Lampoon PACKIOLI, Alara Ertenü
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Artichokes and Peapods: record high waste turning into packaging

With the world creating twice as much plastic garbage as it did twenty years ago and only 9% being properly recycled comes Packioli: turning food waste into biodegradable packaging

The worldwide cosmetics sector generates more than 120 billion units of packaging every year

One of the fastest-growing environmental initiatives ever is the global movement to reduce plastic trash. It hasn’t been sufficient to reduce the mounting amount of trashed plastic that winds up in the oceans. Plastic is one of the fastest growing materials and production is on course to double, to more than one billion tons a year, by 2050. Plastic pollution has emerged as one of the most important environmental challenges, since the world’s ability to cope with it has been overwhelmed by the fast-rising manufacturing of throwaway plastic items.

According to a recent OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) report, the globe is creating twice as much plastic garbage as it did twenty years ago, with just 9% of it being properly recycled. 

The worldwide cosmetics sector on its own generates more than 120 billion units of packaging every year, the majority of which is non-recyclable and ends up in landfills or the ocean. Plastic waste has grown so pervasive that efforts have been made by the United Nations to draught a global convention. With mankind’s regular use basics like hygiene necessities that include toothpaste, shampoo, and skincare, we will continue to acquire the plastic that comes with all of its packaging. 

Packioli: Emergence of the bio-base 

In efforts of altering is where companies and brands with a moral ethic come to play a part, becoming more cognizant of these issues over time. While no one solution will completely eliminate them, researchers and product designers are working to develop more sustainable alternatives. Alara Ertenü, a bio and material designer based in Izmir, Turkey currently in her fourth year of industrial design specializing in design management.

Alongside laying the foundations for her ‘Alara Ertenü Studio’ aiming at making use of waste to mankind’s benefit and working with bio-based materials and trying to turn such materials into value-added products is what drives the young designer down this path «if one wants to truly achieve a bio-circular economy, local food wastes are considered to be one of the crucial points to concoct bio-based materials, this will in turn show people that these materials can be used even in our every-day products and resonate with them no matter the location».

Turkey’s accession to the European Union necessitates compliance with EU legislation, and thus there is currently increasing pressure on government authorities to create an environmentally friendly framework to recycling (particularly focusing on plastics) and composting activities, as well as integrating sustainable strategies aimed at advancing a sustainable society.

The designer explains that Packioli is completely biodegradable, hygienic, dirt, water and dust resistant and locally sourced posed an alternative to soap packaging competing with the traditional methods of packaging. The package is said to biodegrade from ten to fifteen days and natural colors are used to give the packaging its unique colors such as beetroot and turmeric without the use of any chemicals and since it is comprised of raw materials it also acts as a natural moisturizer for the soap itself. 

Reduce, reuse, recycle, repeat

Ertenü was able to combine the issue concerning the massive artichoke waste, an issue that particularly Mediterranean countries face, in order to generate a dialogue addressing plastic overconsumption and tackle the issue of commercial soap packaging through her initiative, ‘Packioli’. «I consider myself to be a lab rat; I collect local food wastes, conduct research and experiments which gave me new perspectives and advancements in my field that created the foundation of Packioli. The name was inspired from the two words: package and ravioli; my attempt at creating a singular type of bio-based packaging in the shape of Italian pasta».

The idea for PACKIOLI came about as a result of the company’s awareness of the large amounts of local food waste and its potential to replace our everyday products and advance sustainability beginning with our own communities. It is constructed of ‘Artichoke leaves Bioplastic’ and ‘Peapod Bioplastic’, two materials that are essentially the two primary local waste elements in Turkey. Ertenü explains how she came about the idea of local food waste, «last semester, I was one of the team members of the ‘Bio-balloon’ project for the Bio design Challenge 22’ which we ended up winning ‘Outstanding Presentation’. During this project, I observed and learned from specialized bioengineers and food engineers inside a lab environment. From everything I could gather and with my consolidated insights with my personal observations and investigations out in the local bazaars and villages in order to find out what is, if any, left out in the equation of the local food systems. In this case, those were the local food wastes – artichokes and pea pods».

When it comes to detailing how the formation of the packaging actually works, Ertenü explains that she visits local market and bazaars regularly and is able to get in touch with several artichoke farmers and manufacturers in order to reuse the waste they produce, the waste from that point undergoes a freeze-drying process to extract any water content left in the plant, a process that could take around two days. Thenceforth, the plants are then combined with other natural ingredients to form Packioli’s ravioli shaped packaging; the entire process according to the young designer takes an average of 4 days.  

Studies have shown that on average around 70%-80% of one single artichoke is thrown away, «artichoke leaves, stems and pea pods came forward as an enormous waste especially in the Mediterranean area, which makes them the ideal raw material for my initiative ‘Packioli’. From one problem, that was record high artichoke waste, I was able to come up with a solution to an even bigger problem: wasteful packaging».

Rise of the green consumer era 

Packaging is pervasive in our everyday lives and helps to reduce food waste and total product breakage by including enhanced convenience features2 at a reasonable cost. The worldwide packaging business has grown rapidly during the last decade, owing to changes in substrate selection and the rise of new end-markets. The rising usage of plastics to substitute traditional substrates and meet customers’ need for convenience are among the headline trends. «Regarding the packaging or no packaging question, in a perfect world, I would have advocated that ‘no packaging’ is the best-case scenario for sustainable soap packaging or packaging for any product where it would be acceptable. However, this statement brings the rise of unsolved dilemmas of today’s world: logistics and the needs of the business».

Consumers have begun to expect action on plastic waste, particularly single-use plastics, with recent studies done it has been believed that 48% feel producers have the most duty to drive change and pioneer sustainable solutions. «Nowadays, consumers are better informed about packaging compared to the past few years. Becoming more conscious when it comes to packaging, its recycled contents and recently the usage of bio-based materials; a well-informed sustainable mindset has been instilled into the consumers». Packioli was able use social influence to its advantage by questioning traditional methods, shape good habits through design implementation and leverage a domino effect for future brands.

One of the most successful strategies to induce pro-environmental actions in consumption is to use the power of social influence. When online customers were told that other individuals were buying eco-friendly items, their likelihood of making at least one sustainable purchase increased by 65%. Perhaps the most striking finding was informing university students other commuters were abandoning their cars in favor of more sustainable modes of transportation, such as cycling, causing them to use sustainable transportation five times more frequently. «We must be open for changes both as a consumer and a producer. Also, we should be ready to make compromises for nature, in some cases, aesthetically, functionally».

Plastic-free packaging will not only benefit the environment but also appease the growing number of environmentally conscious consumers. «Before the ‘Packioli’, I also had the chance to collaborate on a sustainable packaging design with Lansinoh in my previous year. This project wasn’t at the material level but the challenge was designing a packaging for one of their product lines without using any kind of chemicals or binders. During this project, I came to the conclusion that sustainable packaging design should start from the material level for more effective impact and change».

Instilling a ‘waste to wealth’ mindset 

The Turkish designer stated that the most sustainable packaging is one that can effectively combine both the needs of nature and business requirements, «It is disheartening when we see efforts squandered trying to convince businesses of that ideology decreasing the chances of generating that impact we want to see. This is where Packioli comes to play, serving as a bridge to mend these two divisions».

If we have learned anything from our past it is that the world is moving towards more environmentally conscious decisions, the current trend especially in the beauty industry is using plant-based materials for packaging. Due to industrial misuse of the term ‘sustainable’ which has led to ‘sustainability fatigue’, a more intimate connection between a user and their environment encourages more active participation. Effective packaging is one that is able to eliminate waste pollution, circulate products and materials at their highest value and be able to regenerate nature.

Ertenü reveals that she is currently working on taking the next steps for her Alara Ertenü Studio and integrating Packioli into the industrial world with a possible partnership in the production and engineering side of many projects alongside experimenting with different wastes as raw materials apart from artichokes and peapods. She concludes, «several businesses that have shifted with the main goal of maximum profitability yet understand that green packaging is not good enough anymore brings issues like greenwashing at bay. We must be open for changes both as a consumer and a producer, we should be ready to make compromises for nature, in some cases, aesthetically and functionally».

Alara Ertenü 

Fourth-year industrial design student and bio designer living in Izmir, Turkey while also preparing for a master’s degree in biodesign and developing her own brand. She finds interest in biomaterials and how they might be transformed into value-added goods, she is still investigating and learning how to work with and create with biomaterials. Believing that in order to truly achieve sustainability and circularity, local wastes are an important starting point for working on biomaterials and demonstrating to people that these materials can be turned into everyday products right where we live. 

Farah Hassan

The writer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article.

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