An “organic” certification is very significant for consumers and usually means you have a natural quality product in your hands. When we buy organic, we expect the product to comply with environmental principles and the responsibilities associated with those principles.
Logically, organic product packaging should also be “organic”. In other words, they should be easy to recycle or re-use. The environmental impact of this product and its packaging should be minimized. It would indeed be a huge contradiction if an organic product was sold in non-recyclable packaging.
For consistency, organic products adapt and develop recyclable packaging. One of the best examples is the brand Yeo Valley Organic, a British brand of yogurt.
Instead of the traditional cardboard box with a lining of polyethylene film, the company decided to split the package into several parts to make it completely recyclable. Indeed, cardboard and polyethylene lining are not recyclable…
How did they do this? The packaging is now composed of three distinct parts, assembled to form a yogurt cup, as others packaging does.
The first part is the actual yogurt container: a very thin transparent polypropylene cup. Polypropylene (PP) is recyclable, odorless, nontoxic and inexpensive. It is therefore an ideal solution for yogurt.
Around this cup of PP, there is a cardboard label which is used just like a shrink sleeve label. The cardboard is of course made from recycled cardboard, undyed and without any plastic lining. It is also recyclable and especially easy to separate from the plastic with the help of a seam. In addition, Yeo Valley uses a printing surface of up to 360 degrees, just like a shrink sleeve label! The last part of the container is the cap, which is made of recycled plastic. Yeo Valley packaging is therefore easy to separate and easy to recycle.
In other words, this is a clever way to divide the packaging, make it greener, and above all, stay consistent with the organic label.
