Good packaging never becomes waste! Hello there, Iida Miettinen!
Av Iida Miettinen kommer att hålla sin presentation på engelska varför vi valt att göra vår intervju på detta språk också.
What will you focus on in the conversation and panel at Pack Point Nordic?
I'm hopeful that I can talk about the environmental impacts of reusability and the role digitalisation plays in making reusability efficient. I also want to address why ecosystem cooperation is crucial to make reusability sustainable and convenient. And I'm hoping that I can maybe share some examples of how we work with customer experience and how to make reusability easy and convenient.
The topic is current now that EU has made clear that they want to raise the amount of reusables within the EU and also to lower the amount of single use packaging waste and Sweden is moving towards regulation. We at Kamupak have built a scalable solution towards the goal of lowering the amount of single-use packaging and I’m happy to share our learnings on the topic.
What makes a good packaging?
Firstly a good packaging never becomes packaging waste. It's either reused over and over or, if it really has to be single use, it should always be fully recyclable. An obvious important criteria is that it keeps the food safe and from not getting spoiled. Sustainability wise, the packaging should use as little material as possible. Ideally it should be a reusable package and we believe that all takeaway packaging could and should be replaced with reusable packaging in the future and that's where the industry should go. Not to forget the customer experience, the packaging really needs to take into consideration different kinds of portions and their needs for quantities and how they should visually look to be appealing for consumers and so forth.
Which challenges and opportunities do you see ahead of you?
I think that forerunners always have a little bit of a heavy road ahead. We see ourselves as the ambassadors for making reusability the norm of everyday life. One of the biggest challenges is that we need to get most of the B2B network on board, meaning that we need to get all restaurants, grocery stores, home delivery platform, basically all of the takeaway players on board to offer reusable packaging so that we get a dense network. That's how it becomes easy for consumers to use reusables. And then obviously we need to get the consumers on board also. So these are the biggest challenges. But then, if we talk about the opportunities, they are endless because at the moment we exist because we want to bring one of the solutions to the global waste crisis. But also, if we talk about the financial possibilities, obviously the packaging market is enormous globally. So it offers also a huge potential, now that the world is shifting towards reusables.
Which changes/improvements would you most like to see?
Sweden is now one of the forerunners moving towards the regulation for reusables, and I see that as a gamechanger because it's such a big change and mostly all people support reusables. But in order to make that change, it needs to be somewhat compulsory to get the shift ongoing, really. And that's why regulation is a really good first step for that. I also feel that changes could be done regarding financial directing like taxation and other tools to facilitate the move to reuseables.
Describe your expectations for the conference.
Well, now that we are starting our business in Sweden, we are really looking forward to getting to know the Swedish market and create networks and connections. And hopefully we can provide an understanding on how reusables work and how the digitalisation supports the system.
Thank you, Iida Miettinen!
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