Sustainability 101 is a weblog sequence you could flip to for details about totally different environmental phrases that will come up at work, throughout discussions with pals, and even at your loved ones gatherings.
Whether or not we’re buying grocery gadgets wrapped in plastic or receiving a house cargo packed in polystyrene peanuts, packaging is a part of our on a regular basis lives. Nevertheless, a lot of it turns into waste after one use.
In keeping with the Organisation for Financial Co-operation and Improvement (OECD), 31% of plastics produced are for packaging – typically single-use and with a mean six-month lifespan. Plastic is extensively used as an efficient packaging materials, however as waste within the atmosphere, it will possibly have a unfavourable impression.
Analysis revealed within the November 16, 2024, Journal of Hazardous Supplies Advances reveals that that in landfills, plastic can emit toxins and change into a supply of greenhouse gases (GHGs), and in oceans, it will possibly break down into microparticles that might disrupt meals chains and contribute to a wide range of well being issues.
Another non-recyclable or non-compostable packaging gadgets embrace foam, aluminum foil with meals residue, and fused elements comparable to cardboard connected to foam that can not be simply separated for recycling.
How does this affect shoppers’ selections? A 2025 McKinsey & Firm survey stories that 77 p.c of respondents take into account recyclable packaging “extraordinarily necessary” or “essential,” whereas 62 p.c responded the identical about packaging created from recycled supplies.
Packaging sustainability: Supplies matter
In a round financial system, industries modify their processes to allow the reuse and regeneration of supplies. The purpose is to make merchandise with the smallest environmental impression utilizing the fewest sources potential.
By specializing in supplies, corporations could make their product containers and elements extra sustainable, comparable to berry growers utilizing compostable trays or cosmetics producers utilizing refillable containers for post-purchase reuse.
Another methods embrace:
- Decreasing or eliminating pointless elements
- Utilizing QR codes to digitize info vs. printed supplies
- Incentivizing shopper recycling with rewards or by offering clear directions on recycle
Utilizing these options might help scale back packaging waste whereas aligning with buyer values. It additionally might help scale back packaging prices, optimize area effectivity, and construct in regulatory compliance.
How Cisco’s technique has developed to assume “contained in the field”
For Cisco, packaging sustainability is the apply of minimizing waste by decreasing or eradicating sure supplies — comparable to single-use plastic luggage and foam — and changing them with various supplies which can be renewable, recyclable, or each.
In 2019, Cisco developed a set of Round Design Ideas for its merchandise throughout 5 classes — one among which is packaging and equipment. Product groups and packaging engineers in our Provide Chain Operation crew collaborate on the outset of the design part to craft a bundle that gives the optimum steadiness of product safety and circularity. Lots of our merchandise now incorporate recyclable fiber-based cushions like FiberFlute®, paper tube cushions, and molded pulp to interchange foam. By means of Cisco’s No Paper Initiative, QR codes for digital product info keep away from materials use altogether.
A superb instance is the Cisco Ceiling Microphone Professional bundle, which is totally fiber based mostly. As a substitute of plastic trays, we opted for unbleached molded pulp-fiber trays which can be sturdy sufficient to cushion the delicate unit, but mild sufficient for cost-effective delivery. We additionally swapped out the standard single-use plastic bag with a custom-fit paper sleeve that totally encases the unit and shields it from mud and abrasion.
Packaging from legacy merchandise could be modified for circularity as effectively, and Cisco’s Catalyst 9300 Enterprise Change is a chief instance.
To interchange foam, we used recycled thermoforms to cushion the chassis — eliminating about 250 metric tonnes of froth yearly — and recycled and recyclable fiber-based retention packs for the facility provide items — avoiding roughly 70 further metric tonnes per yr. To get rid of plastic luggage, we opted for paper flag labels on energy cords, consolidated small components throughout a number of luggage, and swapped out plastic for paper-based envelopes. In fiscal 2025, Cisco utilized these packaging modifications to the brand new technology Cisco C9350 sensible switches.
Packaging sustainability: A Round Design Precept
Round Design Ideas have reworked the product and packing design course of at Cisco. Different examples of how we incorporate circularity into our packaging embrace:
- Decreasing supplies utilization with a heightened concentrate on plastics discount
- Designing containers and packing supplies to be separable and simply recycled at finish of use
- Utilizing post-consumer waste in new packaging components
- Eliminating paper documentation in new product shipments
- Decreasing the cargo of unused equipment by providing our prospects an opt-out choice in the course of the ordering expertise
- Utilizing multipack options to scale back materials utilization and bundling containers for giant shipments to scale back the variety of containers wanted
By utilizing extra environment friendly, renewable, and recyclable supplies, Cisco not solely helps preserve waste out of landfills however reduces prices and saves sources.
Be taught extra about these initiatives and Cisco’s packaging sustainability objectives within the Cisco Objective Reporting Hub.
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