As an alternative of plastic trays, we opted for unbleached molded pulp-fiber trays which can be sturdy sufficient to cushion the delicate unit, but mild sufficient for cost-effective transport. We additionally swapped out the standard single-use plastic bag with a custom-fit paper sleeve that absolutely encases the unit and shields it from mud and abrasion.

Packaging from legacy merchandise could be modified for circularity as nicely, and Cisco’s Catalyst 9300 Enterprise Swap is a chief instance.

To exchange foam, we used recycled thermoforms to cushion the chassis — eliminating about 250 metric tonnes of froth yearly — and recycled and recyclable fiber-based retention packs for the ability provide items — avoiding roughly 70 extra metric tonnes per 12 months. To eradicate plastic baggage, we opted for paper flag labels on energy cords, consolidated small components throughout a number of baggage, and swapped out plastic for paper-based envelopes. In fiscal 2025, Cisco utilized these packaging modifications to the brand new era Cisco C9350 sensible switches.

Packaging sustainability: A Round Design Precept

Round Design Rules have remodeled the product and packing design course of at Cisco. Different examples of how we incorporate circularity into our packaging embody:

Lowering supplies utilization with a heightened deal with plastics discount
Designing containers and packing supplies to be separable and simply recycled at finish of use
Utilizing post-consumer waste in new packaging components
Eliminating paper documentation in new product shipments
Lowering the cargo of unused equipment by providing our clients an opt-out choice through the ordering expertise
Utilizing multipack options to scale back materials utilization and bundling containers for giant shipments to scale back the variety of containers wanted

Through the use of extra environment friendly, renewable, and recyclable supplies, Cisco not solely helps maintain waste out of landfills however reduces prices and saves sources.

Study extra about these initiatives and Cisco’s packaging sustainability targets within the Cisco Goal Reporting Hub.

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