i have come across a couple of products in pouch/squishy bottles...like these pics & thought i would get the low down on how these compare to rigid plastic bottles. I have verified this info with an eco packaging expert & the news is as good as plastic packaging could be...
In summary...it uses less plastic and is recylcable. If every suitable product was packed in these packages we would have considerably less trash on Earth...
Here is more info from the helpful gentleman @ Sunpouch.
"Here at Sunpouch we use a packaging type called a "Cheer Pack".
Sunpouch and Cheer Packs specifically demonstrate environmental efficiency over traditional rigid packaging in the market by substantial reductions in the following areas:
Cheer Packs manufacturing process consumes minor amounts of raw materials as compared to alternative rigid forms of packaging such as bottles and plastics. Consequently, any waste material produced during the manufacturing process is also minimised. So we consume less making the stuff.
The flat and lightweight construction is a major feature of the Cheer Pack and this contributes significantly in the continued attempt in minimising the carbon footprint. The reduced packaging weight decreases energy consumption during transportation, not only substantially reducing greenhouse gases, but providing cost efficiencies all along the supply chain as well as reducing intangible environmental costs. It has been estimated that it takes nine times more fossil fuel to move glass or rigid packaging around compared to what’s required to move this pouch around. I have heard figures that it is possible to get about a seven-to-one-ratio in space saving transporting the stuff around on trucks.
The compact nature of the Cheer Pack, also significantly minimises landfill compared to traditional rigid packaging. So, from an end-of-life perspective a Sunpouch occupies less than 10% of the amount of space in the landfill as traditional rigid bottle like a glass or palstic bottle. Our Sunpouch caps are manufactured entirely from High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and is therefore 100% recyclable.
Some more technical specifics for you Luci:
On comparing Cheer Pack with PET/PE film structure with an aluminum can of same size, the environmental impact results really minor for Cheer Pack despite the two packs are very closed in weight. It is noticed that production of solid waste is reduced by 18% and the other indexes like energy consumption, water and air pollution are ranging from 11 and 21% of the corresponding aluminum container, i.e., cans etc.
The scientific comparison between the PET Bottle and Cheer Pack for our type of product indicates also a minor environmental impact of Cheerpacks: all the environmental indexes of Cheer Pack are showing inferior values ranging from 30 to 45%. Less is better. A similar situation is found in respect of the brick type container, where values of Cheer Pack environmental indexes are reduced from 31% to 78% of the effect of brick types. "
