Michigan State University's School of Packaging held its 2nd Packaging Executive Forum this week.  The forum discussion focused on plans for the school, general trends in packaging engineering, and, more deeply, the subject of sustainability.  

While the term, "Sustainable Packaging" can border on cliche, the speakers and panels at the forum probed the subjet from new angles.  Here is a quick summary of the points that caught my attention:

1.  Sustainability of a packaging concept has many dimensions including: Carbon footprint, Recyclability/reusability profile, Pollution (particulate and VOC) created in the manufacturing of packaging, Protection of public health, Performance of the package (e.g. does it protect the product as it should).

2.  The performance of a package is as important - if not more so - than the environmental footprint of the package alone.  For most packaged goods, the energy consumed to grow, process, and transport the product before it is packaged is, in fact, larger than the energy needed to manufacture the package.  If the product cannot be consumed or used as intended, due to package failure, than it does not matter how environmentally friendly the packaging is.

3.  Plastic vs. paper vs. carton vs. metal vs. glass | flexible vs. rigid.  There are pros and cons of each package concept and a time and place for each.  Format selection decisions need to consider package performance and consumer use in addition to how sustainable the manufacture of the packaging is.

4.  Adoption of new technologies need cooperation from the entire value chain: brand owners, material suppliers, converters, fillers, equipment suppliers, and researchers.

Not surprisingly, we see many opportunities for electron beams to help make packaging and packaged products more sustainable in every dimension.