Sustainable Packaging

Who would have thought it? Packaging improvements now represent some of the biggest opportunities for advancing sustainability, as well as some of the most innovative.

It wasn't always that way, says Dennis, and he's proud of the progress.

"By developing a solid strategy, we've taken packaging from being a fragmented afterthought to a key part of the product development process."

The overall strategy is three-pronged: to reduce or eliminate packaging whenever possible, to design or redesign products for optimal packaging efficiency, and to replace traditional packaging with better performing sustainable materials.

For example, we have been shipping products partially assembled for years. In Europe 60% of chair products are shipped using this "eco-smart" packaging solution.

A big breakthrough was the use of EcoCradle packaging. A revolutionary alternative to polystyrene and other synthetics, it's grown not manufactured. Growing mushroom roots bind to and transform agricultural byproducts such as cottonseed hulls into packaging components. The process uses as little as one-tenth of the energy needed to manufacture traditional synthetic packaging. What's more, it's completely compostable, returning nutrients to soil within 30–45 days.

Developed and patented by two young entrepreneurs who founded a company called Ecovative in Green Island, N.Y., EcoCradle is just one example of the changes being made.

As an early large-scale adopter that helped develop EcoCradle for commercialization, Steelcase is the first in the office furniture industry using this innovative packaging, currently shipping on Currency RTA (ready to assemble) casegoods and testing is underway on additional Steelcase products and applications.

The EcoCradle story shows the ripple effect that sustainability efforts can have. Dennis first heard about it in an email. His interest was piqued and he took the initiative to make an exploratory phone call to the company.

"From a materials science and applicability standpoint, I immediately saw the fit for us at Steelcase. And I liked Ecovative's business model, which is to tap into local farmers' byproducts and create local growing centers."

In less than a year, the project went from a phone call to a new packaging solution for Steelcase.

The challenge was working through the blends of materials and scaling up the start-up so Ecovative could feed into Steelcase's industrial processes as a supplier.

"We took some chances, they took some chances, and it worked out great. We're already seeing how it is appealing to the broader manufacturing audience in our industry and beyond."

For Dennis, it's rewarding to see packaging in a bright spotlight.

"Packaging isn't traditionally considered interesting or glamorous. But there's a lot of innovation opportunity and advantage in it that's becoming recognized for significant environmental and economic impact. For me, it's personally satisfying to know that doing the right thing is etched into our business model. It may sound cliché, but it shows that it really is possible to do well by doing good." ■