Thinner is more Sustainable – Foodstuff Packaging gets Lighter and Lighter

Packaging performs an essential service where foodstuffs are concerned. Over the years, technical advances have substantially reduced the amount of material required.

Foodstuffs would not survive without packaging. Packaging protects the contents against harmful influences and ensures a longer shelf life, in addition to food safety. Thanks to the latest packaging materials, these requirements can now be fulfilled with much less material than a few years or decades ago. Packaging designers have succeeded in developing packaging from thinner and thinner material, while improving its protective function. According to the Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung (Society for Packaging Market Research, gvm), plastic packaging consumption has decreased by 35 percent compared to the state of the art in 1991. And in that same period, according to IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen (the Plastic Packaging Industry Association), packaging has become 25 percent lighter. Increases in material efficiency in plastic packaging since 1991 resulted in a saving of around 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 in 2013, gvm reports.

This was made possible by reducing wall and film thicknesses, improved material properties, and optimised shaping and processing techniques. Despite increased demands on packaging such as re-sealing and divisibility into smaller units, it was still possible to save materials. The same applies to drink cans made of tinplate, for example, which are now 60 percent thinner than in 1974.