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When Less is More

Source:Ringier Release Date:2011-05-30 974
Food & Beverage
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Green packaging initiatives in region should respond to the sustainable lifestyle changes that more consumers are making in Asia

WHEN people talk about going green, the term "less is more" often comes to mind. In fact, the tweaks to make a packaging more environmentally friendly are often calculated in microns – or millionths of a metre, tweaks so tiny they'd fit right on the full-stop at the end of this sentence.
Small as these changes may be, they will reap big savings for manufacturers not just in the food & beverage industry, but also in almost any other industry that requires some sort of packaging of goods. Industries that deal with consumer goods, chemicals, bottling and brewing, pharmaceutical and even cosmetics, amongst others, could see big savings through going green, according to the National Environment Agency of Singapore.
Since 2007, when the NEA initiated an industry-wide Singapore Packaging Agreement* to reduce product packaging, companies who signed on have reaped savings of S$8.34 million. The city state has also reduced 4,520 tonnes of packaging wastes through such initiatives as reducing the size and thickness of materials used for logistical processes and product packaging, the NEA said last year.
For example, by reducing the thickness of a tin from 0.25mm to 0.22mm for the cans of their popular Milo drink, Nestlé Singapore was able to save a whopping 9.5 mega-tonnes of tin and S$12,500 a year.
The bulk of metal cans produced here in Singapore, mainly for the beer, beverage, aerosol and food industries, are exported. Also made here are metal drums, plastic-lined drums, and pails. Wooden pallets are still in demand to meet the large volume of exports, whilst the use of wooden cases has diminished.

Green Initiative
Singapore's packaging industry is poised for greater growth, whilst demonstrating to the region-wide Asia Pacific industry that a business that goes green will not just be more cost-efficient and seen as more environmentally responsible, but it will also be part of business innovation and can be incorporated into brand building and some form of corporate social responsibility that will undoubtedly help boost its name in the market and within stakeholders.
To achieve that, manufacturers must keep up with new packaging trends and use improved products and innovative materials. This is a particularly pertinent issue for Singapore as growth in the October-December quarter of 2010 was powered largely by the manufacturing sector, which expanded 28.2% from a year ago according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. This will aid the industry not just cost-wise but also in terms of working to be more sustainable in their ways and avoid using more than they need to package goods up. These initiatives are boosting Singapore's name as the leading manufacturing hub in APAC as well as the "pioneers" of green packaging in the region.

Clean & Green in One Package
Today's packaging industry does far more than manufacture simple containers. It is often the packaging itself that first catches our attention in supermarkets and department stores and clinches the sale. It is also the packaging that must protect our food from spoilage, expensive breakables from damage and tiny items from getting lost. Yet, all this must be done neatly and in an attractive compact manner that is cost effective – and increasingly clean as well as green, commented David Aitken, managing director of Bangkok Exhibitions Services (BES) behind the ProPak Asia series of trade events.
This summer, ProPak Asia 2011 is going with the event theme, "Go Clean, Go Green, Go Together", which is particularly pertinent with the increasing focus in Asia on the use of cleaner, environmentally friendly technologies, and the task of creating great awareness of environmental issues. "With the growing significance of Asia, especially in the manufacturing space, Asian companies are beingNIKE AIR JORDAN

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