JKR

Here’s my borderline apocalyptic packaging prediction for the next decade: by 2020, none of the packs above will exist. And not just because bees will supposedly be extinct, with us soon to follow. Rather, from all the predictions being sought and reported from the great and the good, one theme keeps recurring – that while we might not have got to the very last drop, the coming decade is the one when the oil running out looms large and real. To follow this thought, plastic packaging will become less viable, and wrapping say kitchen roll in cellophane will probably carry the same social stigma as wearing fur.

While marketing and design will not be driving change and solutions, we will be a part of it, and while the challenge to come up with alternatives to plastic is a ridiculously difficult one, the best brands will position themselves as part of the solution. The pitfall is that organic alternatives, produced in any kind of scale, will doubtless have equally damaging effects on the environment, natural habitat and biodiversity. But by decade’s end alternatives will have to be found, and those who buried their heads in the sand will be getting called to account. The three R’s of this decade were re-use, reduce and recycle. The new big R’s will be radical rethinking and reformulation. It’s going to get more bracing, but glass half full, how privileged we are as an industry to potentially be part of the change.