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With sustainability rising up the agenda and new regulations reshaping packaging requirements, brands face increasing pressure to innovate without compromising on performance. Sarah De La Mare, product line director at Berry Global, shares why consumer experience must remain central to sustainable pack design – from tethered caps to circular systems.

Packaging plays a significant role in shaping a brand's identity and how consumers relate to it. It not only influences aesthetics, driving purchases and brand loyalty, but also serves a vital function in protecting the product inside, ensuring formula stability, safety and optimal performance for the consumer. Additionally, packaging must provide the right levels of functionality, such as ease of handling and access, which is especially important for multi-use products in the food and beverage industry.

Get these practical requirements wrong and the ensuing consumer frustration may compromise brand image and reduce the likelihood of repeat purchases. Most of us will have experienced this so-called ‘wrap rage’ at some point – indeed, it even has its own entry in Wikipedia!

The design challenges with legislation

Packaging design involves integrating various requirements. While the aesthetic appeal of the package is often the easy part, reconciling this with practical and user-friendly features can be challenging. As packaging manufacturers, we frequently encounter pack concepts that appear ideal on paper, but it is our responsibility to ensure they can be produced cost-effectively and perform as well as they look.

Today, there is another vital element in any new pack development: the need to design for sustainability. This is being driven not only by companies’ own environmental commitments and consumer demand, but equally by legislation, such as the EU’s PPWR and the UK Producer Responsibility Obligations.

Alongside these wide-ranging regulations has been some more targeted legislation. One such example is the EU directive that requires plastic bottle caps to stay attached to containers after opening. The Tethered Closure legislation came into effect in July 2024 for single-use plastic beverage containers up to three litres in size. Although the UK is not bound by this legislation, most drink manufacturers are adopting a standard closure across all markets for ease of production and simplified logistics.

Want to read more about this?

On 3 July 2024, the EU’s new legislation mandating tethered caps for single-use plastic beverage containers officially came into effect. Despite initial pushback from major brands, the industry has adapted, with a new raft of innovations emerging in the caps and closures market. Explore the latest developments, including sustainable materials and design, that reflect the ongoing transition towards more eco-friendly packaging solutions. Read the full article here.

The rationale behind this initiative is clear. The directive aims to reduce the litter caused by discarded caps and ensure that instead they are collected and recycled along with their bottles – benefits that will resonate with today’s environmentally conscious consumers.

Maintaining the drinking experience

Nevertheless, like most good ideas, it is the execution that makes all the difference. For those drinking directly out of the bottle, keeping the cap attached to the neck of the bottle can have a detrimental effect on their drinking experience, for example, if the cap impedes access to the bottle opening or touches the face during drinking.

This is where the technical aspects of the design become important. To avoid the closure obstructing use, it must open to a sufficiently wide angle. However, since plastic is known for its flexibility, it is essential that the closure does not bounce back but stays in place, ideally providing a reassuring ‘click’ to confirm this to the consumer. Equally important is the ease of replacing the closure on the bottle for resealing.

To achieve all this requires a robust part design and careful control of manufacturing. The resulting tether has to be flexible enough to bend back, but rigid enough to click the lid into place. Too much either way and you risk the closure not staying in place or breaking off completely. At the same time, the tethered bands must be strong enough for multiple uses without breakage, so that the closure can be placed easily and accurately on the bottle each time.

The most effective tethered closures transform challenges into opportunities by providing solutions that meet sustainability requirements while maintaining ease of use and consumer convenience.

Technical expertise also drives many other advancements in sustainable packaging. One key example is the ongoing lightweighting of packaging, which reduces carbon emissions by minimising material use and lowering transportation impact. Advanced design techniques ensure that this reduction doesn't compromise the pack’s functionality, allowing it to remain durable and protective throughout the supply chain.

Designing for sustainability

Today, sustainability informs every aspect of the design process. An initial assessment includes evaluating the number of materials used in the pack’s manufacture and determining if they can be reduced. Ideally, the goal is often to create a mono-material solution, or one whose components can be easily separated to make recycling easier, where appropriate recycling infrastructures are in place. Additionally, the use of recycled plastic in the pack's production is considered, along with the potential for reuse or repurposing. In food applications, opportunities for portion control and resealability are also prioritised to help minimise food waste.

Nevertheless, achieving a balance between functionality and sustainability is essential in any pack design. Above all, the pack must remain fit for its intended purpose; if it fails to deliver on its primary function, any environmental benefits will likely be rendered worthless. However, by applying the right skills and knowledge and utilising the appropriate tools, it is possible to create packaging that meets the needs of consumers, fillers, brand owners, and recyclers without compromise, resulting in a new generation of circular packaging.

It is equally true that such packs provide brand owners with the opportunity to showcase their sustainability commitments. These commitments then become an integral part of the brand promise, alongside the other values that have been nurtured over the years.

Innovation has always been the lifeblood of new pack development. Sustainability – driven by both legislation and brands’ and packaging manufacturers’ initiatives – will remain a critical part of the process. However, underlying at the heart of it all must be the consumer experience. Brands that successfully integrate sustainability with a focus on enhancing the consumer experience will lead the way in the future of packaging.