Our first two recommendations fall into the "obvious but often overlooked" category.

To be successful at reducing the impacts of your packaging through the application of circular principles you need to start with a solid foundation for action.

Sure, you may be able to score some one-offs wins without these.

But you'll end up fighting the sam fights over and over again if you skip these steps.

1. Clearly define packaging sustainability

You should define and clearly articulate what you consider to be “sustainable” when it comes to your product packaging.

It means different things to different brands and across different industries.

Your definition should be specific to the context of your products and address all material sustainability issues.

Material toxicity an safety is important for some products (e.g. beauty, food & beverage) but not for others.

Is sustainable just about end-of-life considerations (i.e. curbside recyclable) - or more than that (I hope!)? Packaging sustainability is often more than just materials selection and end-of-life optimization.

An increasingly common definition we see is something like: safe, reusable, refillable, compostable, recycled, recyclable in practice.  

2. Set an ambitious goal

Now that you’ve defined, internally and externally, what packaging sustainability means for your brand in a credible and non-greenwashy way it’s time to align your teams on a goal.

In all honesty, the process of setting the goal may be challenging for a number of reasons.

But it’s worth the time and effort because it will help drive change.

We find that having a packaging sustainability goal (for product categories where packaging impacts are material) really helps keep it a priority over time.

Without a goal, it can quickly get pushed into the no time/too expensive pile of deprioritized sustainability efforts.

We see more brands setting goals like: All our primary and secondary packaging will meet our definition of sustainable by 2030.

Okay. You've built a foundation for action on packaging sustainability.

Now what?

3. Leverage your internal design process

Design is a key factor for the North Star of consumer goods sustainability–circularity.

This EEA report explores the transformation required in our production and consumption systems and highlights the pivotal role of product and packaging design in fostering environmental and economic sustainability.

In our experience new custom packaging can make it easier to address circularity in the design process but it’s also much more expensive with longer lead times.

There’s also more to unpack here for repack projects and off the shelf solutions.

In short, we think it’s helpful to calendar out repacks for legacy products so that you can effectively manage the transition (timing & costs) in a way that aligns with your goal.

WATCH OUT

Be cautious around materials selection, particularly when it comes to bio-polymers with questionable lifecycle emissions benefits and “regenerative” materials with unsubstantiated or verified claims.

4. Use lifecycle assessment to inform decisions

There are so many trade-offs when making sustainability decisions, your choices should consider the unique elements of your business model, offerings, and supply chain.

For example, glass and aluminum are typically more carbon-intensive to produce and ship than alternatives like recycled plastic.

But the only way you will know that and have the data to inform your decision-making when it comes to packaging will be if you do a lifecycle assessment.

There are a number of tools and platforms out there that can help with packaging lifecycle assessment.

You will also want to consider consumer habits– in this case, they might be more likely to recycle their glass and aluminum in residential curbside programs.

5. Source responsibly

Paper based packaging can offer some strong benefits from a sustainability perspective when compared to other materials.

But it can come with some trade-offs that are not readily captured through a lifecycle assessment.

That’s where a responsible sourcing process comes into play.

Forest ecosystems provide incredible valuable services to people and animals including wood fiber for packaging systems.

But many forests around the world face major threats from climate change, land conversion and illegal harvesting.

As such, brands should source their paper-based packaging from suppliers that have applied best practices to verifying that the fiber used in their packaging comes from responsibly managed sources.

This rationale can be applied to any raw materials you use in your packaging.

Where does it come from? Who makes it? What are the impacts? How can I best address them?

A common refrain from packaging pessimists and do-nothings: "We can't fix it alone. The system is broken."

It’s no secret that the materials management and recovery systems in our country are way behind where they should be.

Recycling rates for most plastics is miserably low (<10%).

Packaging that is made from materials that are curbside recyclable in theory are often landfilled in practice.

The business demand for post-consumer content is relatively low.

The externalities associated with packaging waste are not effectively captured by market prices.

Our recycling technology is rudimentary.

On and on.

Which is why your brand needs to do the following:

6. Advocate for transformation

We need to better align the marketplace for more sustainable materials management, invest in more and better recovery systems, and educate businesses and consumers - in short we need to transform the system and we need to do it fast.

Smart public policy at the local, state, national and international levels is needed.

One kind of policy that seems to show real promise related to our packaging problems is called “extended producer responsibility” (EPR).

No single company can address these issues on their own which is why we need collective action and advocacy.

This recommendation may sound like a platitude but here me out - there are almost always trade-offs when it comes to packaging impacts.

Sometimes the best option from an environmental or sales standpoint isn’t the most popular one.

7. Pick your battles

Are you optimizing for emissions reduction, end-of-life impacts, safety, marketing?

You probably aren’t going to get them all.

So decide what your priority is and acknowledge the trade-offs - then move on.  

8. Be authentic

Finally, please be authentic when making claims about your packaging sustainability.

Not only can this help de-risk your brand from a legal perspective, it’s also important not to blanket statement sustainability efforts.

Some pointers for credible claims:

• Be specific

• Link to relavent supporting information

• Clearly articulate any qualifications

• Provide verification from an independent organization when possible

Consumers are getting more sophisticated and want to hear you authentically talk about your efforts (and struggles) so acknowledge limitations and trade-offs when relevant.

It also helps weed out the greenwashers. More brands should consider adding How2Recycle labels to their products.