In the face of climate change, North American seafood packaging producers are taking steps to reduce their respective carbon footprints while simultaneously moving to enhance and implement responsible practices – all in an effort to secure a sustainable future for the planet and the industry.
This has meant altering products and seeking alternative materials to polystyrene, the long-time king of seafood packaging commonly known as styrofoam, which has proven detrimental to the environment.
“Sustainability is on everyone’s mind, and not just in a corporate, buzzword way,” said Scott Corey, the director of marketing for Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.A.-based Sealed Air. “In their hearts, people want to do things better for the planet. We have a waste problem globally – we hear about it everyday.”
A sustainable mindset has permeated many aspects of the seafood industry already, from product creation and processing, to fishing and farming. It only makes sense that packaging would come under that purview, too, according to Ted Heidenreich, managing director for packaging products at Packaging Products Corporation, based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
“The seafood industry has been focused on sustainable fisheries, certified safe stocks, and aquaculture in order to protect the supply of seafood for generations to come,” Heidenreich said. “It is completely natural that this effort has transcended to their thoughts on packaging, as the seafood packers drive interest in green solutions to pack and ship their products.”
Dreaming green
As the demand for more green, recyclable packaging rises among both retailers and wholesalers, seafood packaging creators are zeroed-in on sustainability and are aiming to make a cleaner product, either through material reduction in packaging or switching materials entirely after rigorous testing.
At CoolSeal USA – the North American arm of its European partner, headquartered in Grimsby, England – moving toward a 100-percent recyclable product has been the dream.
“It is interesting that ‘plastics’ is in fact a bad word right now within the seafood industry, but our plastic solution is the absolute right thing at the right time and for all the right reasons,” CoolSeal USA President and General Manager Taber Hinkle said.
The company has launched a completely recyclable, custom-branded polypropylene for seafood processors to ship fillets, portions, or whole fish to their customers, as an alternative to polystyrene and waxed packaging. Designed to work with the coolchain, the product breaks down up to 12 hours faster than traditional polystyrene boxes. According to the company, polypropylene can be incinerated without any harm to the environment, giving off only water vapor and carbon dioxide.
Meanwhile, at Sealed Air, the company is looking directly to nature to move toward a greener product. In 2019, the company began producing packages with plant-based resin and post-consumer plastic imported from Australia’s Plantic Technology. The Plantic resins will be used as the top web component of Cryovacbrand flexible rollstock, reducing the amount of virgin plastic in film up to 65 percent, depending on total thickness.
“It’s a big deal – it’s not the holy grail adjustment that the industry needs yet, but we’re getting there. We want to be constantly moving toward using more recyclable, biodegradable, and compostable materials,” Corey said.
Sealed Air has committed to delivering 100-percent recyclable or reusable packaging offerings, as well as 50 percent average recycled content across all packaging solutions, by 2025.
“At Sealed Air, we strive to leave our world, environment, and communities better than we found them by leading innovative efforts to create differentiated, sustainable solutions,” Sealed Air President and CEO Ted Doheny said. “Our history of sustainability is strengthened through our new sustainability and plastics pledge and, as an industry leader, it’s our responsibility to build a waste-free future, keep our oceans clean, and leave a lighter carbon footprint.”
Environmentally-conscious courtship
At Aptar Food + Beverage – an Illinois, U.S.A.-based company that landed on Newsweek’s list of “America’s Most Responsible Companies” – corporate sustainability is being driven by consumers.
“Our customers want to bring recognition to their brand not only through taste and presentation, but also through their mission and commitment to sustainability,” said Neal Watson, Aptar Food + Beverage’s vice president and general manager. “Our products and commitment to sustainability ensure our customers that we are on-board with their efforts to court environmentally-conscious consumers.”
In SeafoodSource’s Digital Product Showcase, the company is highlighting its Seawell Seafood System, a packaging solution that aims to extend the shelf-life of seafood and reduce food waste. The new tray features integrated absorbent technology incorporated into wells at its bottom to absorb excess fluids, reduce exposure to fluids, and lessen potential damage to seafood products.
According to Watson, Aptar Food + Beverage is a part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, through which it has a global commitment to changing how it uses, reuses, and produces plastics. Outside of seafood, in 2019, the company also joined Loop, an innovative shopping platform that allows customers to purchase their favorite products in reusable packaging and have them delivered to their home in a Loop tote that eliminates the need for disposable, single-use shipping materials. Once consumers are finished using their products, they simply put them back in the tote and schedule a pick-up.
“Looking forward, we are working to increase the use of recycled content in our products, we are ensuring our products are recyclable, and we are working to develop compostable and sustainable resins,” Watson said.
Consumer sensibilities and considerations for the environment also loom large for Heidenreich and Packaging Products Corporation.
“We think that consumers are very aware of seafood resource and sustainability issues,” Heidenreich said. “We feel that they want options so that they can make better choices.”
Packaging Products Corporation was at the forefront of the industry’s sustainability shift, being one of the first companies to offer 100-percent recyclable alternatives to waxed seafood boxes. The company has also invested in new molds for its fillet containers, which work to make the containers just as strong with less material weight. Oversized recyclable identification symbols adorn these innovations, making recycling of such products simpler.
“Progressive seafood providers are highlighting the sustainable attributes of their seafood as well as the packaging that they use, to be good stewards of the earth,” Heidenreich said. “Our goal as creators of green packaging is to promote the development of economical green packaging solutions for our customers to choose from.”
Conservation costs
While packagers are making moves within their own businesses to shift toward a more sustainable future, the success of green packaging programs can be dependent on others factors – namely, the affordability of more sustainable materials and the infrastructure to recycle new materials across the country.
“The fact is, everyone is looking forward to being able to use more sustainable materials – in the past there were no costeffective options,” CoolSeal USA’s Hinkle said. “That cost is getting better, but the fact is that the fishing and seafood industry is extremely tight in terms of dollars. No matter how green something is, no one is going to move to it if it negatively affects their bottom line. So, we’ve got to keep striving to develop new materials while paying attention to cost.”
Additionally, developing affordable, sustainable packaging solutions isn’t much of a victory if those materials aren’t actually being recycled properly, Sealed Air’s Corey noted.
“It’s complex because not only do we need material that can be recycled, but we need recycling facilities to have the infrastructure and capacity to manage these products,” Corey said. “I think there’s been momentum building for years to increase recycling infrastructure in the U.S., but it’s still an issue. Honestly, a lot of customers would be shocked at how little technically recyclable plastics and other materials are in landfills.”
The global push toward more sustainable packaging has increased over the past decade and shows no signs of stopping, which means the seafood packaging industry intends to keep sprinting, to stay ahead of the curve.
Photo courtesy of Sergey Ryzhov/Shutterstock
