5. Expanding the scope for finding solutions

The proposals set out in the previous chapters are essentially based on optimization of existing processes. When all this work has been carried out, achieving new environmental gains is a matter of real technological or organizational innovation.

In the specific context of packaging, this technological research can focus on :

• The very nature of packaging materials, to obtain new properties (mechanical or physical) enabling the reduction of wall thickness or density, or the use of protective atmospheres when packaged products are in the living world (food and cosmetics).

• The flexibility of packing stations facilitates the adoption of variable pack sizes according to the product references packed on the lines. Packaging stations on automated lines are very costly, and their limitations...