Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the issues affecting end of life (EOL) management of flexible packaging. It focuses on Sustainable Solid Waste Management by using multi-criteria decision making, analytic network process (ANP), and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT).

Data were collected from 33 expert stakeholders, though a series of interviews and questionnaires. The subject seven aspects were applied from integrated sustainable waste management with 19 sub-criteria identified. Criteria were prioritized by using ANP and SWOT to the internal and external environments of organizations directly responsible for waste management.

The five most important factors in the management of flexible packaging waste include: techniques for waste management, material and design, management support, legislation and rule, and environmental care and environmental health, respectively. Solutions addressing flexible packaging waste were identified, including reuse and recycle, waste to energy, biopolymers, new innovative materials and material recovery.

Data were derived from the national authorities and large companies. The findings may not represent local authorities and small-scale manufacturers. Future research should be conducted, in order to investigate and focus around small manufacturing enterprises.

The findings provide a strategic framework for policy makers and industrial manufacturers. The benefits of this will enable them to address flexible packaging waste, by using qualitative and quantitative criteria.

This is the first paper developing a multi-criteria assessment model to specifically manage EOL flexible packaging, a possible pioneering piece of research in this field.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a pilot study characterizing the domestic usage of food packaging (amount and type) at the household level.

Collection and detailed characterization is carried out, from a sample of Portuguese consumers, of packages used at home during a seven‐day period.

The daily intake of domestically consumed, packaged food ranged from 5 to 50 g/kgbw. The average intake value for children below 12 years old was 26 g/kgbw. Considering all packaging materials, package usage ranged from 0.1dm2/day.kgbw to 0.6dm2/day.kgbw. Packaging usage factors and food‐type distribution factors for each packaging material were estimated.

The period of packaging collection and the size of the sample limit the degree of generalized conclusions that can be drawn.

The data collected are the base for the development of a framework and could make an important contribution to the assessment of consumer exposure to substances migrating from packages into food, in this case of the Portuguese consumer.

The results achieved are analysed in relation to the current assumptions made for the safety assessment of materials in the relevant European legislation. Furthermore, the results achieved can be used in a probabilistic approach to these assessments as the distributions of values, and not only the per capita values, are known.

Since the 1980s, packaging has been increasingly included in the environmental agenda. Worries about packaging waste have led governments to introduce packaging legislation and formulate waste policies. Since 1994, the Regulation 94/62/20.12.94 on Packaging and Packaging Waste provides a framework for measures to be taken in every country of the European Union to diminish the volume of packaging waste. Reports on a survey of Greek manufacturing aiming at the registration of the recent changes and trends in packaging materials used by consumer goods industries and the investigation of the main problems and prerequisites to meet the new legislative environment.

At its most fundamental, packaging does three major jobs: it preserves, it protects and it identifies. It is frequently the first thing that developing countries use to improve their food situation. Once they introduce better packaging into the system, they can reduce losses that occur, in food distribution in particular, by considerable amounts. As much as 25 or 30% of a crop can be saved by relatively simple improvements in packaging procedures. However, in the sophisticated countries of the world, packaging does a lot more than merely preserve, protect and identify.

Widely accepted classifications of benchmarking distinguish between different levels of benchmarking. Strategic‐level benchmarking is considered to be of a higher sophistication than product‐level benchmarking. Such strategic benchmarking would be based on process information instead of product information. The purpose of this paper is to research the possibility of obtaining strategic‐level information based on an extensive amount of product‐level benchmark data.

The data used in this paper originate from the environmental benchmarking program of Philips Consumer Electronics (CE). Philips CE has successfully implemented benchmarking as an environmental improvement strategy for its products. Product‐level competitive benchmarking is used to assess the environmental performance of a Philips' product compared to its main economic rivals. Since the start of environmental benchmarking a considerable pool of product‐level benchmark data has been generated. This paper reports on an extensive data analysis of product‐level benchmarking data concerning the packaging of these consumer electronics products.

It is shown how strategic‐level information is obtained from a data analysis of these separate benchmarking studies, resulting both in useful strategic‐level managerial information and practical design input. Finally, advantages of this approach as compared to classic strategic‐level benchmarking are identified.

The study has yielded empirical data indicating a limitation in current benchmarking classification.

The paper offers insights into the benefits of product level benchmarking for strategic eco‐efficient decision making.

This monograph eschews the view that packaging is an exclusively marketing tool, or for that matter the concern of the distribution function alone. The author insists that a total systems view should be taken of the multiple purposes which the pack must meet. This poses very real problems for at least three levels—the conceptual acceptance of the proposition, its interpretation into operational terms, and implementation/control of the packaging activity. This discussion is intended for all directors of companies with a substantial recurrent expenditure in packaging as well as for members of the distribution function itself. Accordingly, it takes a managerial rather than a technical view of packaging. It stresses the critical importance of the state of goods on arrival with the customer; the aesthetics and sales power of packaging; the informative role of the pack; issues of unitisation; handling problems at all stages in the channel; and the ecological/environmental aspects in contemporary society. At each juncture, sensible plans of action are proposed.

This paper seeks to analyze the concept of packaging re-design with the main purpose to better exploit the utilized space within a secondary packaging, pallet and/or to make better use of transport, respectively. In addition, it investigates and discusses the importance of space exploitation in relation to environmental benefits, the industry and the community in general.

The research is based on a specific case study, in which two different options of a bottle with the same capacity are investigated in terms of: shape and space utilization. The investigation includes a detailed numerical comparison between the bottles, in order to show the strengths and weaknesses of each option.

The analysis provides evidence that any shape improvements could result into benefits such as: reduce waste, increase space utilization and increase the number of transported products per load. This in turn could reduce the energy and CO₂ emissions required per unit of product carried or stored. The analysis shows that a better utilization of the space could further offer significant economic benefits for the company with respect to transportation and warehousing.

However, the proposed packaging design solutions are proposed with the guarantee that the protection of the product is ensured, the logistics activities are facilitated as expected, the needs of the user are fully covered and the cost is maintained low. This solution, therefore, addresses the economic, social and environmental aspect of packaging.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study the relation between the packaging redesign concept and the various environmental and economic benefits for the industry and the participants of the supply chain, while maintaining the needs of the user. This works contributes to other more recent studies that are concerned with packaging design innovation that respond to key environmental concerns.

Environmental issues have become progressively more important during the 1980s and 1990s. With greater concern about the environment, pressure, both formal and informal, has mounted on business. One of the most developed formal constraints has emerged in Germany, with the introduction of packaging laws to reduce packaging and encourage reuse and recycling. Such legislation affects both German companies and companies exporting into Germany. It can be argued that exporters are disadvantaged by such legislation, having to adapt their activities to each country. This presupposes knowledge of the legislation and a willingness and ability to change and embrace the new constraints. Reports on the new German packaging laws and on a survey of firms exporting to Germany, which examines their awareness of and compliance with these laws.

This paper investigates how to design traditional ready-to-eat food packaging by manipulating its shape, font and slogan to promote consumer buying intention and willingness to pay (WTP).

Two package designs, interplaying the square shapes (vertical vs horizontal), font formality (formal vs less formal/casual) and slogans (ethno-positioning vs short and catchy), were created and tested in an online experiment with 483 participants.

The results revealed that the differed package designs elicited relatively equal levels of attractiveness to consumers and their buying intentions. However, the designs significantly differentiated consumers' WTP. The results further show the significant direct and indirect effects on WTP of packaging attractiveness when it is moderated by package designs and mediated by buying intention. However, the varied package designs did not have significant direct or indirect impacts on WTP when mediated by packaging attractiveness and buying intention.

The vertical square-shaped packaging, written in a less formal font and highlighting a short and catchy slogan, is more financially promising for marketers to get a better price for local food products perceived as hedonic and bought impulsively on casual occasions. Furthermore, besides prominent package design elements such as font, color, size, material and picture, packaging designers or marketing practitioners should consider other supporting factors, such as shelf efficiency.

This study complements existing studies of “cue utilization theory” and “packaging design theory” by demonstrating the importance of extrinsic packaging cues, such as shape, font style and slogan, in improving consumers' WTP for traditional food products. The study also fills some gaps in the literature by exploring the direct, mediating and moderating relationships between package design, packaging attractiveness, buying intention and WTP, especially in an emerging market such as Indonesia.

Current literature emphasises using a holistic perspective on green packaging development (GPD) as an important strategy for reducing the environmental impact of products’ supply chain (SC). In practice, however, it can be difficult for packaging developers to strike a balance between all the different environmental requirements on packaging, and trade-offs are common. Life cycle assessment (LCA) can provide this type of information, but many food companies lack the time and resources to conduct detailed assessments. The purpose of this paper is to provide prioritization guidelines for food GPD based on a systematic review of food LCAs.

As basis for the suggested guidelines, 48 food LCAs covering eight types of food were reviewed following a standardized format. The review consisted of a quantitative analysis of the global warming potential results and a qualitative analysis of the LCAs’ conclusions.

The prioritization guidelines propose three priority areas for food GPD that companies can select from based on product characteristics. They also provide suggestions for improving packaging in the three priority areas.

The proposed guidelines can help food companies develop packaging solutions that contribute to minimising the environmental impact along food SCs. The review focuses on the role of packaging in food SCs, which has not been previously analysed in published LCA reviews.