Clean sweep

Sustainability is one of the major trends driving growth in the household packaging sector, alongside convenience and effectiveness.

In today's homes, household packaging - which includes laundry, polishes, bleaches and general paper products - has seen a recent renaissance, becoming time-saving, ethical, effective cleaning items that do not take up much-needed space.

With the ever-increasing costs of purchasing homes in major cities worldwide, it is becoming more and more important to maintain and improve wherever we choose to call home, and companies are seeking to ensure we have the best possible tools for the job.

According to Canadean, the household packaging market currently stands at around 350,900 million units a year, and is dominated by flexible packaging, which accounts for 78% of the packaging material. That percentage is set to hold through to 2018, while the overall market is expected to grow to 388,548 million units.

Driving this growth are a few continuing trends: sustainability, convenience and effectiveness, and cost. Essentially, people want to use less product to get a better clean with less impact on the environment, and not have to pay for it. The shift to sustainability among laundry companies has seen a move towards the use of concentrated refills, which means consumers can refill their detergents or bleaches without having to carry around a two-litre or bulky container. The smaller refills require fewer materials and are easier to transport, providing logistics and energy savings as well.

One company that has been very determined to reduce waste and improve sustainability is SC Johnson. As its CEO Fisk Johnson mentioned in an interview for the Harvard Business Review a few months ago, it sees its responsibility as doing the right thing for the consumer, even if it impacts the bottom line. This is the basis behind the firm's 'Greenlist' strategy, which rates the environmental impact of ingredients and development and prevents any harmful or toxic products being produced. In turn, consumers are assured that the product is not only efficient and safe, but has been made to make the smallest impact possible.

Since 2011 there has been a continued push to reduce the amount of packaging across the product portfolio, with compostable bags, refills, flexible pouches and other tools used to reduce the volume being created, as well as ensure that there is minimal waste once consumers have finished with the products.

Kelly Semrau, head of sustainability at SC Johnson, adds: "The Smart Twist cleaning system, launched in 2013, brought added convenience by automatically adding the right amount of water and keeping three cleaners in one sprayer. The system is refillable and its cartridges were made of the same recyclable plastic as a milk jug. Combined with this product was the move to concentrated refills for major brands in trigger bottles - Windex, Pledge, Shout etc. The bottles are already produced with 50% post-consumer recycled (PCR) content, and using the refills provides a number of benefits to sustainability.

"For example, there is 79% less plastic then standard bottles and there is a reduction of between 19-23fl.oz. of water per bottle. The bottle can be recycled in most recycling programmes and systems."

Semrau concludes: "But that's just the beginning. If just 20% of the 320 million cleaning products sold in trigger bottles were refilled each year, it could save more than seven million pounds of plastic ... and avoid transporting nearly 11.5 million gallons of water."

Len Sauers, VP sustainability for Procter and Gamble, describes how his company looks at waste reduction: "First, we start at our own facilities - how can we ensure that we are maximising our production processes so that we minimise waste? One of our long-term environmental goals is to have zero manufacturing waste going to landfill. To date, 40% of our manufacturing sites are 'zero-landfill' sites, meaning that any waste created during the manufacturing process is either turned into beneficial reuse, recycled or burned to create energy."

He continues: "We also strive to optimise packaging design to reduce the amount of material we are using, while at the same time ensuring the packaging meets necessary performance requirements - product protection, consumer acceptance, retailer requirements or legal requirements. We continually light-weight many of our packages, reducing the amount of material in any applicable areas. In addition, we are working to replace petroleum-based packaging with renewable materials where possible and recently launched a bottle made of sugar cane. Our overarching goal is to reduce our packaging by 20% per consumer use.

"We also work to ensure that our packaging can be recycled, and work alongside organisations and companies around the world to increase access to recycling programmes, and create them where they do not currently exist."

Packaging sustainability requires a holistic approach, as Sauers explains: "It is critical to take a holistic, life cycle view of packaging design. As we develop packaging, we look at the role it plays throughout the entire life cycle of the product. One example, and a challenge we are currently working on, is the use of films (or plastic wraps). Thin, lightweight and not requiring the additional space of boxes or crates, films present a great option, and a sustainable alternative as they reduce the use of plastics and other materials, take up less space in transport and thus require fewer trucks on the road, which reduces carbon emissions. And yet, many films are not currently recyclable. It's critical as we look for solutions to some of our environmental challenges that we look holistically at the role a product plays, and then work to solve shortcomings along the way until we can be satisfied we have the optimum design that is functional, convenient, cost-effective and sustainable."

Recently, Method launched a new liquid laundry detergent that is the first to be packaged in 100% PCR content PET. The new 4x concentrated detergent product in a 53oz PET container combines strong shelf appeal with its recycled content innovation. Method has broken new ground in the liquid laundry detergent aisle, according to Joe Hunter, the firm's director of packaging.

"This new PET offering in the liquid laundry segment resonates with the rest of our brand portfolio in hand wash and all-purpose cleaners," says Hunter. "This is an important achievement in a market that has previously been predominately limited to opaque high-density polyethylene (HDPE) containers."

Up until now, PET has struggled to enter the liquid laundry detergent market due to compatibility and colour stability issues. Initially, PET container maker Amcor provided product compatibility testing with Method's liquid formula product to ensure package stability on the store shelf. Amcor did initial testing on pre-forms, and further stability testing revealed no issues. Its design engineering team worked closely with Method's industrial design team to create a bottle with Method's unique look, which could be stretch blow moulded without a handle. The design created challenges due to the cross corner parting line split, and the highly functional ergonomic hand grips moulded on the back side of the bottle. This was overcome by a variable radius parting line that allowed the part to release from the blow mould with no plastic entrapment.
The neck design also presented challenges due to the two-piece polypropylene (PP) pour spout and cup closure. The pour spout required orientation to the front of the bottle, and once in that location could not be rotated by the removal of the pour cup. This was complicated because the PP closure was designed for an HDPE bottle. The lug on the neck went through a series of design trials to find the best option. In addition, a small adjustment was made to the bottle's shoulder height to accommodate the filling process.
The container enabled Method to gain major sustainability benefits.

"Among our primary business priorities is reducing the environmental impact of all our products," says Hunter. "Analysis using Amcor's... life cycle assessment tool showed that by using 100% PCR resin, the package's life cycle energy consumption is reduced by 78% and its carbon footprint is lowered by 35% versus a virgin PET alternative."