The good news about packaging and the hope it offers for the future

[Applause]

i don’t get it

i mean what is so exciting about

packaging

um you put the label on the bottle and

then you put the bottle in the box

that was the response that i got from my

then nine-year-old daughter

when i told my family that i’d be

starting a podcast about packaging

and let’s be real honest here everybody

a podcast about packaging

you’d be saying the same things like

really that’s what we’re doing now

podcast about packaging

see to most people packaging is just a

bottle

or it’s just a shipping box that you get

from an online retailer

or it’s a piece of clear plastic and

it’s packaging some scissors

now you need the scissors to open up the

packaging but you don’t have them

hence why you made the purchase in the

first place so you get out a knife

and now you’re afraid you’re going to

cut yourself and so packaging is

frustrating

and annoying and i’m with you on this

my journey into the packaging industry

is not

normal honestly most of them aren’t in

the two years that i’ve been able to be

the co-host of the people of packaging

podcast

we have interviewed dozens of people

across the world in this industry

but i’ve yet to meet somebody who got a

business degree became a licensed and

ordained pastor

and then exchanged preaching for

packaging

that’s that’s me that’s actually me

at first this was really difficult i

felt like i was ignoring my calling

and so i remained a pastor in a

voluntary role for a number of years

while i worked in the packaging industry

about five years ago these worlds

collided for me

and i was faced with an opportunity i

could

pursue my passion for preaching

full-time

or i could stay in my profession

of packaging and then i had this light

bulb like went off

it was not or it was and

i began to see my job in the packaging

industry

as the medium to do what i had been

called to do

which is to bring good news and hope

into the world

i found my why the packaging industry is

huge

allied market research estimates that by

2023 it will be a

one trillion dollar global industry

and when you really think about it it

makes sense take something like

vitamins vitamins come in a bottle

they’ll have a label and a cap and maybe

a box

and those boxes they come in another box

and they all needed raw materials to be

made but what you may not know

is that all of that packaging and those

raw materials it needed packaging

to get to the place and all that

packaging needed packaging so your

packaging needs packaging which needs

packaging it’s

like packaging inception

however this near trillion dollar

industry has not been

perfect we have sinned in two major ways

number one

has been our contribution to global

warming and number two

our contribution to global food waste

now these two things have become an

existential threat to both humans and

humanity

and so we need to collectively repent

and get to work and here’s the good news

we are unilever in the middle

of the global 2020 pandemic announced a

plan

to label 70 000 products with a carbon

emissions rating

this will give you as a consumer the

ability to buy

products not just based on availability

or

brand loyalty but now also on

environmental impact

and along with that they pledged one

billion dollars to go towards climate

initiatives like

sustainability and circularity within

packaging

or nike who is transforming the sneaker

industry

they launched a line of shoes this year

called space hippies

which are made from trash quite

literally

the sneakers that i’m wearing right now

on this red dot

are made from discarded packaging

right

[Music]

or cotopaxi who similarly uses reclaimed

fabrics and so many

of their products but this certified b

corporation

also uses the higg index to measure

and track sustainability efforts

throughout all of their supply

chain including you probably guessed it

their packaging

or young living essential oils who is

part of a corporate directive a five by

five plan

has has a goal a pillar to drive

sustainability

throughout all of their packaging as

they drive to become a zero waste to

landfill facility

by 2025. now this good news is not only

happening with brands

they are partnering with research

institutions and local municipalities

to pioneer chemical recycling as a way

to take our waste

and create a valuable commodity imagine

this we are looking at a potential

future

where we can see landfills not just as

eyesores

but as sources of value that we can mine

and speaking of mining weird things

there’s a company here in salt lake city

utah today

that is mining the carbon that is in the

atmosphere and creating

cellulose from it cellulose is the basis

for things like

paper and some kinds of other plastics

and packaging

so they’re pulling co2 out of the air

and leaving trees which are normally

used

to make cellulose planted in the ground

paper made out of thin air

it’s amazing now these issues go far

beyond just brands and technology

the problems and solutions with the

packaging industry also

impact people on a daily basis when it

comes to food waste

the food and agriculture organization of

the united nations estimates that in

2019

33 of all food

that was made to be consumed by humans

ended up in a landfill

the economic impact of this was massive

2.6 trillion dollars

now this is a big problem and one that

won’t only be solved by packaging

however the university of alabama they

found that in 2019

5.7 billion dollars worth of fruits and

vegetables

just in the country of india were wasted

because of improper

cold chain packaging problems like this

are impacting people who need food the

most they are driving

up costs and they have a horribly

negative impact on our environment

if the packaging industry can come

together and solve just 25

of these problems we will drive down

costs decrease carbon emissions and

create

enough available fresh food to feed

every human

on the planet

and you should be excited because in

august of 2020

there was something formed called the

coalition of action

to end global food waste this coalition

was signed by the ceos of 14 different

companies

including walmart tesco nestle

and general mills another exciting thing

is that all of this change is happening

because of younger people millennials

and gen z

are willing to spend 10 percent more

on products and services that they

believe have a positive

environmental impact according to a

recent forbes article

but no matter your age i want you to

join me in holding these brands

accountable

for the decisions that they make and the

commitments that they make and continue

to apply

pressure please vote with your ballots

but every

day you can vote with your dollars

and i also want us to collectively have

hope

for the future i live in this hope with

you

because i’m not just a packaging

professional or a podcast host

or even a pastor i’m a father

to five children and i am a husband to a

wonderful wife and i have hope for that

day in the future

20 years when i can stand out breathing

in the crisp

clean utah air with my once skeptical

daughter

and i can look at her and say do you

remember when you thought packaging was

boring

we are living in a better world today

because thousands

tens of thousands of people chose to

believe that packaging

is awesome

you see packaging it’s not just a box

it’s not just a label it’s not just a

bag and it’s certainly not just

annoying packaging is a great industry

full of incredible people these silent

saints called packaging professionals

who every single day show up to work

innovative and looking towards the

future where we can

say definitively we are feeding every

human on the planet and we

have fixed the environment and if you

ask me

well i say that sure sounds like some

good

news thank you

you