COVID-19 effect considered on sustainable packaging in PMA Town Hall
The COVID-19 crisis may have quieted the conversations on sustainable packaging, but the future of the sector is as strong as ever, according to panelists at a Produce Marketing Association’s Virtual Town Hall.
“Before the pandemic, the packaging conversation was primarily focused on trying to find more sustainable packaging alternatives, which included trying to find the right balance between food safety, quality and sustainability,” moderator Ed Treacy, vice president of supply chain and sustainability for PMA said during the June 24 online event. “Since March of this year, we’ve all read about the shift in consumer preference at retail toward packaged produce.”
Treacy asked panelists if that was their experience.
Demand for retail packaging increased with restaurants closed and more people eating at home, said Mishalin Modena, senior business development manager for Destiny Packaging, Monterey, Calif.,
“We saw a huge surge (in packaging demand) for commodities like the lettuces, the romaine, the leafy greens, and the baby carrots,” Modena said.
Tatiana Perez, vice president of sales and marketing for PPC Flexible Packaging, Buffalo Grove, Ill., said the company saw customers asking for more convenient packaging to make it easier for shoppers.
“So if we could add any kind of handle or anything of that sort, we definitely saw an increase in that kind of packaging,” Perez said.
By June, Perez said packaging demand had begun to stabilize for both foodservice and retail compared with March.
Europe-based panelist Pieter Sliuter, chief operating officer for floral packaging company KOEN Pack, said he has not seen any “noticeable shifts” in customer demands for sustainable packaging.
“We believe primarily this is attributed to the fact that focus on sustainable living is part of corporate visions and beliefs, and we believe that our clients and the industry is not deviating from that despite the ongoing pandemic,” Sliuter said.
Sliuter said single-use plastics are banned in most European Union countries, and in addition to that, there’s a heavy focus on recycling.
“The facilities to recycle are there, and it is really in the customers’ minds,” he said. “Recycling and paying attention to the different materials is in the customers minds more so (in Europe) than it is in the U.S. market.”
Wrinkled paper, for example is widely accepted by the European consumers as a more environmentally-friendly option to plastic in floral packaging. Looking to the future
Treacy asked panelist Jeff Brandenburg, president and primary consultant for JSB Group LLC, about what factors shippers are looking at when they see that single-use plastics are falling out of favor with consumers, government and buyers.
Brandenburg said produce suppliers are definitely considering the issue.
“They have this feeling that ‘I need to move towards sustainability,’ but very often they don’t even understand in their own mind what that means,” he said. “So we engage him in a conversation about the differences between recyclability. compostability, industrial compostability and what are they willing to compromise on.”
“For every single application, there is always some amount of compromise, so it’s really getting into that detail and understanding what it is they need, what functionality do they want, what price points do they want?” Brandenburg said. “And what aspect of sustainability will work best in their application and in their location?”
Modena said the quest for sustainable packaging has never really stopped, despite COVID-19.
“There are still trials we are running weekly,” she said. “Even through all of this because our customers are still looking for those options.”
Options like compostable packaging, bio-based packaging, paperboard and fiber trays are being closely considered.
“We’re seeing a surge, definitely in a lot of the hothouse or greenhouse items, with compostable films on top or fiber trays in the berry industry,” she said. “They are looking for alternatives to get away from single-use plastics in moving into the paper board,” she said.
The biggest trend now toward sustainable/compostable packaging is for berries and greenhouse vegetables, Modena said.
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