Paper, Printing, and Cartons: Wrapped in Green
Disclosure of green business practices are becoming more common, as paper and carton suppliers strive to educate and inform the public about the green options available to the industry. Curtis Packaging’s Luxuriously Responsible Sustainability Report describes in detail the eco-friendly carton converter’s ecological practices.
Paper, printing, and folding-carton companies show no sign of slowing down their sustainability efforts.
By Maureen KingsleyThe green movement continues to gain momentum among packagers—specifically those that work with paper, itself a sustainable material. Wal-Mart’s Packaging Scorecard can take some credit for keeping the trend alive and providing plenty of motivation, as can simple business sense and an inherent desire within the packaging community to minimize environmental footprints.
Paper mills and carton makers continue to develop and use ever-more-sustainable materials and are working to ensure that their suppliers are doing the same. What has occurred specifically within the past year, however, is a real push within these organizations to green as many aspects of their businesses as possible and to really get creative and open-minded in the approaches they take.
Additionally, these companies are publicizing their efforts in myriad ways, promoting not just their own green activities but also the benefits of going green in general. Some are even producing marketing materials that contain valuable educational information for both their customers and the general population.
An Update on Materials and Inks
In the past year, folding-carton companies and their suppliers have continued to introduce new materials and packaging solutions for the eco-friendly, and to expand on existing ones.
Monadnock Paper Mills (Bennington, NH) is one such organization. Last year, CPC Packaging reported on Monadnock’s launch of Envi, a postconsumer recycled (PCR) stock that features a clean, sophisticated appearance. Dave Lunati, director of marketing for Monadnock, calls the Envi product “an evolution over time.” He explains that Monadnock’s clients were so enthusiastic about Envi folding boxes that they asked the company to produce Envi shopping bags as well.
This request carried some unique challenges. Lunati explains, “You have to make sure that the product holds whatever’s being carried in it. For instance, if it rains, you don’t want the bag to fall apart.” He cites rigorous strength and tear requirements. “There’s a tremendous amount of science that goes into these products. In going green, you have the added complexity of using postconsumer-waste fibers that are inherently weaker than virgin fibers, so you have to find ways of compensating for the natural weakness. We’ve accomplished that.”
Envi’s popularity has also led to the creation of Envi price tickets, hangtags, and wraps for paper tubes for cosmetics and fragrances. Over the course of mere months, Envi has evolved from Monadnock’s first packaging-grade carton stock to a highly sought-after material for a variety of retail packaging and display items. “It’s now a holistic, comprehensive portfolio of environmentally preferable packaging products,” Lunati says.
Another company that is furthering its commitment to sustainability through the use of environmentally responsible materials is Chameleon, the environmental division of packaging supplier Design & Source Productions Inc. (New York City). For the past four years, Chameleon has offered a tree-free paper called TerraSkin, made from limestone instead of wood pulp. The paper will begin to degrade when exposed to direct sunlight for approximately six to nine months. The limestone for TerraSkin is collected as waste material from existing construction-industry quarries. (For extensive information on TerraSkin and how it was used by Burt’s Bees for its soap wrappers, read our Bath and Body Products feature in this issue.)
Largely successful in the market, TerraSkin has been used by numerous companies, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, which uses the paper for its gift boxes and shopping bags. TerraSkin was also cradle-to-cradle certified using McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry testing.
Natural Source Printing offers its new tree-less material made from limestone called FiberStone, which can be used to produce a myriad of paper products. The limestone is collected from the construction industry, ground into powder, and bound with high-density polyethylene to form the paper.
In January of this year, a firm called Natural Source Printing (Orange, CA) introduced its line of FiberStone papers, also made from limestone. According to information on Natural Source Printing’s Web site, FiberStone paper is made using a “clean production process, which does not utilize water or emit toxic air.” The paper is free of bleach and acid as well. And even more good news for the cosmetics and personal care industry in particular: FiberStone can be substituted for virgin or recycled paper, including synthetic paper and film, premium coated paper, and PVC sheet. Company president Mary Loyer stated in a recent press release that FiberStone papers have a carbon footprint that is “at least one-third that of virgin paper, and half that of recycled paper.”
In the area of printing, IBC/Shell (Lake Success, NY) is among the packaging companies using vegetable-based agri-soy inks almost exclusively. “That’s our standard now,” says president Norman Kay. He points to agri-soy’s lack of petroleum additives and its minimal volatile organic compounds when he explains why the inks are now the first choice of IBC/Shell.
The company is also using an eco-friendly UV coating and synthetic reflective metallic emulsions as substitutes for traditional reflective foils. “We’ve been actively engaged in this process of exploration and application of what I call ‘environmentally prudent materials’ for over 13 years now,” Kay says. “We feel as a corporation that we’re focused on and committed to global ecology. We developed a reputation for utilizing these materials quite some time ago, not just recently.”
Getting Creative to Go Even Greener
While developing and using sustainable, earth-friendly materials, inks, and coatings are a major portion of packaging companies’ greening efforts, there’s also a movement afoot to find highly creative, even unusual ways to reduce the industry’s detrimental effects on the environment.
Taking a “sustainable materials are great, but reducing the amount of material required in the first place is even better” approach, IBC/Shell is zeroing in on practicing creative, minimalist design as a means of reducing its impact on the environment. Kay speaks of “proper design focused on minimizing the materials to begin with, minimizing the energy required to manufacture the product, and minimizing secondary packaging for transportation.”
The company practices a method it calls Component Composite Thinking. Kay explains: “We break down the entire composite of the package into its various components and see what we can do to minimize [materials] use, to minimize weight without endangering the safety of the package.”
Another entirely different, quite ambitious method for intensifying one’s greening efforts is to forge an international alliance with packaging companies on other continents. Curtis Packaging (Sandy Hook, CT), Alliora (France), and Utility PrintPack (India) recently came together to create the first worldwide alliance of luxury packaging companies, called Global PrestigePack, to meet the demands of the luxury industry in a global market—but also to reduce their combined environmental footprint by drastically reducing transportation costs and carbon emissions.
Don Droppo Jr., Curtis’s senior vice president of marketing and sales, asks, “Why would we produce something here in the United States and ship it to France? And why would the French company produce in France and ship to the United States? Especially when we’re dealing with very high-end, prestige cosmetics. Obviously it makes sense for us to partner up, to forge an alliance.” He continues, “So really the idea is this: Say there’s an international launch of a new fragrance; we will handle the North American piece, Alliora will handle the European piece, and Utility PrintPack will handle the Asia-based piece.”
While two very important reasons for participating in such an alliance are to grow one’s business and to offer customers a global solution, the environmental piece cannot be overlooked. “We will be close to where our customers are manufacturing,” Droppo says. “We won’t have to send things all around the world, so our environmental footprint is going to be much smaller.”
Diamond Packaging (Rochester, NY), on the other hand, is a company looking inward rather than outward for new ways to further its greening efforts. Late last year, Diamond launched a companywide Greenbox Initiative to research, design, and implement packaging solutions that are both innovative and sustainable.
The program is remarkable in its scope: the related task force consists of director of marketing Dennis Bacchetta, as well as one of the company’s vice presidents, a designer, a materials person, and a safety coordinator. Personnel from other disciplines, including sales, finance, and manufacturing, join the group from time to time to discuss particular issues. “We have a nice, well-rounded group,” Bacchetta says.
The initiative itself balances business with environmental considerations by promoting sustainability across all aspects of package production, including design, materials, and methods. The core of the Greenbox Initiative, according to company literature, “represents a comprehensive approach to packaging that minimizes environmental impact throughout the supply chain.”
Adds Bacchetta, “Through creative design, careful material selection, and best practices at the plant level, Diamond is able to minimize waste, reduce shipping costs, and increase efficiencies—all of which support a sustainable use of resources and cultivate a positive emotional connection to the brand.”
Getting the Word Out (and Inspiring Others, Too)
Environmentally conscious paper and carton companies are nothing new. From obtaining Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification and switching to wind energy to researching and developing sustainable materials, packaging companies in general—and carton- and paper-makers specifically—are far ahead of other industries in terms of working to reduce their environmental footprints. Their challenge now is to publicize their efforts and their future goals in ways that are unique and that will educate and inspire their competitors and the general public.
Diamond Packaging has taken care to promote its aforementioned Greenbox Initiative in a fun, interactive way. The company has produced and distributed a Green Promo Kit that includes seven printed samples of various paperboard options and their environmental attributes—all enclosed within a “green-themed” folder (made of wind-powered board) and shipper (made of Kraft-back). Each sample features the same printed image so that the viewer can compare the way the image looks from one paperboard sample to the next.
Bacchetta says that the kit was produced early in 2008 for a Wal-Mart show the company attended, but, he says, “we also felt that it was a good tool for our customers, brand managers, and designers, to be able to look at several different substrates using one image, so they can see how solids look, how continuous-tone images look. It’s so important when they’re making decisions about what to print on and whether they’re going to choose a recycled board or not, so it’s been a fantastic tool, extremely popular.” The kit also includes press releases, case studies, and production samples.
In addition to the Green Promo Kit, Diamond’s Greenbox Initiative is complemented by a new Web site that details the company’s green efforts and provides other related information (www.diamondpackaging.com/green). The site, which contains more than 50 pages, includes Greenbox specifics, an environmental calculator, a glossary of eco terms, and videos. “As far as I know, it’s the only Web site of its kind out there in the folding-carton industry,” Bacchetta says. “Certainly our competitors have Web pages dedicated to certain aspects of their green efforts…but nobody that I know of has an all-encompassing Web site such as ours.”
In a similar vein as the Green Promo Kit but with an altogether different presentation, Curtis Packaging’s Luxuriously Responsible Sustainability Report provides data for and descriptions of the company’s many ecological practices covering the five-year period from 2003 to 2007. The report—a saddle-stitched document printed on FSC-certified, process-chlorine-free, 100% PCR paper—is bright and cheery in appearance, with lush graphics on each page and an overall sleek-looking design. It leads off with basic company information and statistics, then moves to a timeline of environmentally responsible actions and a graphic of Curtis’s CO₂ emission sources. The middle section includes a word about the Global Reporting Initiative, which Curtis plans to join as of this writing. The final portion of the report lists sustainability plans for the future and the various communities of which Curtis is a part.
Droppo says that the report has been “very, very well received.” He continues: “It’s very possible we’ve started a trend here, especially once [the report] goes to customers. And once it goes to the customers, I’m sure it will start them asking the question, ‘Hey, what are our other suppliers doing?’ This may force [competitors to act], which I think at the end of the day is great.”
Monadnock Paper Mills’ Envi shopping bag, made from postconsumer recycled (PCR) stock, was tested thoroughly to withstand the rigors of use because PCR fibers are inherently weaker than virgin paper fibers.
Another saddle-stitched, beautifully illustrated promotional document currently circulating among folding-carton companies and their customers is Monadnock’s third edition of A Field Guide: Eco-Friendly, Efficient, and Effective Print. Like the Curtis report, this guide is printed on Monadnock’s Astrolite PC 100 paperboard.
Monadnock’s booklet is a clever document in that it has both promotional and educational value. Its distinction as a field guide, complete with a bibliography and list of references, virtually ensures that those reading it will hold onto it for future reference. “Being a family-owned mill and relatively small, we want to be sure that people keep our stuff and refer to us in a way that establishes us as a resource,” says Monadnock’s Lunati. “We try to create reference guides and resources so that you’ll keep them on the shelf and refer back to them. The consequence is that [we] get a good perception in the marketplace.” Plus, he says, Monadnock feels that by producing a field guide, the company is creating some good. “We thought, here’s a perfect opportunity to share with others what we’ve gone through ourselves, and let’s see if we can move the needle, all of us together in the right direction, when it comes to sustainability.”
The guide contains objective information on paper, production, inks, printing, finishing, and packaging. This third edition features a new section on “eco ethics.” “Our first intention,” says Lunati, “was to provide a resource for designers. But what we’re finding is that it has increasing importance and relevance to brand owners, printers, converters—really everyone up and down the value chain because it is fairly objective in its approach. The reason we’re on our third edition is because it’s a point-in-time document, a living document.”
It’s a Green World After All?
Monadnock’s Lunati is likely speaking for many in his industry when he sums up going green this way: “It absolutely requires an investment. But we think it’s well worth it. It’s an investment in renewable energy sources and technologies. It’s paying a premium for wind power over regular electricity. The payback is twofold: It’s setting up future generations to really release us from our dependence on fossil fuels, obviously great for the environment. But the business consequence is that it has a powerful perception in the marketplace. The jury’s still out on whether [going green] increases sales…but it does generate a tremendous amount of goodwill. We think it’s the right thing to do, and we’re finding that there are tremendous savings in going green.”
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