On the surface it may seem like the options are limited when it comes to making a beverage package more environmentally sensitive. But according to experts, a beverage marketer actually has a wide variety of choices—some of which will never even be known or seen by the end-consumer—when it comes to transitioning to a greener package. The incentives are certainly there, for the planet, and for your bottom line. So, here are some tried and true tips for going green.

Change Your Paradigm: For many beverage categories it will be important to be daring and unconventional when it comes to coming up with a green packaging concept. For example, Jean Charles Boisset, president, Boisset Family Estates (Burgundy, France), says he had to forego hundreds of years of wine-making traditions when he decided to launch French Rabbit in a Tetra Pak carton instead of a traditional wine bottle. But the green advantages, he says, were there: the Tetra Pak has the lowest CO2 footprint of any wine package, he says, about 10 percent of the carbon footprint of traditional bottles.

“To the wineries, what I highly recommend,” Boisset says, “is for them to put aside their approach of traditionalism, snobbism or wanting to be purely luxury. They have to really dare being different for the sake of the environment, because the bottom line is we need to act.”

Adds Laurens Vande Vijver, Tetra Pak’s vice president of marketing and product management, “Challenge your paradigms. Consumers are changing rapidly due to this need for more environmental packages.”

Go Lighter if Possible: Packaging may be the only place where being called a lightweight is actually a compliment. Explains Aaron Stapley, creative director, Stapley-Hildebrand (San Fransico, Calif., USA), “Many packages are over-engineered to protect against worst-case scenarios.

Light-weighting materials and removing unnecessary packaging components can help a company reduce their raw material use, shipping costs and impact on the environment.”

Stuart Leslie, president of the New York City-based 4sight, Inc., says his redesign of a bottle for Pepsi’s Lipton Iced Tea, Aquafina FlavorSplash, Aquafina Alive and Tropicana Juice Drinks resulted in 20 percent less plastic. “What we’re finding is if you step back and figure out what your brand’s needs are, there are shapes you can create which give the bottle personality, but also are inherently stronger,” says Leslie.

Don’t Forget the Big Picture: Experts say it is important to understand your entire carbon footprint, from cradle to grave. Explains Ann Johnson, director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, “People are really looking towards their supply chains for ideas for innovation and opportunities to help them improve their packaging overall. Your entire supply chain’s impact is often a huge part of the environmental footprint of your product. So one of the areas that people should be looking to is what are those upstream impacts, and what actions can they take to improve them?”

Seek Out an Eco-Sensitive Supplier: They are out there, just waiting to be tapped into. Many vendors have read up on green initiatives over the past few years and are more than eager to share their knowledge with their clients. For example, the Cincinnati, Ohio, USA-based paperboard manufacturer Zumbiel Packaging is Forest Stewardship Council certified, meaning its materials come from well-managed forests. “In addition to making sure that the land doesn’t get raped, there’s a component to it about how the workers are treated,” explains Tom Zumbiel, the company’s marketing director. Zumbiel offers mutlipack containers like the Z-Pak, which the company says uses 15 percent less board than the fridge pack.

Be Honest: With all the media attention around global warming, it’s perhaps easy to promise too much. But experts warn this could end up causing more grief than it’s worth. “Be careful if you can’t really prove your claim,” says Tetra Pak’s Vijver. “Avoid any vagueness because that can backfire for sure. So be very, very precise and transparent when it comes to environmental claims.”

Adds Stapley, “A consumer that is looking for ‘green’ packaging is typically an informed consumer. They will check your credentials and call foul if they’ve been duped.”

Remember, You Have to Make Money, Too: Don’t sacrifice the financial health of your company for the health of the planet. At the end of the day, you still have to be profitable. “If you choose what you think is a terrific package from an ecological perspective, but it doesn’t end up connecting with the consumer, then all you are left with is a failed product. In essence, it might not be sustainable from a business standpoint,” says Brian Wagner, co-founder of the Kalamazoo, Mich., USA consultancy, Global Sustainability Solutions, Inc.

Do What Little You Can: Even if a package redesign isn’t in the cards, there are smaller ways a company can go green. Even the tiniest element, such as variable data inks, can be replaced with a more eco-friendly counterpart, says Scott Prochaska, product manager, supplies, for VideoJet Technologies. “We have a goal of working to keep the same level of ink performance that we have always offered while introducing greener alternatives to existing inks,” he says.

From Beverage World June 15, 2008