PACKAGING






The role of packaging is containment, protection, safety, and display. And if you are selling your product through retail stores, you are trying to use your packaging to :Catch the browsers attention, create desire, inspire confidence.

A good packaging must contain all information about the product and must seem attractive to attract people's attention.

What is a carbon footprint?

A Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.

A Carbon Footprint is made up of the sum of two parts, the direct / primary footprint and the indirect / secondary footprint.

1-The primary footprint is a measure of our direct emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels including domestic energy consumption and transportation (e.g. car and plane).

2- The secondary footprint is a measure of the indirect CO2 emissions from the whole lifecycle of products we use - those associated with their manufacture and eventual breakdown.

Tips to Reduce Your Primary Footprint

1. Holidays

Don't go by air

2. Electricity

Sign up to renewable energy

3. Gas

Try using solar water heating - this can reduce your gas bill by up to 70% over a year.

4. Travelling around

Use public transport as much as possible. Find out about your local bus services and then use it.

5. Car Share

Sign up to a car share scheme to reduce your travel footprint.

Tips to Reduce Your Secondary Footprint (packaging)

1. Botteled water

2. Food and drink from far distances

If you want you can calculate your foot print there is a calculator. I just did it and give big amounts to try. Here it is..
For example from London to Turkey round trip. 2o trips in a year makes a big loss. Here it is,

There are several work shops for Foot print your packaging. And I am really interested.
As a designer I really like designing packages but before i didnt think about the harm we give to environment. I just learned about carbon footprint while searching for my course. I think designing is only a part of work, we have to think about environment too! I am happy that I learned about carbon footprint.

Marks & Spencer Packaging not as green as competition


Marks & Spencer has made large effect to reduce their carbon footprint. Their plan A project has seen many incremental steps move the chain towards a more sustainable model.

Unfortunately though, their packaging seems to be rather hard to recycle. A new report has shown that less of their packaging can be recycled than any other large supermarket chain.

What is green packaging?
Green packaging=friendly to environment packaging


Green packaging causes less damage to the environment than other forms of packaging - it is 'environmentally friendly'. There are three types of green packaging:

• Reusable packaging, such as glass bottles, which can itself be cleaned and re-used to store the same food or something else.
• Recyclable packaging, which is made of materials that can be used again, usually after processing, for packaging or some another purpose. Recyclable packaging materials include glass, metal, card and paper.
• Biodegradable packaging, which will easily breakdown and disappear into the soil or the atmosphere, without causing damage.

Packaging that can be recycled should carry standard symbols that tell people what the product is made from and how it can be recycled. The key symbols are outlined in the table below:

What is traffic light labeling?

A growing number of supermarkets and food manufacturers are using traffic light colours on the labels of some products to help you make your choice.

What do the traffic light colours mean?

Food products with traffic light labels on the front of the pack show you at-a-glance if the food you are thinking about buying has high, medium or low amounts of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt, helping you get a better balance.

In addition to traffic light colours you will also see the number of grams of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt in what the manufacturer or retailer suggests as a 'serving' of the food.

So, if you see a red light on the front of the pack, you know the food is high in something we should be trying to cut down on. It's fine to have the food occasionally, or as a treat, but try to keep an eye on how often you choose these foods, or try eating them in smaller amounts.

If you see amber, you know the food isn't high or low in the nutrient, so this is an OK choice most of the time, but you might want to go for green for that nutrient some of the time.

Green means the food is low in that nutrient. The more green lights, the healthier the choice.

The traffic light colours will make it easier for you to compare products at-a-glance. The label also tells you how much of each nutrient is in a portion, so if two labels have similar colours you can compare these figures, and choose the one that is lower to make a healthier choice.


What manufacturers can and can't say on a product label?

Can say;

Name and address of manufacturer

The product must be labelled with the name and address of the manufacturer, packer, importer or seller of the product. This can usually be used if the consumer wishes to make a comment about the product, directly to the company.

Origin

A product must always state its country of origin if its absence could be misleading to a consumer, eg. an Italian pizza made in the UK.

Quantity

Some foods are sold in so-called 'prescribed quantities' eg. all pre-packed bread is sold in multiples of 400g. Virtually all food must display a quantity.

All the information on quantities refers to 'Net Weight' ie. the weight without the packaging.

Quantitative Ingredient Declarations

QUID declarations are made as a percentage of the ingredient or of the entire product when the ingredient or category of ingredient is:

• highlighted by labelling or picture eg. 'extra cheese'
• mentioned in the name of the product eg. 'Cheese and onion pasty'
• normally connected with the name by the consumer eg. fruit in a summer pudding

In addition to this they must say, ingredients, storage instructions, best before dates, nutritional information, labeling of organic food, daily energy allowances(for women,children and men) and food allergies..

Cant say; I think every thing must write on the package, people want to know every thing they use otherwise if something happens like health problems (ex: if doesnt contain food allergies information), this will be against the company.