INCREASING the volume of sustainable packaging such as paper is the number one priority for improving the environmental performance of UK FMCG businesses, according to new research.
Aquapak Polymers led the research, with 100 UK packaging experts responsible for packaging R&D, technology, design, and sustainability for FMCG brands surveyed.
The shift to paper packaging comes ahead of improving the energy efficiency of operations, biodiversity, and reducing the carbon footprint of logistics and reducing water use and waste. Reducing or abolishing plastic use altogether ranked last.
The majority of respondents said that there is a significant threat to their business if the environmental performance of the packaging used is not improved, with two thirds describing it as high and 31% said it was ‘average’. Just 3% said the threat was very low.
Nearly three quarters (70%) of respondents said that their business faced the risk of reputationaldamage if they didn’t improve the environmental performance of their packaging, 67% said they could miss ESG and sustainability targets, and 60% said they would see a drop in market share to competitors.
The research also highlighted the risks FMCG brands businesses face if they don’t move away from plastic to sustainable materials in their consumer packaging, ranked in order of importance:
|
Risk |
% of respondents |
|
Reputational risk |
70 |
|
Missing ESG /sustainability targets |
67 |
|
Drop in market share to competitors |
60 |
|
Pressure from NGOs |
37 |
|
Declining share price |
33 |
|
Declining sales |
33 |
The importance of packaging to the reputational and financial performance of FMCG brands is highlighted by the report findings which showed that although 24% of respondents said the packaging director is the ultimate decision-maker when it comes to moving to more sustainable materials in their business, 22% revealed it was the CEO, 17% said it was the finance director, and 14% said it was the brand director, followed by the operations director (13%) and sustainability director (10%).
Dr John Williams, chief technical officer at Aquapak, said, “It is really encouraging to see that moving to sustainable packaging materials such as paper is the top priority for FMCG brands and a board-level decision when it comes to improving their environmental credentials and mitigating reputational and financial risks of not doing so. Abolishing the wrong sort of plastic use is important and is a longer term target, the change has to be balanced as they assess alternative materials and wait for greater clarity around targets and regulation.”
