Did you know that your packaging doesn’t even need to be seen anymore? One way a lot of brands are stepping forward and making their packaging even more eco friendly, is through invisible packaging. This utilizes dissolvable or water-soluble materials such as paper and plant-based films, which are able to break down naturally when exposed to water.
Right now, this is a new type of packaging, but we’ll probably see more of this over a period of time. Dive into the world of invisible packaging here and see if it’s right for you.
Elements of Water-Soluble Packaging
Water-soluble packaging is using plant-based types of films for the items that are being broken down. This includes polyvinyl alcohol, which is a natural element that dissolves in water, and it leaves no residue.
Right now, you see this in other industries besides food and drink. A common one is household cleaners. Have you ever seen those laundry pods that break down over time, or after a cycle? That’s one example. Another one, is the dishwashing pods, where after you run a cycle, the pods are gone, leaving nothing but clean dishes behind.
Water-soluble and invisible packaging leaves very little residue. While there are some food service industries using this, so far they are mostly seen in cleaning and agricultural products.
The main premise behind this is simple: you’re creating a packaging that’s dissolvable by water, and leaves nothing behind, while also maintaining the environmental standards to ensure the integrity of the products at hand.
A changing Industry
The water-soluble packaging is actually something that a lot of people want, and it’s predicted to have a huge impact on packaging within the next 10 years, projecting a 4% growing profit that’s a billion dollars or more.
It’s popular because it’s easy to dispose of. People want something they don't have to perform complex activities in order to make sure that the products are disposed of. This is so easy, that you even see this with fertilizer too, making it easier for us to even grow food.
More an more consumers are aware of environmental issues, and even the government is putting a hold on waste. Water-soluble packaging is the main standard, because it uses compostable materials, and is seen to have a huge growth as demand for eco friendly packaging grows even further with this market.
The Challenges of Water-Soluble Packaging
While it’s a great and growing form of packaging, there are some major challenges that are hard for people to actually see.
The first, is the costs. Production costs for this are huge, and it can be too much for smaller industries.
The other thing is the materials and the machinery are not as readily available. This is because it’s a new technology. Like a lot of the new technologies that are out there, you only have so much to work with.
There is also the concerns of the durability of the items, along with the compatibility and waste management. Again, this is due to it being a new technology.
However, new materials are being used, such as proteins and polysaccharides that are being made to form this type of packaging. There is also an acceptance of water-soluble packaging within the agriculture and the cosmetics world, which is of course, a very wasteful industry.
We’ll probably be seeing more of this kind of thing soon. With Coca-Cola, Nestle, and even PepsiCo looking for new ways to reduce their eco footprint, they’ll learn to adopt this, and hopefully we’ll see them along with startups offering more innovative and sustainable alternatives to the current packaging incentives.
