Typically, packaging design balances performance and marketing appeal against the constraints of materials and cost. The ideas behind sustainable packaging do not override or eliminate any of these critical and important concerns. Quite the opposite: traditional market criteria are key components of any sustainable packaging system.

Including sustainability considerations at the level of design expands the definition of quality for packaging. So in addition to the traditional considerations, the definition of sustainable packaging asks companies, packaging designers, converters and engineers to evaluate the potential and quality of any given package design using an expanded framework.

We have always asked, “Does the package protect the product?” Now, we also ask, “Are the materials in my package healthy for people and the environment throughout its life cycle?”

We have always asked, “Is the package design cost-effective?” Now, we also ask, “Are my materials responsibly sourced?”

We have always asked, “Does the package sell the product to the consumer?” Now, we also ask, “Does my package educate consumers on what to do with it after use?”

Conventional design considers performance, cost, appearance and regulatory compliance. Sustainable packaging adds optimization of resources, responsible sourcing, material health and resource recovery.

So why would any business bother asking these additional questions? I am sure many think they are burdensome or costly, and they certainly challenge the status quo. The answer is responsible business practice and future business sustainability.

I recently attended a meeting of Incpen— The Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment (www.incpen.org), which is a packaging group similar to the SPC based in the UK. Dax Lovegrove of WWF (formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund, www.panda.org) made a presentation on WWF's One Planet Living initiative. His main point: There is only one planet, and we are already exceeding its capacity. Climate change is only one signal out of many of the growing strain. With the addition of 3 billion citizens in the upcoming decades, operating conditions for business will change because the denominator most certainly won't. As businesses, we can either rise to the challenge now or find ourselves chasing those who have figured out how to respond better—or worse.

Up until this point, business has enjoyed ready access to resources and has benefited from being able to externalize many of the costs of environmental impact, waste—poor design. In Europe, Japan and Canada, regulation is driving these costs back onto businesses as societies with constrained resources bump into limitations.

Expanding the questions we ask is part of sustainable packaging design and part of the process of planning for business sustainability. The challenge before us is to figure out how to do it, how to innovate and improve our performance across these expanded categories, balancing our performance today with that of tomorrow—because the denominator is not changing.