Packaging News You Can Use

The average consumer doesn’t have a clue what it takes to bring a product to market for them to use or consume. They just see packaging as a waste. So when it comes to buzz phrases like “carbon footprint they become wholeheartedly embraces without and understanding of what goes on behind the scenes.

This can encompass every thing from “locality” to understanding the true manufacturing costs such as “carbon footprint” or transportation miles. Many consumers are willing to make educated and informed decisions about what they purchase and from where. So let’s tell the true store about what it takes to live our current lifestyles and explain more thoroughly what these phrase mean.

Recent Examples

Tesco already displays “carbon reduction” labels as part of their packaging on certain products. New “green” food labels will show how much carbon was produced in the manufacture and transportation of food.

Another concept is a wrapper somewhat similar to a barcode that gives you the actual statistics and a printed receipt that spells mileage out exactly. These numbers can be somewhat scary but in a global economy not all that uncommon. If fact many economy’s are built around alternative shipping seasons such as Chilean produce shipped to the US during our winter. (It’s their summer)

This is a conceptual idea only not in actual use.

Far Foods (way too far according to this)

Use the fact that your products are grown locally as a marketing and branding tool like theses examples that cover a broad range of locally grown products identified by a specific geographic area.

When buying close to home counts in the consumers eyes.

Of course if you have plenty of money to spend you can launch a branding campaign like FritoLay supporting its potato chips as a “locally” grown brand. You scan a special code on the packaging and find out where your potatoes were actually grown. Check out how it works with their chip tracker tool @ http://www.fritolay.com/lays/chip-tracker.html

Grown locally, transportation miles, carbon footprint and food miles will continue to be a hot issue as people become more aware of using resources more effectively. Make sure they understand the correct and true role of product packaging in bringing products to the consumer not juts clever buzz phrases and media hype.

Packaging Phrases And News To Watch For in 2010:

• Transportation Miles
• Carbon Footprint
• Carbon Reduction Labels
• Locality
• Locavore
• Food Miles
• Ethical Consumption
• Cradle-To-Cradle
• Environmental Footprint
• Sustainable Consumption

Tags: carbon footprint, Carbon Reduction Labels, Cradle-To-Cradle, Environmental Footprint, Ethical Consumption, food miles, Locality, Locavore, Sustainable Consumption, Transportation Miles

Whatever holiday you celebrate in the coming weeks with eating drinking and gift giving the Packaging Makes It Possible.

Most people take that for granted as they are too busy complaining about holiday overpackaging, wrap rage or how they were injured and had to go to the hospital. They forget that even the simplest thing they can do like getting up and brushing their teeth all comes about because of packaging.

Toothpaste from a tube being applied to a toothbrush

We never think about what it takes to be able to live our lives with modern conveniences. We are the most advanced society when it comes to having products readily available for our consumption. What goes on behind the scenes to make it happen never gets considered. Mainstays of our every day lives are accessible because of packaging. Its our third largest industry too, employing millions of people!

What about these products use any of them lately?

Recently people are starting to factor (in a negative way) all the variables that it takes to provide products for contemporary life styles. Terms like carbon footprint and food miles are being bandied about without a true understanding of the big picture. Yes, its important to understand how all this plays into the entirety of what we consume. There are many ways to reduce the amount of packaging we use but its not as simple as saying less packaging. We need rethink the entire packaging paradigm about how we package things.

Rethinking how it protects, conveys or transports the product so that it arrives undamaged or unbroken. How it educates or tells us what is inside and what to do with it and sells or persuades us to buy what’s inside. It makes it easy for us to buy, use or consume it.

But the simple fact is that from the time you get up to the time you end your day packaging is integral to your life. Every product you use or consume was brought to you by packaging. So this holiday think more the package with every product you enjoy and remember this message from your Secret Santa… Packaging Makes The World Go Round.

Happy Holidays From The Packaging Diva

Tags: carbon footprint, food miles, holidays, over packaging, packaging, Secret Santa, WrapRage

Just this week I read about a rooftop garden project called Sky Vegetables. The premise is simple growing food on the rooftops of buildings (mostly unused space) to provide locally grown produce.

Therefore saving on transportation miles to deliver fresh produce locally and cost effectively.

It got me to thinking about how local produce can be marketed through packaging. As consumers evaluate their purchasing decisions in terms of what’s most environmentally friendly, the producers are struggling how to convey that information on the packaging.

It’s important to provide the correct information for the consumer to make an informed purchasing decision yet at the same time protecting the product and keeping it fresh and sanitary.

One of the best ideas is to have a color coding system that shows have far each product was shipped or traveled to the point of sale. Consumers could look at each item and make their purchasing decision (if they care to) on how far a product has traveled.

This could be a simple as a color sticker applied on the existing packaging. Like this system used in Canada by Byward Market Standholders Association that uses four color-coded, circular stickers:

• Red means Canadian.
• Blue means imported.
• Green means from within 100 kilometres of Ottawa.
• Yellow means organic produce from anywhere.

Another concept would be to have a wrapper somewhat similar to a barcode that gives you the actual statistics and a printed receipt that spells mileage out exactly. These numbers can be somewhat scary but in a global economy not all that uncommon. If fact many economy’s are built around alternative shipping seasons such as Chilean produce shipped to the US during our winter. (It’s their summer)

This is a conceptual idea only not in actual use.

Far Foods (way too far according to this)

You can also use the fact that your products are grown locally as a marketing and branding tool like theses examples that cover a broad range of locally grown products identified by a specific geographic area.

When buying close to home counts.

Of course if you have plenty of money to spend you can launch a branding campaign like FritoLay supporting its potato chips as a locally grown brand. You scan a special code on the packaging and find out where your potatoes were actually grown. Check out how it works with their chip tracker tool @ http://www.fritolay.com/lays/chip-tracker.html

Lastly another consideration is utilizing local suppliers, how far is your packaging being shipped to you. Can you source closer to home? Then you can use the locally grown and sourced statement on your product packaging too.

Grown locally and food miles will continue to be a hot issue as people become more aware of using resources more effectively. In fact there is evan a term called “locavore.” “Packaging going local” is a great marketing and sell tool if you use it properly so ask yourself how can you capitalize on this trend to build your brand.

Tags: branding, buy locally, eco friendly, food miles, fresh produce, marketing, packaging