A recent article from Food and Beverage Packaging Magazine on December 5, 2011 spoke about packaging adhesives turning greener to follow the trend of the packaging industry. The article says that the packaging industry as a whole is farther ahead of the adhesives industry in terms of environmental matters. However, it brings up an important point about the role adhesives play in packaging sustainability.
A main point of the article is that packaging could be more sustainable if adhesives were considered earlier in the manufacturing process and not as an afterthought. “An oft- heard phrase is ‘adhesives are the last thing considered when designing a package and are used in such small per-package quantities that they are often ignored.’ This position is changing. The new awareness is being driven by the same drivers that affect packaging overall.” Adhesives make up such a small part of a package that they are often left until the end of the design and manufacturing process and little thought is put into their impact on the environment.
One of our Facebook friends, York Saw and Knife, commented on this article saying: “They mention how the adhesives sector lags on the ‘sustainability curve’ when compared to the rest of packaging and suggest a key factor is that adhesives are an "afterthought" - which is ironic considering they are quite literally ‘the glue that holds everything together.’ We agree- it is very interesting that adhesives, being such an important part of packaging, have traditionally not been at the forefront of discussion when it comes to planning sustainable packaging.
Our animal glues are naturally non-toxic, environmentally friendly, and recyclable. In fact, LD Davis only manufactures eco-adhesives, whether they are animal glue and liquid glue. Many of these adhesives are very effective in different packaging applications. The makeup of a product’s packaging could be totally recyclable until they realize they are planning to use a hot-melt adhesive, which is much more difficult to recycle. If one of our manufactured adhesives was used in the same case, the packaging would be easily recyclable because the packaging adhesive used is totally recyclable.
The question is why are adhesives an afterthought in packaging sustainability? By thinking about adhesives earlier on and planning to use an eco-adhesive, such as an LD Davis animal glue or liquid glue, packaging sustainability can take greater strides.