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 buddies, and even at your loved ones gatherings.
Whether or not we’re buying grocery objects wrapped in plastic or receiving a house cargo packed in polystyrene peanuts, packaging is a part of our on a regular basis lives. Nonetheless, a lot of it turns into waste after one use.
In keeping with 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 atmosphere, it might probably have a unfavourable impression.
Analysis revealed within the November 16, 2024, Journal of Hazardous Supplies Advances exhibits that that in landfills, plastic can emit toxins and develop into a supply of greenhouse gases (GHGs), and in oceans, it might probably break down into microparticles that might disrupt meals chains and contribute to quite a lot of well being issues.
Another non-recyclable or non-compostable packaging objects embrace foam, aluminum foil with meals residue, and fused parts comparable to cardboard hooked up to foam that can not be simply separated for recycling.
How does this affect shoppers’ selections? A 2025 McKinsey & Firm survey stories that 77 p.c of respondents think about recyclable packaging “extraordinarily vital” or “crucial,” whereas 62 p.c responded the identical about packaging constituted of recycled supplies.
Packaging sustainability: Supplies matter
In a round economic system, industries regulate their processes to allow the reuse and regeneration of supplies. The purpose is to make merchandise with the smallest environmental impression utilizing the fewest assets doable.
By specializing in supplies, corporations could make their product containers and parts extra sustainable, comparable to berry growers utilizing compostable trays or cosmetics producers utilizing refillable containers for post-purchase reuse.
Another methods embrace:
- Decreasing or eliminating pointless parts
- Utilizing QR codes to digitize info vs. printed supplies
- Incentivizing shopper recycling with rewards or by offering clear directions on learn how to recycle
Utilizing these alternate options may help scale back packaging waste whereas aligning with buyer values. It additionally may help 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 follow of minimizing waste by decreasing or eradicating sure supplies — comparable to single-use plastic luggage and foam — and changing them with different supplies which might be renewable, recyclable, or each.
In 2019, Cisco developed a set of Round Design Rules for its merchandise throughout 5 classes — one in all which is packaging and equipment. Product groups and packaging engineers in our Provide Chain Operation workforce collaborate on the outset of the design section 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 switch foam. By 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 bundle, which is absolutely fiber primarily based. As a substitute of plastic trays, we opted for unbleached molded pulp-fiber trays which might be sturdy sufficient to cushion the delicate unit, but mild sufficient for cost-effective transport. We additionally swapped out the standard 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 could be modified for circularity as nicely, and Cisco’s Catalyst 9300 Enterprise Change is a chief instance.
To interchange 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 extra metric tonnes per 12 months. To get rid of 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 technology 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:
- Decreasing supplies utilization with a heightened concentrate on 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
- Decreasing the cargo of unused equipment by providing our clients an opt-out choice 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 maintain 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 Function Reporting Hub.
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