Nowadays, we cannot deny the importance of the recycling and sustainability in a society that is raising awareness about the ecological movement. The world of packaging has to bear in mind this fact more than ever because packages are bought every day around the world. Currently, packages try to respect at least one of the 3R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle) to comply a compromise with the environment. Most of the times this is related with an innovation in the designing as an answer of a creative willing already explained in other posts. Thinking about sustainability is a positive addendum in the search for design optimization that boost even more the creative tendences that are being exploited these days in the packaging area.
To start talking generally about ecological packaging, according to one post from É Packaging there are five basic considerations for this kind of packaging (usually called eco-friendly): it must not damage the environment in any way, it must be recyclable or reusable, it must preserve the quality of the product from beginning to end and has to be economical and respect international rules. In the recycling applied to packaging there are two important parts to consider. On the one hand, it can be used a package that is already made of recycled materials and that obviously can be recycled too, or it can be used one simply recyclable because any of its characteristics. About the consideration that the packaging must be recyclable or reusable, it is important to insist in one thought: it is really good to reuse the packaging in any sense, but it will always be thrown away ultimately.
It is true that extending the life of multiple products is a contribution for not generate residues in a long time, but it will be much more educated with the environment if at the end of its life this package can also be recycled. That way, the three R’s are being achieved, because the reuse of the product will propitiate a reduction of other products. Even though this will be the ideal ecological packaging, if it is only possible to cope with one of the R’s for some reason it is gained ground nowadays, but the more sustainable is the packaging the more attraction will generate in the costumers. Following with the É Packaging post, this recommends a group of materials that are easy to recycle. It remarks the rise of the paper and the cardboard because its recycling makes a great contribution for the environment. A ton of used cardboard that is being processed saves 50.000 litres of water and 140 litres of oil and preserves 15 trees. Finally, it talks about plastic, which can be recycled, reused or transformed in a great source of energy. Above all, the PET packaging has gained a lot of importance in Europe these last years. It is clear with all of this explanation that ecological package increasingly participates in our day-to-day.
