The Logicall Sustainable Packaging Initiative (SPIL)
Appearance, cars, restaurants, gadgets, clothing, and hairstyles, these often shape personal presentation. Not to mention filters, feeds, and profiles. The underlying (often unconscious) question tends to be: “How do I come across to the outside world?”
At Logicall, we're working on the SPIL project (Logicall Sustainable Packaging Initiative), which is, you guessed it, about initiatives to make our packaging materials more sustainable. The concept of "ours" extends beyond what we purchase; the choices and feedback of our suppliers and customers are just as important.
Packaging serves many functions:
Protecting products from damage and theft, enabling efficient storage and transport, offering identification, ensuring traceability, and supporting marketing goals.
Choosing the right packaging is based on a combination of price, quality and durability, availability and delivery reliability, customer requirements and sustainability, which is increasingly being seen as a standalone key factor.
While describing those functions, I suddenly thought of Volkert Engelsman (company: Eosta.com) who once said in an interview: “Do you want a slick lemon or a lemon you can lick?”
Some suppliers spray substances like Imazalil on lemons. The supermarket then only puts the flawless, shiny ones on display. Consumers still mostly judge by appearance — perfection in presentation, even though the duller, slightly blemished lemon could be perfectly fine to use and worry-free.
Logicall understands this too:
The cheapest packaging is often not the most sustainable — whether in terms of raw materials, production, or recyclability (or reusability). General demand for "the most sustainable" is still low. Our clients (and their consumers) still prefer receiving a product that looks pristine and is fun to unpack.
We are currently exploring products that are recyclable, made from recycled materials, and free from plastics. But just like choosing HVO100 fuel, every step raises new questions, like energy use during production, transport emissions, or working conditions. The term “sustainable packaging” becomes much more complex. That’s why we’re taking yet another step. Or more fittingly put: We value sustainable growth, because there’s a lot more change coming in the years ahead.
Reality check:
As mentioned earlier, availability and delivery reliability are critical for our warehouse operations. We must be realistic: green choices with red financials? That’s not going to work. This is the recurring theme: What matters to our stakeholders? It goes both ways. Writing a policy is easy, but truly embedding it into processes? Now that’s the real challenge and what we’re now discussing. Just like women are still less expected (culturally) to drive trucks, the words "price" and "bulk discount" still sound attractive in many roles. As I’ve mentioned in other blogs: that’s fine. You don’t change direction, culture, or behavior overnight. Let’s not pretend otherwise, credibility is incredibly important at Logicall.
I did buy the less-perfect lemons at the market. Yes, it took some getting used to, except for the price, which was a lot lower.