Sustainability 101 is a weblog sequence which you could flip to for details about totally different environmental phrases which will come up at work, throughout discussions with mates, and even at your loved ones gatherings.
Whether or not we’re buying grocery gadgets wrapped in plastic or receiving a house cargo packed in polystyrene peanuts, packaging is a part of our on a regular basis lives. Nevertheless, a lot of it turns into waste after one use.
In keeping with the Organisation for Financial Co-operation and Growth (OECD), 31% of plastics produced are for packaging – usually single-use and with a median six-month lifespan. Plastic is broadly used as an efficient packaging materials, however as waste within the surroundings, it will possibly have a adverse affect.
Analysis printed within the November 16, 2024, Journal of Hazardous Supplies Advances reveals that that in landfills, plastic can emit toxins and change into a supply of greenhouse gases (GHGs), and in oceans, it will possibly break down into microparticles that would disrupt meals chains and contribute to quite a lot of well being problems.
Another non-recyclable or non-compostable packaging gadgets embody foam, aluminum foil with meals residue, and fused parts reminiscent of cardboard connected to foam that can not be simply separated for recycling.
How does this affect customers’ selections? A 2025 McKinsey & Firm survey stories that 77 % of respondents contemplate recyclable packaging “extraordinarily necessary” or “crucial,” whereas 62 % responded the identical about packaging produced from recycled supplies.
Packaging sustainability: Supplies matter
In a round financial system, industries alter their processes to allow the reuse and regeneration of supplies. The objective is to make merchandise with the smallest environmental affect utilizing the fewest assets attainable.
By specializing in supplies, corporations could make their product containers and parts extra sustainable, reminiscent of berry growers utilizing compostable trays or cosmetics producers utilizing refillable containers for post-purchase reuse.
Another methods embody:
- Decreasing or eliminating pointless parts
- Utilizing QR codes to digitize data vs. printed supplies
- Incentivizing shopper recycling with rewards or by offering clear directions on tips on how to recycle
Utilizing these alternate options can assist scale back packaging waste whereas aligning with buyer values. It additionally can assist scale back packaging prices, optimize house effectivity, and construct in regulatory compliance.
How Cisco’s technique has advanced to suppose “contained in the field”
For Cisco, packaging sustainability is the follow of minimizing waste by decreasing or eradicating sure supplies — reminiscent of single-use plastic baggage and foam — and changing them with different supplies which might be renewable, recyclable, or each.
In 2019, Cisco developed a set of Round Design Ideas for its merchandise throughout 5 classes — one among which is packaging and equipment. Product groups and packaging engineers in our Provide Chain Operation workforce collaborate on the outset of the design section to craft a package deal that gives the optimum steadiness of product safety and circularity. Lots of our merchandise now incorporate recyclable fiber-based cushions like FiberFlute®, paper tube cushions, and molded pulp to interchange foam. By way of Cisco’s No Paper Initiative, QR codes for digital product data keep away from materials use altogether.
An excellent instance is the Cisco Ceiling Microphone Professional package deal, which is absolutely fiber based mostly. As an alternative of plastic trays, we opted for unbleached molded pulp-fiber trays which might be robust sufficient to cushion the delicate unit, but gentle sufficient for cost-effective delivery. We additionally swapped out the traditional single-use plastic bag with a custom-fit paper sleeve that absolutely encases the unit and shields it from mud and abrasion.
Packaging from legacy merchandise will be modified for circularity as properly, and Cisco’s Catalyst 9300 Enterprise Swap is a primary instance.
To exchange foam, we used recycled thermoforms to cushion the chassis — eliminating about 250 metric tonnes of froth yearly — and recycled and recyclable fiber-based retention packs for the facility provide items — avoiding roughly 70 extra metric tonnes per 12 months. To eradicate plastic baggage, we opted for paper flag labels on energy cords, consolidated small components throughout a number of baggage, and swapped out plastic for paper-based envelopes. In fiscal 2025, Cisco utilized these packaging modifications to the brand new technology Cisco C9350 good switches.
Packaging sustainability: A Round Design Precept
Round Design Ideas have reworked the product and packing design course of at Cisco. Different examples of how we incorporate circularity into our packaging embody:
- Decreasing supplies utilization with a heightened deal with plastics discount
- Designing containers and packing supplies to be separable and simply recycled at finish of use
- Utilizing post-consumer waste in new packaging components
- Eliminating paper documentation in new product shipments
- Decreasing the cargo of unused equipment by providing our prospects an opt-out possibility in the course of the ordering expertise
- Utilizing multipack options to scale back materials utilization and bundling containers for giant shipments to scale back the variety of packing containers wanted
Through the use of extra environment friendly, renewable, and recyclable supplies, Cisco not solely helps maintain waste out of landfills however reduces prices and saves assets.
Be taught extra about these initiatives and Cisco’s packaging sustainability targets within the Cisco Function Reporting Hub.
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