The evolution of packaging: What does the industry need now?

One of The Packer's first mentions of sustainability and packaging (apart from some back-and-forth banter about reusable plastic containers and corrugated cartons) appeared in coverage from the 2005 Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit event.

In a Nov. 14, 2005, article, Lance Jungmeyer, then-editor of The Packer and now president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, wrote:

 PMA president Bryan Silbermann, too, noted the degree of packaging innovation.
    'People are more focused on packaging as a marketing device, as opposed to just the film around the product,' he said.
    An X factor is how and whether high oil prices will continue to hike up packaging prices, he added.
    One possible solution to that problem — sustainable packaging — was another area of interest at the show.
    Of course, NatureWorks had just come out with the news that Walmart would shift more product to the packaging, which is corn-based and breaks down easily in the environment. Then, Del Monte pledged to put a sizable portion of its products in Natureworks packaging.
    A first-time exhibitor and attendee at PMA, Peggi Peacock, agrees there is a growth trend.
    Peacock, who is vice president of marketing for Earthcycle Packaging Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia, said her firm's compostable palm fiber packaging got great interest.
    She said she came to PMA with a list of 25 companies to target and came away with a list of 80 solid leads.
    'I've been working in trade shows in high-tech and automotive," she said. "To even get response from a list is good in those cases. But for us to triple that list, that's quite a response.'
    She's already booked a bigger booth for next year's show.
    'The stars are aligned for sustainable packaging,' she said.

If the stars were aligned for sustainable packaging then, how much more so are they aligned today?

In a recent post in the LinkedIn Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group, I asked the question, "If you could change one thing about produce packaging industrywide, what would it be?"

Here are some responses to that question:

• "Fully locked and loaded, cost-favorable 100% recyclable solutions up and down the supply chain;"
• "That companies who are able to use packaging leverage it and see it as an in-store and online mini billboard that needs optimized, consumer-centric messaging, branding and graphics to help drive sales;"
• "Retailer support and market access of grower’s packaging innovation investment;" and 
• "Recyclable — especially those waxed boxes."

Gettting buy-in from all parts of the supply chain to change packaging can be difficult, at the very least.

In a 1993 story about the push toward full use of a standard 48- by 40-inch reusable shipping pallet, The Packer's Tom Zind noted an earlier move to standardize shipping containers: 

The objections being raised to carton redesign are reminiscent of the problems encountered a decade ago in the industry's Metrification, Unitization and Modularization project. The so-called MUM project, spearheaded by the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, sought to standardize shipping containers, as well as pallets, so shipping could be more unitized. That project, which fell far short of its goals, is seen by some as a harbinger of things to come for the current pallet project.

Certainly, the evolution of packaging is increasingly aligned toward sustainability, but it is no straight path. The question remains, "If you could change one thing about produce packaging industrywide, what would it be?"