Defining The Undefinable.

How do you define something that is highly subjective, such as “sustainable” packaging? There are so many differing perspectives about what is sustainable versus what is not.

• Some people love glass, some people say it's too heavy to ship around.
• Some people love recyclable plastic, some people say it’s toxic.
• Some people love compostable packaging, some people say it emits greenhouse gas.

I don’t think we will ever completely agree on what is sustainable versus not. What I do think is possible though is that we grow our collective knowledge and with time can make better decisions on behalf of our planet.

Over the last 5 years, I have done a deep dive into the world of sustainable packaging. My family business is in the packaging industry and I have known for a while that sustainable packaging was where I wanted to spend my time.

As I try to develop the best sustainable packaging possible, I’ve often found myself asking:

“Who is to say what is sustainable versus what is not?”

Furthermore, I found that each of the products we were developing were strong in certain areas
and weak in others. There is no perfect sustainable packaging. There is subjectivity.

With the launch of Packaged Sustainably™, such thinking gets amplified.

• How do we determine what products get to go on Packaged Sustainably™ versus who does not?
• Do we allow everyone on or should we be very strict?
• Where should we draw the line between “greenwashing” and a difference of opinion regarding what is the most sustainable option?

These are all questions I want to try to answer clearly in this first blog post.

To understand our thought process, it’s important to understand why we created Packaged Sustainably™ in the first place.

To do so, I’d like to introduce you to a business owner named Frank.

Frank’s Problem and The Mission of Packaged Sustainably™

Frank has wanted sustainable packaging for his products for years. He didn’t really know what sustainable meant but he finally found a great packaging company to work with and now has an extremely sustainable packaging option. Home compostable packaging. Wow!

He puts on the back of the box “This packaging is home compostable” but to his surprise, no one seems to notice. He felt he was doing “the right thing for future generations” but started to second guess whether he made the right choice to ditch his virgin plastic packaging.

As the old saying goes: If a tree falls and no one hears it, did it make a sound?

‍Frank is paying 30% more for his home compostable packaging, so it better make a sound! The sound needs to be more income and cash in his bank account.

Frank has a small team of 30 and a limited marketing budget. With everything on his plate, how is he going to successfully market the fact that he has moved into sustainable packaging?

Packaged Sustainably™ is all about helping Frank easily tell the story behind his sustainable packaging, so consumers notice and appreciate what he has done.

With Packaged Sustainably™, Frank can quickly and easily tell his story and put a QR code on his packaging that links to his page. Frank can also get found by consumers who are looking for sustainable brands.

By supporting the Frank’s of the world and helping to make sustainable packaging ROI positive for them, more brands will choose sustainable packaging and sustainable packaging will become the norm.

That is and always has been the goal!

Coming Full Circle: What is sustainable?

Given that our goal is to support and help brands who want to go sustainable and need a storytelling vehicle to tell their story and reap the benefits, we want to allow all brands to tell their story.

So long as it’s not blatant “greenwashing”, which we define as misleading the consumer into thinking your product is environmentally friendly when really, it is not.

But as we discussed earlier, since there are many paths to sustainability, where do we draw the line between “greenwashing” and “difference of opinion” regarding what is sustainable?

An Example To Illustrate

Suzy sells her product in ocean bound plastic. This is plastic that is reclaimed within 50 km of the shore line, with an extremely high probability of entering the ocean. Suzy is collecting litter from the beach or areas nearby the ocean and turning it into a new and useful product, which doesn’t require any new fossil fuels to produce. Sounds pretty great, right?

Joey comes along and says “That is greenwashing!” We put all our products in an industrial compostable pouch, which is made from plants. Ocean bound plastic is still plastic. Suzy is bad!

Suzy, now upset with Joey’s accusation, comes back and says “Joey is the one greenwashing, not me! Most people do not have access to industrial composting. At least my ocean bound plastics can be recycled. Yours are most definitely heading to the landfill in the majority of cases. That is not sustainable!”

Both sides have valid points, but the conversation slowly spirals out of control. No one is winning. Two people, who are actually on the same team, are fighting.

What a shame.

There is no perfection in sustainable packaging.

Whenever humans are involved, you can expect imperfection.

Sustainable packaging is no different.

Yet we are so eager to hold each other to unreasonable standards.

• Why do we like to poke holes in other people’s sustainable packaging who are making
  progress, just because they are not perfect?
• Do you really care that much about the planet or are you more trying to take down your competitor in your market?
• What is your real motive?

Be honest. I am all for setting a high bar and I am against anything misleading. But we know technology will improve and come down in cost with time. Why such hostility?

The Verdict: What Is “Sustainable” … according to us?

At Packaged Sustainably™, in our personal and admittedly imperfect analysis, we certainly do not demand perfection.

That would be foolish and after all, who is able to define perfection? My perfectly sustainable packaging may not be perfect to you.

To launch, we want to keep the site fairly open.

With this being said, there are certain options that we will not accept, as they are generally accepted as not sustainable. These include options that:

1. use styrofoam
2. are grossly “over packaged” (packaging much bigger than the product, resulting in a blatant waste of material): or
3. products who have made no noticeable effort to improve the status quo on their packaging to make it more “sustainable” (ie. a “recyclable” water bottle made from plastic is not allowed on the site, though a recyclable tube of toothpaste may be,
   because toothpaste tubes were recently modified to be recyclable

You will likely come across products on Packaged Sustainably™ that you believe are “greenwashed” and we ask that you:

• Recognize greenwashing is largely subjective
• Recognize you may not have all the facts necessary to accurately assesses whether or not something is good (be careful what you read and watch online, it’s not all accurate)
• Contact hello@packagedsustainably.com if you feel we missed something in our evaluation. This will happen and we will learn as we go along.

The goal is to create a great platform that allows all brands worldwide to justify the additional spend in moving to “sustainable” packaging. And I like that there is going to be variety in what sustainable packaging is presented. Let’s see which gets the best reaction. Let’s see which gets shared. Let’s see which results in increased sales.

I don’t know exactly what to expect of this whole thing, but I feel there is a lot of potential and I’m excited to find out how Packaged Sustainably™ can do as much good as possible in the pursuit of making sustainable packaging the norm.