Is Compostable a Potential Disrupter in Your Category?

Everyone in the business of selling products which come in any type of package, has to have the environmental impact of their packages on their radar. You must, because your customers do, your governments do and your competitors do, too

More and more consumers are demanding companies address the issue of environmental impact. And if you don’t, your customers could very well switch to a competitor who does. The question is, what are you doing to be ahead of the environmental tidal wave?

Hope is NOT a strategy.
Walmart, Nike, Starbucks, Nestle, P&G, Loblaws, McDonalds … the list goes on – big brands with big budgets or small regional players alike, everyone is under pressure to improve the environmental impact of their business. As the most visible representation of a brand, packaging tends to be a lightning rod for environmental scrutiny.

But with this scrutiny comes opportunity. Companies who champion innovative thinking and packaging are disrupting their categories and leaping ahead of their competitors. Category packaging leaders benefit from Increased revenue and market share through:
• Public relations and market perception
• Potentially deploying new products
• Differentiating from competition
• Increased sales (stealing competitor’s share).
• Increased customer loyalty
• Recruiting top talent
• Retaining key employees
• Employee commitment and buy-in

A prime example of packaging ingenuity comes with the single serve coffee pod. While the single serve format has been a big success among consumers, their success also illuminates a problem. Public backlash against the pod on environmental grounds has been fierce.

Your Natural Product as Part of Your Compostable Resin
Our customer, Club Coffee, partnered with us and the University of Guelph to design a bio-resin pod. Our role was to implement the design and turn it from a good-on-paper idea to an on-shelf reality. After experimenting with several resin formulas, we found the one that not only delivered the consumer benefits of great-tasting single serve coffee with the environmental benefit of being compostable but also used coffee as a part of the resin formula. That’s right we used the natural product as a key ingredient in the compostable packaging!

What could this breakthrough mean for you or your category? Could you use your natural product as an ingredient in your packaging or as part of the structure of your product?

Club Coffee has been praised in the media and is in the happy position of trying to keep up with market demand for their new compostable coffee pod.

What has this to do with your packaging? Everything.
Are you being proactive about environmental strategy?
Is there an opportunity in your category to leap ahead with innovative packaging?
Could you use your product as a part of your packaging or structure via a compostable bio-resin?
Which of your competitors is working on a new environmentally improved package to steal your market share? Do you even know?
And most importantly, what does the emergence of compostable mean to your category? Who is going to use it and how? Will you benefit by being a leader, or will someone be eating your lunch?

Today, companies need to look outside the box to solve today’s environmental issues. A good place to start? Consult with the packaging companies who have the on-the-ground, real-world expertise and insights to create forward-thinking packaging.

We have a long history of thinking ‘outside the box’ and we encourage you to do the same. Your future may depend on it.