Sustainability 101 is a weblog collection that you could flip to for details about completely 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.
Based on 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 setting, it will possibly have a unfavorable affect.
Analysis revealed 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 will possibly break down into microparticles that might disrupt meals chains and contribute to a wide range of well being issues.
Another non-recyclable or non-compostable packaging gadgets embrace foam, aluminum foil with meals residue, and fused parts similar to cardboard connected to foam that can not be simply separated for recycling.
How does this affect customers’ selections? A 2025 McKinsey & Firm survey reviews that 77 % of respondents contemplate recyclable packaging “extraordinarily necessary” or “essential,” whereas 62 % responded the identical about packaging comprised of recycled supplies.
Packaging sustainability: Supplies matter
In a round financial system, industries modify their processes to allow the reuse and regeneration of supplies. The aim is to make merchandise with the smallest environmental affect utilizing the fewest sources potential.
By specializing in supplies, corporations could make their product containers and parts extra sustainable, similar to berry growers utilizing compostable trays or cosmetics producers utilizing refillable containers for post-purchase reuse.
Another methods embrace:
- Lowering or eliminating pointless parts
- Utilizing QR codes to digitize info vs. printed supplies
- Incentivizing client recycling with rewards or by offering clear directions on easy methods to recycle
Utilizing these 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 assume “contained in the field”
For Cisco, packaging sustainability is the apply of minimizing waste by decreasing or eradicating sure supplies — similar to single-use plastic luggage and foam — and changing them with different supplies which can be renewable, recyclable, or each.
In 2019, Cisco developed a set of Round Design Rules for its merchandise throughout 5 classes — considered one of 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 package deal that gives the optimum stability 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. Via Cisco’s No Paper Initiative, QR codes for digital product info keep away from materials use altogether.
A great instance is the Cisco Ceiling Microphone Professional package deal, which is totally fiber primarily based. As an alternative of plastic trays, we opted for unbleached molded pulp-fiber trays which can be 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 totally 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 Swap is a major 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 further metric tonnes per yr. To eradicate plastic luggage, we opted for paper flag labels on energy cords, consolidated small elements throughout a number of luggage, and swapped out plastic for paper-based envelopes. In fiscal 2025, Cisco utilized these packaging modifications to the brand new era Cisco C9350 good switches.
Packaging sustainability: A Round Design Precept
Round Design Rules have reworked the product and packing design course of at Cisco. Different examples of how we incorporate circularity into our packaging embrace:
- Lowering 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 elements
- Eliminating paper documentation in new product shipments
- Lowering the cargo of unused equipment by providing our clients an opt-out possibility through the ordering expertise
- Utilizing multipack options to cut back materials utilization and bundling containers for giant shipments to cut back the variety of bins wanted
Through the use of extra environment friendly, renewable, and recyclable supplies, Cisco not solely helps preserve waste out of landfills however reduces prices and saves sources.
Be taught extra about these initiatives and Cisco’s packaging sustainability objectives within the Cisco Goal Reporting Hub.
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