Packaging: The most important part of what you buy?

The economic crisis has put renewed focus on the energy efficiency sector because of its ability to reduce consumption while saving money.

Now ecopackaging is poised to become the next low-hanging fruit of the cleantech world. Investors and entrepreneurs this week at one of Europe's biggest cleantech conferences reported unprecedented interest in reducing the use of raw materials while finding superior protection for food and other products.

“Thirteen percent of our carbon footprint comes from food and catering, and we found ourselves looking at technologies that could address that problem,” said Nick Pople, managing director of the Ludgate Environmental Fund. “Then we looked up the food chain.”

Packaging alone accounts for about 10 percent of the environmental impact of anything bought, experts said.

In addition, nearly 30 percent of food sold in stores in developed countries such as the U.S. and UK is thrown into landfills without being touched. That waste is filling landfills, as well as wasting money (see Food waste costing billions in the U.K.). Waste prompted UK grocery chain Sainsbury's to announce that it plans to have all its food waste sent to biomass stations by the end of the summer to produce renewable energy (see Sainsbury's to send unsold food to UK biomass plant).

Through a variety of technologies—bioplastics, nanoparticles, recycled materials, and improved barriers—a number of companies are beginning to extend shelf lives, reduce the need for petroleum-based plastics, and reduce landfill waste, sector leaders said this week in a panel on ecopackaging at the Cleantech Forum XXII in Copenhagen.

“The need for sustainable packaging is obvious. It’s a regulatory requirement in some places, but we also see consumer demand for it,” said Hakan Grubb, CEO of Sweden-based Xylophane, a company that developed a barrier material for packaging that reduces food waste by extending shelf lives.

Xylophane extracts a polymer from the husks of grains to create an improved barrier. The company plans to have its production line set up this year thanks to $4.3 million raised in January (see Xylophane pulls $4M for advanced food packaging).

The sector has started to attract some attention, but investors say it’s still not on the radar of most of their peers.

“There is a big market because there’s a huge volume of plastics, and the sustainability packaging market’s share is absolutely minimal,” said Rob Wylie, a partner at WHEB Ventures, which has invested in a company developing a technology to improve the shelf life of packaged food to 28 days.

As the field is still in its early days, there’s no silver bullet that has emerged. Many of the new materials are still in development, and panelists said each advancement needs to be studied for the effects from its creation to disposal.

“It has to be as good in terms of barrier properties and cost while not being more expensive that what it’s replacing,” said Andreas Hornfeldt, investment director at Stora Enso New Business Creation. “You also have to talk about transportation, production, recycling, and manufacturing.”

Grubb noted that ecopackaging companies won’t get a premium on their products because consumers and manufacturers aren’t willing to pay extra to be green.

Additionally, consumers historically aren’t adopting ecopackaging if its appearance is less attractive than what they’re used to, Wylie said.

“Most traditional biodegradable packaging is a bit naff. It doesn’t look very good, it’s a bit cloudy,” Wylie said. “It has to have the same gloss, same feel as far as the user is concerned because that, in their mind, is a statement of quality. … Those are not traditional areas a technologist is looking.”

Ole Faarbaek Jensen, the deputy CEO of Spain’s NanoBioMatters, said that consumer demand for perfect packaging could be resolved with some education.

NanoBioMatters is using highly abundant nano clay to improve packaging barriers and reduce the use of petroleum in plastic. The nanotechnology has an invisible function, but Jensen said the sector shouldn’t dismiss technology based on appearance.

“For bioplastic to be really useful there has to be acceptance in the market. There are some markets in which the packaging looks uglier but sells better because the population understands it’s better for the environment. This will take public education,” he said. “Just because it’s nanotechnology doesn’t mean it’s more expensive, but it may not look as good.”

The panelists said they could face market-adoption resistance. Bioplastics displace the need for plastic, which hurts plastic producers. And longer shelf lives could mean consumers buy less food because less of what’s in their fridges is going to waste.

“There is a risk producers sell less of their products,” Hornfeldt said. “But most companies see a bigger risk on product going to waste on their shelves.”

Cleantech developments making news in the past 24 hours

• AES raises $1.58B with China Investment
• Patently unobvious
• Dow’s reverse osmosis tech picked for Australian desal plant
• Biogas plant moves forward in Chennai

View the last week of cleantech developments here | Subscribe to full feed