By Tudor Ortan and Wolfgang Lehmacher
What protects merchandise from shocks, temperature fluctuations, moisture, and theft is often an overlooked value that frequently goes to waste. Packaging is typically used just once before being discarded in landfills or incinerated. The World Economic Forum estimates that about 36% of all plastic produced is used to create packaging, 85% of which ends up in landfills, a disposal method that threatens our health and environment.
Sustainable packaging is the answer. Locally, circular systems are often available. However, in global business, the picture looks different. Sustainable packaging for overseas shipments faces several challenges, including higher costs, limited material availability, performance concerns, complex supply chains, inadequate recycling infrastructure, and inconsistent consumer behavior. These obstacles hinder adoption, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises, despite the environmental benefits sustainable packaging offers. Collaborative efforts are essential for solutions.
The Challenge: Understanding Local Situations
Companies seek innovative solutions for more sustainable packaging as public awareness and regulatory pressures rise. This contribution outlines how businesses can minimize packaging in overseas shipping while adopting environmentally friendly practices. As returning packaging to its origin can be costly and carbon-intensive, understanding local conditions at the destination is critical.
Developing effective packaging solutions requires following specific steps, some of which are sometimes overlooked.
Step 1: Explore Local Opportunities
A way toward sustainable packaging is the circular economy, a continuous (re)use model defined by its ‘Rs’ like reuse, repair, remake and recycle. The circular economy should be familiar to us from previous generations that reused everything, like the shoes and clothes we passed on from kid to kid. Packaging can be the same; we can use it repeatedly, repair it when needed, and recycle the material to produce future products. Realizing such a vision requires recovery practices and infrastructure. Local conditions and knowledge about the possibilities in overseas markets matter when selecting and designing sustainable packaging solutions.
While returning packaging to its origin may sometimes work, the long distances involved can make this approach costly and counterproductive due to increased carbon emissions from transport. Companies in sectors like automotive parts, industrial goods, and electronics should explore local recovery, reuse, and repair options. Waste management systems exist globally but vary significantly by region. Sustainable packaging can be subject to regulations and standards, which can be complex and vary by region. Companies must familiarize themselves with local rules and conditions to identify viable, sustainable packaging solutions. Local ecosystems often contain numerous actors capable of supporting circular models.
Packaging specialists can assist businesses in navigating these local possibilities and designing practical solutions tailored to their target markets.
Step 2: Design for Sustainability and Circularity
The design process for overseas packaging builds on the research into sustainability and circular systems at the destination. Creating sustainable and circular packaging systems—especially for high-demand industrial products—requires a holistic approach that considers recovery, reuse, remaking, and recycling options available where the goods will be delivered.
The design must prioritize characteristics that enable further use of the packaging or its materials while minimizing negative impacts on the climate and environment. This includes focusing on repurposing strategies that optimize economic and ecological benefits. Design matters as some sustainable options can be 20% to 25% more expensive than conventional packaging. The design determines how much we can load into a container.
Once a concept is established, the following steps involve prototyping, testing, and implementation. Knowledge of local ecosystems facilitates these processes and ensures the successful rollout of final packaging solutions. Close collaboration between manufacturers and users ensures that solutions align with supportive conditions.
Step 3: Moving to the Next Use Cycle
Recycling is often viewed as the most recognized aspect of the circular economy; however, it should be considered a last resort after all other options have been exhausted. Designing for recyclability is not a new concept—composite materials have been transformed into recyclable possibilities for decades.
The destination of a product should not dictate the fate of its packaging; instead, the location where goods are delivered should also facilitate the subsequent use cycle for the packaging. If no new cycle exists, recycling becomes an option—but again, local recovery possibilities are crucial.
Conclusion: Sustainable Packaging as an Economic Lever
Every day, companies package nearly everything we order and consume—from crisp packets and cardboard boxes for online deliveries to pallets and plastic wrap for shipping machinery sold to customers overseas.
Implementing reusable and recyclable packaging is a practical step toward sustainability. Relevant sustainable and circular practices include reuse, repair, remaking, and refurbishment. Companies must begin by understanding local conditions and regulations to develop economically viable, practical, sustainable solutions. Packaging specialists can guide the decision-making process for optimal packaging.
Packaging plays a vital role in advancing a more sustainable economy. Robust designs reduce damage risks and minimize the need for repairs or replacements. Packaging engineering firms can help clients reduce waste and emissions through space-optimized solutions. Thoughtful design is essential for meeting sustainability standards and climate goals while creating additional economic value through reduction and optimization strategies.
About the authors
Tudor Ortan is CEO and founder of Zaleco, a leader in innovative packaging systems. The entrepreneur, with a master’s degree in finance and banking and former business development manager at Vest Lantcabrom, founded Zaleco in 2011. The renowned trailblazer in the sector partners with household names and brands like Emerson Electric, Flex, and Eaton Corporations.
Wolfgang Lehmacher is a partner at Anchor Group and an advisor at Topan AG. The former director at the World Economic Forum and CEO Emeritus of GeoPost Intercontinental is an advisory board member of The Logistics and Supply Chain Management Society, Singapore, ambassador F&L, Brussels, advisor Global:SF, RISE, and Zaleco, and member of the think tanks Logistikweisen in Germany and NEXST in Singapore.
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