THE BUSINESS OF VISCOSITY BLOG

From recycling, to solar roofs, to electric cars, environmental sustainability has become a trend that means big business.

As the cost of virgin materials continues to increase, packaging recovery has never been as important as it is today. But recovery is also vital from a sustainability and environmental standpoint as well because more and more end consumers are looking for eco-friendly packaging that’s made from recycled materials, that is itself recyclable. For any packaging company looking to cut costs and improve sustainability practices, here are five ways you can improve packaging recovery rates.

Over the years, it has become clear that sustainability in packaging is a concern that’s here to stay. In fact, the market for sustainable packaging is expected to be worth $244 billion within the next few years, and some sources estimate that it will supersede costs and other factors to become the number one challenge for companies over the next decade. So with that in mind, here are eight reasons why the sustainable packaging industry is only going to keep growing.

Everybody seems to understand the basic theory behind continuous improvement as it relates to free market enterprises. Essentially, you have to get better because you have competitors and they are not standing still. Falling behind the competition can mean reduced margins, smaller market share, or outright business failure. If we can all agree that it’s important, why are so many of us struggling to maintain a culture that supports continuous improvement?

I’m sure those reasons are different for every organization but here are a few common themes that we see:

To start, let me define what I mean by Capital Improvement Project. It is similar to a Capital Equipment Project in that it requires some investment, installation and training but it is typically on a smaller scale.

Most projects we do are considered Capital Improvement Projects. We make improvements to existing Capital Equipment for a variety of reasons including improving productivity, reducing material waste, reducing VOC’s, (Volatile Organic Compounds), and minimizing quality defects.

Disposal of drums of waste paint and coating is a necessary evil for anyone in the industrial coating or finishing business, but is especially true for coil coaters.

Please excuse the trite reference to Stephen Covey! But in this case, there really are seven traits that we see that signify that we are working with a world-class coater. Truly world class coil coaters are identified by their ability to:

1. Provide a high quality surface finish batch-after-batch
2. Deliver on time, every time