Consumers are finally pushing back against wasteful packaging, forcing companies to get creative in a way that’s boosting new, sustainable industries.

The other day my roommate brought home a couple of bacon-wrapped fillets for dinner. When it came time to throw them on the grill, I was shocked to find the meat duo ensconced in a horrible, rigid plastic blister pack. You know, the type normally reserved for electronics that usually results in a lot of swearing and brandishing of a kitchen knife? All for two, teeny little steaks.

Encouragingly, not all manufacturers are content to hand over pounds of unnecessary trash for you to figure out how to recycle. Over the past decade, companies have begun to realize that wasteful packaging is costly, and as consumers become more eco-aware, a strike against their brand. Some, like Dell, Coke, and Puma, are embracing alternative packaging materials that just a few years ago might have seemed like a joke. The result is a drastic reduction in waste, marketing clout, and the invigoration of low-impact industries.

1. Bioplastics and Biodegradable Plastics

The worst thing about petroleum-based plastic products and packaging is that it can take thousands of years to degrade in a landfill, all the while leaching toxic chemicals into the soil and water table. Biodegradable plastics are designed to break down much faster, and, assuming they’re made from friendlier ingredients, do so without poisoning the planet. Biodegradable plastics are susceptible to degradation by microorganisms, which is different from other forms of degradation, such as photo-degradation (from exposure to sunlight) and oxo-degradation (from exposure to high temperature and humidity).

Bioplastic, often confused for biodegradable plastic, is slightly different. Bio-based plastics are made wholly from renewable resources, such as cellulose, vegetable oils, sugar or starch. Wood, corn, potato, wheat, tapioca, and rice are some of the sources of resin for bio-based plastics. Bio-based plastics are not automatically bio-degradable, but can be so designed. This lower-impact material has been embraced by Coke and other beverage brands.

2. Mushroom Packaging

A New York company called Ecovative Design is responsible for re-introducing America to the magic of mushrooms–but not the hallucination-inducing kind. The company “grows” its Mushroom Packaging (pictured, top) using mycelium, a fungal network of threadlike cells. This mycelium grows around agricultural by-products like buckwheat husks, oat hulls, or cotton burrs. In 5 – 7 days, in the dark, with no watering, and no petrochemical inputs, the mycelium envelops the by-products, binding them into a strong and beautiful packaging material. This unique, compostable packaging material is already being used by Dell, Steelcase, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

3. Reuseable Packaging

It’s no accident that ‘reduce’ and ‘reuse’ come before ‘recycle’ in the list of eco-friendly actions. The most eco-friendly form of packaging is that which never exists in the first place. Puma demonstrated a brilliant application of this concept with its “Clever Little Bag”. The redesigned shoe box has no tissue paper, zero laminated printing, takes up less space than a traditional shoe box, and weighs significantly less when shipping. It’s house in a non-woven satchel that provides a handle for carrying the box home, and can then be reused indefinitely. A friend of mine actually uses hers to carry her mat shoes to kickboxing class, but it could just as easily double as a shopping bag or wine carrier.




Images: ecovative | 17Drew

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Feel good package design that hooks consumers where it matters most: in the shower.

When you found your perfect shower gel, was it love at first sniff? Probably not. When it comes to shower products – be it for cleansing your body or eradicating mildew – packaging is everything. You’d think that social responsibility starts with a good scrub down, but the eco innards are almost secondary to a product’s efficient, streamlined, biodegradable, recyclable, reusable or otherwise feel-good skin.

Take, for example, the German brand Stop the Water While Using Me!, designed by award-winning agency KOREFE. The brief was: “develop a brand for a high-quality range of cosmetics that meet the increasing requirements of an ecologically aware society and set new standards in environmental protection.” The innovation being, “the message is the brand.”

Clean black and white packaging with a casual font (Ana Regular), plus clever copy about not wasting water equals one tempting purchase. Never mind that the product range does, in fact, require water for use and that the country of origin does not actually have a water issue. It’s an international branding exercise at the source – and the package is all that counts.

Two other eco, organic or otherwise “feel good” shower products that rely on a similarly sleek sell?

Philosophy, “a brand that approaches personal care from a skin care point of view, while celebrating the beauty of the human spirit.” they also employ the use of lowercase letters, exclusively, to drive their point into your homes and bathrooms. the point being: there is no “i” in buy me.

And the Estée Lauder eco-brand Origins, founded in 1990 as a botanical treatment line designed for the environmentally conscious consumer who doesn’t mind spending $13 on a bar of bath soap. The company also owns Prescriptives and Clinique demonstrating that personal care relies not only on fabulous packaging, but on a really good name – and potential medical intervention, too.

That’s not to say that the shower and beauty products mentioned above aren’t what they portend to be, or that their core messages aren’t good for humanity. Simply consider their inclusion here as another branding exercise, one that proves eco is still a big sell and that altruism reigns when we’re at our most vulnerable: naked and dirty.

That being said, we really like this vegan, handmade, cold-pressed soap operation run out of Oregon – and their excellent packaging.

Perhaps it’s just a matter of time before Prunella gets picked up by eco-branding company extraordinaire Hain Celestial Group and marketed on the shelves of a Whole Foods near you.

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How do Pret A Manger’s sustainable values extend to all of its locations?

Pret A Manger was founded in London by two college friends who wanted to make a “proper” sandwich with natural ingredients, “the sort of food they craved but couldn’t find anywhere else.”

As the story goes, “Pret grew and grew. And grew.” Since the first sandwich shop opened in 1986, Pret has expanded to 265 shops in the United Kingdom, United States, Hong Kong, and now France. With an emphasis on “good natural food,” Pret emphasizes local sourcing, organic ingredients, and corporate transparency. But how well have these commitments transferred to Pret’s overseas locations, and how will they continue to scale? This week’s Behind the Label column takes a look.

On its U.K. corporate website, Pret a Manger addresses its sustainability challenges with honesty, openness, and a touch of cheek.

We don’t believe in long-winded ‘eco’ policies that simply don’t ring true. This is our Sustainability Strategy; it explains what we actually do at Pret rather than just what we’d like to.

Goals are broken into several categories: resources, waste, sustainable sourcing, healthy food, contribution to society, and the intangible “do more.”

The Good

Among its sustainability goals, Pret aims to send zero waste to the landfill by 2012 by implementing a number of simple steps. For one, Pret donates all of its unused food to homeless shelters at the end of each day, amounting to more than 12,000 meals per week in the U.K. Pret has also rolled out both front of house and back of house recycling in its U.K. locations, as well as new composting measures. Packaging is either made from sustainable sources, or from recycled material and is fully recyclable. Employees are trained to only provide one napkin per item purchased, and to ask customers if they really want a plastic bag.

Pret also feels strongly about the quality of its ingredients, and it is surprisingly open about the challenges involved in sustainable sourcing:

Buying ingredients locally makes perfect sense for a multitude of reasons… Buying decisions don’t just come down to distance, however, and other things come into play – weather and local farming methods being just two. Is it better to grow tomatoes in the sunshine of Southern Spain and then put them on a boat, or to grow them in a poly tunnel under UV light in England?

This open, conversational tone pervades Pret’s messaging. Throughout the site, customers are invited to contact top-level Pret managers with questions and suggestions. And believe it or not, they actually write back! When I emailed Pret’s Technical Manager asking about U.S. ingredient sourcing, I received a prompt response connecting me with Pret’s U.S. Director of Food and head of customer service. I haven’t yet received a concrete answer to my question, but I’m impressed that with a simple email I was provided instant access to people in positions of power within the company.

The Bad

A few months ago, our Behind the Label on Chipotle showed that fresh food and natural ingredients don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand with health. The same rings true for Pret A Manger.

Last April, a Daily Mail article revealed the “alarming truth” about Pret’s offerings; namely, that their items contain shockingly high calorie, saturated fat, and sugar counts. A small cup of tomato soup, for instance, contains 4.5 grams of salt – “the same as the amount in nine packets of crisps” and close to the UK’s daily recommended allowance of 6 grams per day. The Posh Cheddar and Pickle Baguette contains 800 calories and 15.6 grams of saturated fat, while the Ham, Cheese, and Mustard Toastie clocks in at 696 calories and 18 grams of saturated fat. “Eek!” the Daily Mail proclaimed. Eek is right.

Also questionable is Pret A Manger’s relationship with McDonald’s, which owned a 33 percent majority share in the company from 2001 to 2008. Pret describes the relationship simply and directly, but somewhat vaguely:

Their international influence and expertise helped in our expansion beyond the UK (something clamoured for by the thousands of tourists who visit our shops each week). McDonald’s did not have any direct influence over what we sold or how we sold it. In 2008, Pret A Manger was sold to Bridgepoint which brought an end to the relationship with McDonald’s.

The partnership is obviously a sore subject, so much so that Pret has retained a PR firm specifically to distance itself from the mega-chain.

The Questionable

Pret A Manger’s success has changed the way many Brits perceive fast food, and its overseas expansion proves that the movement doesn’t have to be limited to the U.K. But how readily do Pret’s values translate across marketplaces? One apparent disconnect is in the different messaging and information available on Pret A Manger’s country-specific websites.

On the U.K. site, for instance, the Pret Sustainability section provides a wide array of information with specific details and action points. In its Ingredients section, we can see that Pret’s meatballs include pork from Farm Assured-equivalent European farms, “mixed and cooked for us in Cambridgeshire.” Milk is “100 percent organic, from dairy farms in and around Somerset, delivered chilled every day,” while pesto is “prepared and blended in New Covent Garden Market to our own traditional recipe.”

That makes sense for the U.K., but what about policies in the U.S., Hong Kong, and now France, where Pret just opened a Paris location?

The U.S. Pret Sustainability section is pretty spare, with the same goals outlined but nothing close to the level of detail and concreteness available on the U.K. site. Curiously, Pret sites for Hong Kong and France don’t even have sustainability sections.

The disconnect was further illustrated during a recent visit to a Pret A Manger in midtown Manhattan by a few of my EcoSalon colleagues. When the women couldn’t locate recycling receptacles in the dining area, they asked the employee behind the counter where they could recycle their bottles and cans. The employee accepted the bottles and cans, but then threw them into the regular trash can.

“With all that they have touting organic all over the restaurant, one would think it was a real sustainable place but I ended up feeling like I was being ripped off with the lack of recycling,” my colleague told me.

Pret A Manger has done a great job at reframing fast food and promoting sustainable practices in the U.K. But if Pret intends to maintain the same mission and goals as it expands, it should ensure that the same policies and messaging are in place across the board and around the world.

SEE ALSO:

Behind the Label: H&M’s Conscious Collection

Behind the Label: McDonald’s See What We’re Made Of Campaign

Behind the Label: Levi Strauss’ E-Valuate Program

Behind the Label: Chipotle, Food With Integrity

Behind the Label: West Elm Green

Behind the Label: TOMS’ One for One Campaign

Behind the Label: Design Within Reach

Behind the Label: Burt’s Bees

Behind the Label: Aveda Natural Beauty Products

Behind the Label: Puma’s Vision and Clever Little Bag

Image: skinnylawyer

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It’s not your grandmother’s wine box!

This 3-liter tube contains a premium, rich and structured California Cab – the first release by winemaker Barry Gnekow, who went looking for a way to drink outside the box and to entertain without the waste.

“My goal was to produce the equivalent of a $25 bottle of wine that could be delivered to the consumer at under $10 per bottle,” he says.

At $40 a tube, The FOUR Cabernet scores many eco points. It eliminates expensive traditional glass-and-cork packaging, cutting wine bottle landfill waste by 85%. The vino package is 100% recyclable and the label is produced by windpower. The cardboard tubes weigh 20% less than glass and can be transported using less gas.

And it’s not just the package that defies the throw-away mentality. The wine, itself, also endures until all 24 glasses are poured.

“The great thing is that it holds about four bottles worth and stays fresh up to 4 weeks after opening,” explains James Robinson of WineStyles, a retail wine store and tasting club in San Francisco. “Often with red wine, people toss out what they don’t drink after a day or two, because it goes bad.”

Robinson poured me a taste out of the spout, and I found it to be delicious, medium-bodied, plummy and lightly oaked, even on its last legs, about two weeks opened.

The wine maker also promises to deliver white wine in a tube, including Chardonnays, at some point this year.

The post Totally Tubular Wine! appeared first on EcoSalon.

The album title is Fearless but the message is be flawless. So what if you can sing. Are you drop-dead gorgeous, model thin and loved by the camera?

When young female vocalists are over-styled to sell, something serious gets lost in the packaging: Raw talent.

I remember back in the day when that talent came in a very simple, green package. Contained within, the songstress: Joan Baez, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell, Roberta Flack, Holly Near, Cris Williamson, Jennifer Warnes and  Carol King.

These icons of my generation were sensual, real women, clad in ribbed sweaters and peasant blouses. When they sang Tapestry, Heart Like a Wheel and Blue, we focused entirely on their voices, instruments, lyrics and message – in other words, the music.

Does anyone else out there miss the music? As I kid, I wanted to emulate these women, so I learned to play the guitar and focused on being a natural woman. Isn’t that the thrust of our evolution to eco?

Cut to Taylor Swift’s ubiquitous Romeo and Juliet Love Story video, in which the singer is cast as the skinny blond Disney princess – sewn into a fitted, medieval gown, tresses swept into an updo of ringlets, face airbrushed like a porcelain doll’s. Who notices the voice when the supermodel image is so captivating?

The message is clear: This is the fairy tale love story that can come with perfection. Not fight the war, protect the migrant worker, sit in a park in Paris, France, read the news and find yourself.

Not to single out Swift. Other popular videos bundle the entire hot Barbie brand: The boyish bod, the doll face, the air-brushed make-up, the expert hip hop dance moves, the skanky get-up, the seductive rubbing up against the back-up dancers, the mediocre voice.

And you better have it all, baby, if you want to go far – you know, selling product lines of phat made-in-China clothes, cruel platform shoes and your very own sickly-sweet scent at Macy’s. Ka-ching!

Of course the package sells but sadly the takers are young, impressionable teens, who croon about their lovely lady humps the same way we harmonized to Leaving on a Jet Plane.

My own over-exposed, naturally beautiful 13-year-old daughter won’t leave the house until she has molded her likeness to the popular culture ideal: Hair flat-ironed, blemishes concealed, skinny jeans tight and hitting the Converse high-tops just right, Lash Blast and eye liner caking the wide-eyed peepers and all body hair erased.

Recently, a shallow girl who was visiting our home played dress-up with my daughter on a weekday afternoon and opined, “You look super gorgeous, Sydney, except for your freckles, which are really ugly.”

After the put down, my daughter suggested she have her adorable freckles removed by laser. Teen fans are not conditioned to see freckles or other imperfections on those 20-something, supermodel pop stars. It might make them look, well, real.

My daughter is convinced flaws aren’t part of the package. She never sampled Carol King’s unruly hair or Joni Mitchell’s sexy overbite. She doesn’t know from icons who can actually sing, write, compose and perform without the bells and whistles, smoke and mirrors, butt pads, hair extensions and boob jobs.

Recently, Fabsugar asked readers to vote which pop star would they like to be, emphasizing which look appeals most to wanna-be singers (glamor of Christina, punk style of Pink, sleek R&B or Indie)?

I love one of the 55 responses: “I like to live a bit of a glam life but not too much…Christina’s way too much for me (plus the hair, the make-up and constant need of showing some cleavage, no really). I went with Natasha Bedingfield without hesitating: fresh, young and stylish. All I’m missing is that small detail: talent. Hmmm, where I can get some of that?”

Fergie and Christina certainly have talent but all that plastic and glitter conceals the woman behind the microphone.

The men behind the music, same as the Hollywood suits behind films, play down the talent and play up the packaging because it fools the audience in a plasticized society trained to see the fabulous sugar coating rather than the true ingredients.

Honestly, would a Linda Ronstadt even make it today? Can you picture a young Bonnie Raitt strumming those slide blues guitar licks on American Idol? Misogynistic Simon Cowell wouldn’t know what to make of little Bonnie’s intense, bottleneck style of jamming. Run, run, run, run, run away.

For the sake of my own daughters, I wish we could keep the great dance music but return to a day when female vocalists ruled with a good set of pipes and an inspirational message. Even if the message is the universal notion that love hurts, it is vastly more believable when sung by a flag burning, guitar strumming, globally-connected messenger with unruly hair, an overbite, and yes, even freckles.

This is the fifth in Luanne’s lifestyle column, Life in the Green Lane.

Images One and Two: Joni Mitchell

Image Three: Amazon

Image Four: Fabsugar

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