OPINION

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Inside Ernest Shackleton’s 1907 hut in the Antarctic

are shelves of the original tinned provisions with still

readable paper labels indicating their contents. Even

after the passage of almost 100 years, they remain

microbiologically sterile and safe to eat, but are

understandably taste-free. They stand as a

testimony to the superb effectiveness of packaging,

fulfilling the three functions of product containment,

product protection, and provision of product

information. If Shackleton was alive today, consumer

packaging – especially the humble tinned steel can –

would be one of the few items of our world that

would be familiar to him.

That we still have the same technology today is not

packaging’s fault. Hammered on cost grounds by

suppliers and retailers, packaging has been forced

into innovation retreat for years, and lately has

become a soft target for environmentalists. While a

piece of packaging might initially bring positive

feelings and reassurance of product quality, once it

has to be discarded, it becomes just another pain in

the garbage. But there are forces driving packaging

change and these are growing.

For consumers, the existing functions of bringing the

product safely to the shelves and then being part of

the buying decision are largely taken for granted.

Now, consumers are tired of packs that make

demands on their time and attention, are difficult to

open or dispose of properly, and contain instructions

in font sizes that cannot easily be read.

For brands, differentiation and emotional

engagement with the consumer are becoming

essential properties. All too often, the identification

of unmet consumer needs seem to elude most

marketers who react by launching a plethora of new

products, most of which quickly disappear. This

contributes to the sea of colored noise that greets

shoppers in most supermarkets – row upon row of

near-identical products that fail to engage the

senses, lift the spirits, educate, inspire, or entertain.

The opportunities for change in packaging draw

heavily on the development of new and novel

materials. Smarter packaging will extend the

traditional functions of protecting, containing, and

informing to also include an ability to enhance the

product and its consumption, safety, convenience,

and security. To do these things, traditional

packaging materials – glass, metal, plastic, and

paper/board – will need to be modified by the

incorporation of smart and functional materials,

deposited largely as coatings and as part of printed

labels and thin-film electronic devices.

A further challenge will be the growing information

needs of an increasingly technology-literate

consumer base. In the future, the majority of

consumers will expect information on food

packaging regarding freshness, ripeness, ingredients,

nutritional content, allergenicity, health benefits,

organic content, pesticide residues, additives, and

the ethics of food production, all in the language of

their choice. The printed paper label will simply be

overwhelmed by these demands, suggesting shifts

toward visual and audio forms of communication

are the only answer. Already, smart labels that

change color are being used on seafood products

and fruit to give an indication of product freshness.

But it is the ubiquitous sell-by or use-by product

dating system that simply has to go, since it is

temperature, not time, that has the major influence

on perishable product degradation. Typically, a

product shelf life of 23 days at 4°C plummets to just

2 days at 22°C. Fifteen years ago, the US military,

sitting on a $1 billion stockpile of drugs past their

printed expiry dates, commissioned tests to check

whether they should be discarded. They found that

~90% were still safe and effective. Smart packaging

will use color-change labels, which integrate

temperature and time, to create a visible and

accurate indication of product expiry. Such

packaging already plays a critical role for the World

Health Organization in the distribution of

temperature-sensitive vaccines in developing

countries. Sadly, consumers are yet to benefit from

this technology, which not only better protects the

consumer but can also contribute to reducing the

amount of perishable product waste.

In the future, more sophisticated indicator labels will

need to be developed that combine chemical

sensing with simple electronic processing and low-

cost displays in a flexible, disposable format.

Including radio-frequency identification technology

could remotely warn users and automated systems

whenever stability problems have occurred. Real

sound and vision communication needs to wait for

the commercialization of cost-effective printed

electronics on packaging, powered by either printed

polymer photovoltaics or thin-film batteries.

So packaging in the future will be radically different

from that of today. Sound and vision on packaging

will be ubiquitous – together with aromas,

automatic updating, and other useful responsive

features. The technology enablers for this journey

are strongly materials based. So while packaging is

not a very fashionable subject, there are fascinating

challenges in the development of inexpensive,

disposable packaging incorporating smart labels,

coatings, and devices. Simple but useful functionality

could make a difference to people by preventing

errors, saving lives, and helping to limit waste.

APRIL 2006 | VOLUME 9 | NUMBER 4 64

Paul Butler | Packaging Materials & Technologies and academic visitor, University of Oxford, UK |

packaginginnovation@yahoo.co.uk

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