Why has traditional plastic packaging been so difficult to recycle? It’s a
complicated relationship between creating products that appeal to customers,
applying eye-catching design, and ensuring that packaging is safe and
lightweight.
Take lettuce, for example. A delicate product that must remain fresh and crisp,
lettuce requires a thin, lightweight package that maintains the perfect balance
of oxygen inside and outside its container. Achieving this is no small task and
requires several layers of different types of plastics that correspond to each
safety function and need. Plastic packaging is like a birthday cake where each
special section — the cake, filling and frosting — layer on top of one another
to make the whole. In the case of packaging for greens, one plastic layer
supports oxygen levels, another creates a sealant, and so on. But with so many
different materials needed to make one package, brands have faced an uphill
battle to source and produce a 100 percent recyclable product.
This is changing, with new opportunities emerging to create packaging rooted in
recycling. Working with top material scientists around the world, Dow has
developed a special additive called
Retain that helps a plastic
package break down evenly across layers, and enables the original pouch to be
recycled and recreated into new materials. This is a gamechanger for grocery
products that aim to be safe and sustainable. Another example: check out
Kashi’s Bear Naked Granola
package,
a resealable standup pouch that incorporates multiple layers and is specifically
designed to be recyclable. The Bear Naked Granola packaging also meets the
Sustainable Packaging
Coalition’s
How2Recycle standard and can be recycled via the
grocery store drop-off programs across the US.
Dow’s Pack
Studios has
provided the space for collaboration with consumer brands and helped create
products that enable plastic packages to be lighter with the design features
consumers want — thus improving plastic packaging, meeting consumers’ needs and
ultimately using less plastic material to reduce waste in the ecosystem.
Want to see how we create recyclable packaging? Watch, learn and share this
video to explain to your friends and colleagues how we design packaging with
recyclability in mind.
Dow
Published Apr 16, 2021 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST