Respecting the Environment

Packaging helps the environment by preventing waste and hence the loss of resources. Packaging goods in folding cartons has many environmental advantages:
• Ease of recovery, recycling and composting
• Low energy use in the production process
• Responsible use of water
• Sustainable forest management
• Contributing to mitigating climate change by capturing CO2 in the raw material – wood

Cartonboard Packaging and Society

Packaging is essential for our modern lifestyle and cartons are the most versatile of packs:
• Innovative cartons with eye-catching designs ensure that products packed in cartons are the natural choice on the supermarket shelves
• Able to be produced quickly and effectively, cartons offer flexibility in choice of cartonboard material, carton making and packaging operations
• Cartons make efficient use of space on shelf, in palletisation, transportation and in merchandising at point of sale

Furthermore, consumers like cartons:
• Cartons elicit a warm, familiar emotional response and studies show that consumers like the feel of cartons
• Research also shows that consumers appreciate that cartons are made from a renewable resource and are easy to recycle

Value Creation

Cartonboard and carton makers are continually researching new technologies to improve performance and respond to market demands:
• Cartonboard mills aim to become increasingly resource-efficient by using less wood and energy. The development of lighter base weights means the use of less packaging overall and less waste
• Carton manufacturers have identified waste reduction as a significant contribution to environmental protection, which also beings economic benefits
• Cartons offer versatile packaging solutions to help consumers use products. For example:

o Beer multipacks which are stored in the fridge and then used as ice buckets
o Ready meals taken from the fridge and heated in a microwave or oven
o Pharmaceutical cartons can record when a pill is removed and “bleep” when the next pill is due
o Cartons can incorporate covert security features such as a coin-reactive ink panel or overt security features such as an embossed hologram
o Cartons can incorporate electronic elements and conductive inks to provide authentification and to track-and-trace products

For futher details, order “Sustainability and Cartonboard Packaging” at mcewen@procarton.com