What is Sustainable Packaging?

Sustainable Packaging 101 - from an interview with John Delfausse, the vice president of package design at The Estee Lauder Companies...

Definition: Packaging that uses the maximum amount of renewable and recycled materials, but is also sourced, manufactured and transported using renewable energy. (Source: the Sustainable Packaging Coalition)

Materials: There are a range of materials available, including bio-plastics, recycled materials and recyclable packaging. But be careful to not sacrifice performance or add excessive costs, he said.

Challenges: Retaining a "quality" feel - especially for luxury brands - for which a possible solution is to divide packaging into parts that can be separated and sorted for recycling. Also, what about exotic materials that are hard to get?

On Top of It: By being creative and experimenting with different ideas, he noted that brands can come up with innovative solutions - using the Aveda take-back initiative as an example of a successful program.

Curious about sustainable packaging initiatives? See Environmental Leader's article.

Consumer Choices: More than Meets the Eye

Or it it? Why do consumers make the choices they make? Is it really based on all the reasons that we think it is? People say that they only order "healthy" when they eat out or that they only want to put organic beauty products on their face or that they will only drink the wine made with the very best grapes. But are these the things that ultimately guide our spontaneous purchasing decisions? Or does it have a lot more to do with what we don't consciously think about?

Take product packaging for example. I'm no wine connoisseur myself, but I frequently purchase a bottle to drink with dinner. (Yes, I'm 21.) How do I chose which bottle to buy when the entire aisle 5 at Safeway is filled from top to bottom with various wines with names written in French, Italian, Portuguese and more?

Ultimately, I will be the first to admit, it comes down to aesthetics. Hey, that bottle has a picture of a crazy chicken on it - that seems appealing, or at least entertaining. Or hey, that bottle is shaped differently than the others-it looks kind of short and stubby - let's take pity on it and buy that one. What makes one bottle look classy and another look cheap? Is there any real basis for these distinctions? You decide...