About Us
Courtauld Commitment
Drivers for change
Food Waste
Categories
Home Improvement
The Guide to Evolving Packaging Design
- The consumers' view
- The law
- Brand, design and innovation
- Tools and techniques to evolve packaging
- Material considerations
- Links and glossary
Tools for change
Case Studies & Research
Materials
News & Events
Contact us

Get started:

Checklists for Reduce, Reuse, Recycle:

Download the Packaging design and food waste checklist.pdf (136 kb)
Download the Environmental packaging specification brief.pdf (79 kb)
Take a look at the Store walk-through checklist.pdf (148 kb) and take a look at the full section download for the key intervention points in new product development (NPD)
See successful retail packaging formats, product dispensing and distribution systems, merchandising approaches and product designs drawn from all over the world. The International Packaging Study
Our database that indicates what is the lightest, middle and heaviest weight packaging used for food and drink products found on the UK supermarket shelf Best in Class packaging weight data sets
Case Study: Using recycled content in plastic packaging: the benefits
See our packaging ideas at various stages of early development in the Concept Room

For more information on packaging for the DIY/Home Improvement sector please go here. We will be publishing more information for this sector in this guide very shortly.

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“To get packaging right we must really understand the whole supply chain. This means working extremely closely with the packaging supplier, detailed analysis of how the pack performs in the food manufacturing environment, how the pack looks on the retailer’s shelf and ultimately how it performs in the consumer’s home including disposable and ease of recycling." Ian Taylor, Northern Foods

Martin Bunce, Tin Horse Design “Hold tight! We are here to challenge and offer an impartial approach to your design opportunities. Be prepared to be surprised and shocked. Breakthrough thinking and ideas are often quite uncomfortable when first engaged”

Robert Brown, Sprout Design Ltd. “When it comes to reusable packaging, brainstorm ‘second use’ possibilities for packs so they can be used for another purpose or the same purpose again”

Tools and Techniques to Evolve Packaging

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Make use of all the many tools and techniques available to ensure that the right amount of packaging is used.

1. To begin with, get the balance right between primary, secondary and tertiary packaging. Knowing when to make changes during the lifecycle of packaging can be the key to successful reduction. See below for more information on the packaging life cycle.

See also Envirowise. Their design guide focuses mainly on primary product packaging, although it also covers secondary (collation) and tertiary (transit) packaging.

2. Use this downloadable template to focus on the essential functional requirements of packaging for developing and specifying consumer packaging. Key Function Requirement Template (48 kb)

3. Optimise change by applying the waste hierarchy: Eliminate, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Waste hierachy diagram

Reduce: understand the opportunity to use less material in the first instance through size, thickness and weight of material.
Reuse/refill: look at the options to reuse the packaging, for example use of refills.
Recycle: design packaging so that materials can be separated, so consumers can recycle packaging more easily.

4. Consider using recycled content. Packaging materials that include recycled content, especially glass, plastics, certain cartonboard, reduce the amount of raw materials and energy used to manufacture packaging. It also creates markets for what would otherwise be waste products and reduce disposal costs. Click here for more information.

Designers and specifiers of packaging components can make a real difference in ensuring that recycled materials are considered.

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Packaging life cycle

The main function of packaging is to contain and protect. However, the role of packaging changes through its life cycle from manufacture to disposal and its function ranges from tertiary (transport) to secondary (grouping) to primary (sales).

Changing materials or reducing weight without taking function into account could lead to loss or damage: a waste of the energy and resources that have gone into the manufacture, transport and retailing of the goods and the packaging. So understanding the complex uses of packaging as it moves through its life cycle is the key to introducing change and designing more efficient packaging.

The Life cycle check points.pdf (107 kb) summarises the major stages that packaging goes through in the retail supply chain. It is a great opportunity to assess the key intervention points for evolving packaging specification and identify the best options for increasing efficiency and minimising resource consumption.

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Download the full section Tools and techniques section.pdf (669 kb)