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