In this essay I will be looking at packaging design in terms of its effect on the environment, the laws associated with the enforcement of environmentally conscious design and social trends along these lines. I will also be looking at how this effects the product and how it affects the companies who make the product.
There are many elements in packaging design that have to be considered, not just the graphics. There are certain laws associated with packaging design that companies must conform to when setting the brief for a packaging design. In recent years the trend in design and in law is to minimize packaging [1] so that there is minimal waste, and for packaging to be made as environmentally friendly as possible [2]. Not only can this have a positive effect on costs, but also consumer perception of the product.
Different types of products require different types of packaging and for different reasons. An example of how packaging can be minimized can be seen by looking at peanuts. A foil bag for bread in a super market generally fits the size of the bag, but the properties of the materials used make it means that it isn't solid and allows the soft bread to not be damaged by its packaging. However, roasted peanuts generally come in hard foil bags and sit at the bottom with the same amount of space above the contents with nothing in it. Companies claim that the extra room in the packaging is to seal in air/gases which keep the product fresh [3], but not all of this extra room is essential and so has potential to be minimized by cutting down the amount of room designated for gases in the bag, unlike the bread where the packaging roughly fits the product.
Legally there has been a drive for minimization of packaging within Europe and the UK. One such step comes from the Central European Norm (CEN) who in 2006 wrote guidelines that companies must follow for the minimization of packaging.
"The "Essential Requirements" of Directive 94/62/EC are a set of minimum mandatory legal requirements designed to reduce the environmental impact of packaging and avoid 'over-packaging'." [4]
There are also advantages for the company reducing the size of packaging by maximizing the products use of the packaging, because by producing less packaging you need less materials, less labour (or packaging production), slightly reduced weight (dependant on the type of packaging) and you can ship more internationally and internally because you can fit more on a palette.
"Companies like Tesco, Wal-Mart and IKEA can make savings of millions of pounds on fast moving consumer goods by maximising the number of products they can ship per palette and thus saving greenhouse emissions too. So, in the modern day we need packaging to drive top line sales and drive down waste and bottom line cost." [5]
It is now very popular in society to be environmentally conscious and people expect more from their packaging but may not always do what they say but waste not recycled has decreased in recent years [6]. Some people will recycle packaging when possible, and certain people may not choose products if they are not able to recycle them. This is of course dependant on the target audience for the product, as people who do not have a lot of money will not have the luxury of choice and may have to resort to the cheapest option (sometimes store brand e.g. Tesco’s cereal or washing powder) and so the main selling points for that type of product are in fact lowest cost and reasonable quality. It is more of a middle class luxury to have the choice and to be able to say you want environmentally friendly products.
This is just a marketing perspective, but as already discussed there are mandatory laws for making packaging more environmentally friendly anyway, so even then the products that don’t aim to be environmentally friendly see the benefits and restrictions but only to the standards they must meet. All of this shows a shared awareness of the environment, and how things we take for granted impact upon that. This brings up packaging in to a contemporary debate where as things change packaging design has had to change.
Sources:
[1] "The Essential Requirements are a legal framework to drive minimisation."
http://www.wrap.org.uk/retail/the_guide_to_evolving_packaging_design/the_law/index.html
[2] "More recently there has been a marked shift in focus towards environmental issues and the role of packaging."
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/Design-Disciplines/Packaging-design/
[3] "The method utilizes the CO2 adsorption properties of these commodities and involves placing them in plastic pouches impervious to air and CO2, flushing them with CO2 and then heat-sealing the pouches"
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119600249/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
[4] http://www.europen.be//index.php?action=onderdeel&onderdeel=3&titel=Key+Topics&categorie=1&item=14
[5] http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/Design-Disciplines/Packaging-design/
[6] 2005/2006 – Not Recycled: 376, Recycled: 135, Total: 511
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/waste/kf/wrkf04.htm
