Sustainability 101 is a weblog collection that you may flip to for details about totally different environmental phrases which will come up at work, throughout discussions with pals, 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 line with the Organisation for Financial Co-operation and Improvement (OECD), 31% of plastics produced are for packaging – typically 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 might have a unfavorable influence.
Analysis printed within the November 16, 2024, Journal of Hazardous Supplies Advances exhibits that that in landfills, plastic can emit toxins and grow to be a supply of greenhouse gases (GHGs), and in oceans, it might break down into microparticles that would disrupt meals chains and contribute to quite a lot of well being issues.
Another non-recyclable or non-compostable packaging gadgets embody foam, aluminum foil with meals residue, and fused elements equivalent to cardboard connected to foam that can’t be simply separated for recycling.
How does this affect customers’ selections? A 2025 McKinsey & Firm survey reviews that 77 p.c of respondents take into account recyclable packaging “extraordinarily vital” or “crucial,” whereas 62 p.c responded the identical about packaging created from recycled supplies.
Packaging sustainability: Supplies matter
In a round economic system, industries modify their processes to allow the reuse and regeneration of supplies. The purpose is to make merchandise with the smallest environmental influence utilizing the fewest assets potential.
By specializing in supplies, firms could make their product containers and elements extra sustainable, equivalent to berry growers utilizing compostable trays or cosmetics producers utilizing refillable containers for post-purchase reuse.
Another methods embody:
- Decreasing or eliminating pointless elements
- Utilizing QR codes to digitize info vs. printed supplies
- Incentivizing client recycling with rewards or by offering clear directions on the way to recycle
Utilizing these alternate options may also help scale back packaging waste whereas aligning with buyer values. It additionally may also help scale back packaging prices, optimize area effectivity, and construct in regulatory compliance.
How Cisco’s technique has advanced to suppose “contained in the field”
For Cisco, packaging sustainability is the observe of minimizing waste by decreasing or eradicating sure supplies — equivalent to single-use plastic baggage and foam — and changing them with various supplies which are 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 group collaborate on the outset of the design part to craft a bundle that gives the optimum stability of product safety and circularity. A lot of our merchandise now incorporate recyclable fiber-based cushions like FiberFlute®, paper tube cushions, and molded pulp to exchange foam. By means of Cisco’s No Paper Initiative, QR codes for digital product info keep away from materials use altogether.
instance is the Cisco Ceiling Microphone Professional bundle, which is absolutely fiber based mostly. As a substitute of plastic trays, we opted for unbleached molded pulp-fiber trays which are sturdy sufficient to cushion the delicate unit, but mild sufficient for cost-effective transport. 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 may be modified for circularity as properly, and Cisco’s Catalyst 9300 Enterprise Change is a major instance.
To switch 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 ability provide models — avoiding roughly 70 further metric tonnes per yr. To get rid of 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 era Cisco C9350 sensible 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 clients an opt-out possibility through the ordering expertise
- Utilizing multipack options to scale back materials utilization and bundling containers for giant shipments to scale back the variety of bins wanted
By utilizing extra environment friendly, renewable, and recyclable supplies, Cisco not solely helps hold waste out of landfills however reduces prices and saves assets.
Be taught extra about these initiatives and Cisco’s packaging sustainability objectives within the Cisco Goal Reporting Hub.
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