S ustainable packaging is a key consideration for businesses looking to reduce their environmental footprint.   investing in more advanced printing and production technology is crucial in helping manufacturers to achieve these goals.

Green initiatives have always been an important priority in the business world, but as the conversation around preventing climate change becomes more prominent, the issue has moved to the top of many corporate agendas. Whether they are retailers, manufacturers or service providers, businesses are now expected to demonstrate a strong commitment to durability and environment stewardship across all aspects of their operations.  

For companies that are part of the supply chain for physical products and goods, one of the most important steps they can take is to enhance the sustainability of their own product packaging. This is becoming a key concern for manufacturers, retailers and consumers alike, leading in order to growing investment in sustainable packaging methodologies such as recyclable materials plus lean manufacturing processes.

The particular potential cost benefits in addition to reduced ecological impact of making these changes can be considerable. Here, we will explore the reasons why businesses are purchasing these innovative technological solutions – and the ways that improved marking and coding technology can aid these types of efforts.

Why has lasting packaging become such a priority?
Every business has a responsibility to react to and even deliver on the priorities of its customer base, as well as the prevailing legal together with regulatory frameworks within its industry. In recent years, manufacturers, lawmakers and consumers alike have developed a clear consensus around the need with regard to more environmentally friendly packaging and additionally a reduction in preventable packaging waste, and it has turn out to be essential for companies to act on this.

Numerous high-profile campaigns and initiatives have sprung up around the impact associated with discarded packaging on the particular world’s oceans and landfills, leading to the strong public outcry. A 2021 report from Trivium Packaging indicated that 67% of customers see it as important that typically the products they buy come in recyclable product packaging, while 54% take this into thing to consider in their purchasing decisions. Moreover, 70% are usually willing to be able to pay more regarding sustainable product packaging, with younger consumers placing a particular importance on this.

With regulators also taking action for you to incentivise companies to create more eco friendly packaging, companies are recognising that these people have a duty to improve their performance about this front. Indeed, numerous manufacturers are pursuing technological solutions to make their packaging more environmentally friendly, including:

• Using packaging that is recyclable or even reusable wherever possible, and ensuring that the materials are biodegradable and compostable when disposed of
• Ensuring that will packaging can be easily recycled through standard channels – this is not always possible when using complex multi-material packaging
• Using lighter, more flexible materials in presentation production to make them easier and less energy-intensive to help produce not to mention transport
• Incorporating more recycled materials into packaging manufacturing
• Eliminating unnecessary packaging whenever we can

All of these interventions are usually helping organizations to adjust their approach to the labels production in line with consumer expectations and regulatory requirements; this also has this benefit of assisting these companies become seen as more desirable places to work, as many workers are also motivated by a desire to work for an employer dedicated to high standards regarding environmental stewardship.

Can new coding technology help to deliver better durability?
In order to achieve the very best sustainable overall performance from their particular packaging items, businesses must not overlook the impact that can be achieved by upgrading their very own marking, code and labelling systems.

Every business of which creates packing and labelling for its goods relies on printers and tagging technology in order to encode vital product data and information, providing retailers, buyers, regulators and also supply chain partners with essential safety, traceability as well as compliance information.

Whether companies are printing barcodes, batch numbers, production details, sell-by dates or tracking ID figures, this process is an essential part of presentation production. As such, manufacturers are buying ways to be able to make printing more efficient and sustainable, for you to deliver the best possible environmental efficiency across his or her supply chain – plus, just like their shoppers, are often willing to pay extra intended for a greener solution.

Businesses are looking to help incorporate often the following technical advances into their printing processes:

Eco-friendly inks
In the past, many involving the ink used in product observing and coding were created using mineral oils in addition to methylethylketone (MEK). There are various the environmental and greenhouse gas impacts associated along with the creation and evaporation of mineral and MEK-based inks, as well as potential health issues that can arise when this type of ink is used inside food packing.

The European Union recently issued an official recommendation that nutrient oil-based inks should end up being removed from wrapping production, and even many modern systems are now switching over to alternative eco-friendly options like water, alcohol or vegetable oil-based ink, delivering the same printing results without these kinds of environmental risks.

Printing directly onto any type connected with packaging
Modern noticing and coding equipment is able to print directly onto materials together with packaging types that would typically present a challenge to get older ink jet printers. Contact-free publishing allows producers to print barcodes and additionally essential info on substrates for example plastic and metal with no difficulty, or straight onto curved or irregularly-shaped items such as bottles.

This allows manufacturers to reduce wrapping waste by eliminating the need for physical paper or perhaps plastic labels, while also making it easier to switch to thinner, lighter appearance, as contemporary systems usually are optimised in order to print upon even your most fragile surfaces.

Economical performance not to mention automation benefits
Modern marking and also coding technologies incorporates numerous performance refinements and improvements to increase overall efficiency throughout the lifetime of the system, and are designed with the exact sustainability goals of companies in mind.

Examples of features that help to enhance sustainability include longer-lasting print heads the fact that require much less regular replacement, reduced energy usage, as well as cartridge designs that use every single drop of ink, providing a lot more economical functionality and fewer waste.

Additionally, since this technology is highly automated, production lines can run reliably without manual errors, and with no need pertaining to regular stoppages or reactive maintenance. All of all these improvements assist to ensure a smoother and even more efficient generation process meant for packaging, while unlocking advantages in terms of power savings, carbon footprint and lower costs.

Typically the trend towards more ecological packaging is only going to accelerate in the next few many years, so firms must look for all possible opportunities to make environmental gains throughout their development processes and supply chains. By fully embracing the sustainability benefits offered by the newest marking plus coding systems, businesses will be capable to address these essential requirements, allowing them to enhance all their green credentials and meet the anticipation of the customers, staff and government bodies alike.

Thomas Pinnington is the technical sales manager at Newcode Partnership, a new specialist code and marking solutions company. Tom joined in October 2021, he has extensive experience in manufacturing in addition to automation roles, and has transitioned from mostly transactional responsibilities into larger-scale projects delivering sustainable commercial solutions for multinational clients. Tom is responsible with regard to helping corporations from a wide variety with sectors to be able to find the right printing solution regarding their manufacturing needs.