Monday 30 September 2013

Summer Brief - Hobby/Interest: Plastic - Packaging Presentation


Slide 1 - Plastic Packaging

I chose to do my presentation on plastic packaging as it is something I feel passionate about. I think it is important as a graphic designer to be aware of the environmental impacts that relate closely to our industry.

Slide 2 - The History

1862 - The first manmade plastic was unveiled by Alexander Parkes at the Great International Exhibition in London and is called Parkesine.

1950 – The plastic garbage bag (made from polyethylene) was invented by two Canadians.

Slide 3 – The History

1959 - The first licensed character lunch box was produced and in the 1960s was adapted and Plastic was used for the handle and then for the entire box.

2000 - Polylactic acid (PLA) made from corn was introduced to the packaging market, and brought back bio-based plastic to packaging.

Slide 4 – The History

2008 - Plastic bottles achieve a 27% recycling rate, reclaiming 2.4 billion pounds of plastic.

2010 – Heinz created the first ketchup packaging innovation in 42 years with a dual function packaging offering a peel back lid and a tear off tip.

Slide 5 – Types of Plastic

Read off slide

Slide 6 – Sugar Cane Packaging
  • Sugar Cane is grown to extract sugar from its stalk. After the juice is extracted, the remaining sugar cane fiber pulp is called Bagasse. Up until recently, Bagasse was treated as a waste product, and was often burned thereby causing air pollution. Producing packaging out of the sugar cane pulp solves the problem of waste. In addition it creates a value added product from a material that was once treated as a waste product.
  • It is 100% compostable and it biodegrades in 30-90 days.
Slide 7 – Ecover Case Study
  • They are using sugarcane to produce their plastic, which is sustainable, unharmful to the environment and only 15 hectares of land need harvesting for a year's worth of Ecover packaging.
Slide 8 – Procter and Gamble Case Study
  • Pantene Pro-V, Gillette Fusion, and Olay Total Effects have already reduced their packaging weight by at least 10%.
  • The new Pantene packaging includes sugarcane derived plastic from Brazil, which uses over 70% less fossil fuel than petroleum-based plastic and has 170% lower greenhouse gas emissions.
  • The Gillette razor has been adapted with a 75% reduction in plastic and 20% reduction in gross weight.
Slide 9 – Plant Bottle Packaging
  • Fully recyclable PET plastic, which is party made from plant material.
  • Up to 30% of the PlantBottle packaging material comes from plants unlike traditional plastic bottles made from non-renewable fossil fuels.

Slide 10 – Coca Cola Case Study
  • Coca Cola is an example of a brand using plant based packaging.
  • The plant based part of the bottle is made using sustainably sourced sugarcane from Brazil.
  • They are working hard to find a wider variety of plant sources and hope to use plant waste in the future such as fruit peel, bark and stalks.

Slide 11 – Coca Cola Case Study

Read off slide

Slide 12 – Health Concerns
  • Chemicals added to plastics are absorbed by human bodies. Some of these compounds have been found to alter hormones or have other potential human health effects.
  • Plastic buried deep in landfills can leach harmful chemicals that spread into groundwater.

Slide 13 – The Future

Within the plastics sector, the emergence of products with strong environmental credentials is forecast to continue, in order to overcome our concerns.

Slide 14 – End Quote

When designing packaging it’s important to consider its full life cycle. Can it be reused? How easy is it to recycle? It’s a designer’s responsibility to, at the least, inform a client of the opportunities to use water based inks and recycled or sustainable substrates.

No comments:

Post a Comment