Sustainability 101 is a weblog sequence that you may flip to for details about totally different environmental phrases that will come up at work, throughout discussions with pals, 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. Nevertheless, a lot of it turns into waste after one use.
In accordance with the Organisation for Financial Co-operation and Growth (OECD), 31% of plastics produced are for packaging – typically single-use and with a mean six-month lifespan. Plastic is extensively used as an efficient packaging materials, however as waste within the surroundings, it may well have a adverse affect.
Analysis revealed within the November 16, 2024, Journal of Hazardous Supplies Advances exhibits that that in landfillsplastic can emit toxins and grow to be a supply of greenhouse gases (GHGs), and in oceansit may well break down into microparticles that would disrupt meals chains and contribute to quite a lot of well being problems.
Another non-recyclable or non-compostable packaging objects embrace foam, aluminum foil with meals residue, and fused parts equivalent to cardboard hooked up to foam that can not be simply separated for recycling.
How does this affect customers’ decisions? A 2025 McKinsey & Firm survey stories that 77 p.c of respondents think about recyclable packaging “extraordinarily vital” or “essential,” whereas 62 p.c responded the identical about packaging constructed from recycled supplies.
Packaging sustainability: Supplies matter
In a round financial systemindustries alter 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 doable.
By specializing in supplies, corporations could make their product containers and parts extra sustainable, equivalent 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 the way 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 area 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 lowering 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 — certainly one of which is packaging and equipment. Product groups and packaging engineers in our Provide Chain Operation workforce collaborate on the outset of the design part to craft a package deal that gives the optimum steadiness 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. Via Cisco’s No Paper Initiative, QR codes for digital product info keep away from materials use altogether.
A very good instance is the Cisco Ceiling Microphone Professional package deal, which is absolutely fiber primarily based. As an alternative of plastic trays, we opted for unbleached molded pulp-fiber trays which are robust sufficient to cushion the delicate unit, but mild sufficient for cost-effective delivery. 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 could be modified for circularity as effectively, and Cisco’s Catalyst 9300 Enterprise Swap is a first-rate 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 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 technology Cisco C9350 good switches.
Packaging sustainability: A Round Design Precept
Round Design Ideas have remodeled 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 components
- Eliminating paper documentation in new product shipments
- Decreasing the cargo of unused equipment by providing our clients an opt-out possibility throughout the ordering expertise
- Utilizing multipack options to scale back materials utilization and bundling containers for big shipments to scale back the variety of bins wanted
By utilizing extra environment friendly, renewable, and recyclable supplies, Cisco not solely helps maintain 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 Function Reporting Hub.
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