At a recent Digital Print for Packaging US conference, a panel of four brands discussed how digital printing can aid CPG companies in achieving their sustainability objectives. Art director of packaging and print at Seventh Generation, Tomlynn Biondo, opines that younger generations often use brands as a way to represent themselves, so they’re going to be moving towards these businesses that have sustainable development focus and objectives as they want to feel good about the decisions that they’re making.
The panellists’ companies have made the following attempts:
- Development of reusable goods
- Using sustainable materials
- Use of labelling and QR codes to explain recycling systems to consumers
- Reducing packaging to cut back on waste
- Direct to consumer marketing
However, none of the panellists’ organisations had thought about using digital printing as a way to achieve sustainability objectives. Some participants believed that the only uses for digital printing were for sales samples and customisation, such as at local events. Only Annica Eldh, the R & D packaging manager for the H & M Group, asserted that she thought digital printing would become increasingly important as it progressed in the packaging sector.
However, there are a lot of uses for digital printing that could raise the sustainability profiles of companies, as Sean Smith, a private consultant at Smithers, highlighted. During the conference, he remarked, one doesn’t need any cylinders, one does not need any plates, one does not need as much setup waste as one would need with an analogue press, and one can drop weight. But maybe more importantly than all of those is that by eliminating supply chain inefficiency and potential redundancy, one can adapt to demand much more swiftly.
In other words, because digital printing is done on demand, which also accelerates time to market, it eliminates the obsolescence problem associated with inventories. Digital printing enables packaging consolidation for direct-to-consumer packaging, which the panellists said is a growingly well-liked sustainability initiative among customers. That’s because the package that the consumer receives at their door may be made to advertise the goods inside and provide important information about the product and recycling, negating the need for additional cases, cartons, or even containers.
HP Inc.’s Doris Brown-McNally, who oversees WW brands’ innovation and strategic partnerships, revealed that her organisation had just completed a study with One Tribe, a certified B Corp. made up of technologists, environmentalists, and marketers who assist brands in decarbonizing their e-commerce activities. What if all packing was printed digitally? was addressed in the study. According to One Tribe’s response, the waste generated by the industry would be reduced by 26%, or more than 50 billion tonnes of material.
Digital printing, which uses less ink than analogue methods, has expenses that are based on the quantity of physical space being printed. This contrasts with analogue printing, where costs are based on the quantity of inks used—a point that many brands are still oblivious to. The quality of digital printing has improved over the past ten years, which is another differentiation that the industry is attempting to highlight. In fact, technology has advanced to the point that consumers are unable to distinguish between packaging that has been printed digitally and analogically.
Co-founder and CMO of ePac Flexible Packaging, Carl Joachim, said that digital not only equals but in many cases surpasses the quality that one is able to get off a flexographic press. Senior director of global in-market graphics, Global Graphic Shared Service, SC Johnson, Melody M. Miller, responded to a question about how to approach brands with these benefits by advising beginning by demonstrating to the procurement department how much money and time digital printing will save them.
A regionally based digital supply chain for print is a brilliant idea, but to sell that to a brand owner, one has to show that it will save money and they are going to have to be ready to go into this sale with a team of people, Miller said. The brand owner would like to talk to them about end-to-end. They will ask questions regarding the entire supply chain. Be ready to attend these meetings with a team of people and work with the supply chain to be able to respond to those queries.
