Insights / Sustainability
Berlin Packaging Makes Major Strides to Unpack Sustainability Impact
Balaji Jayaseelan, Berlin Packaging's Vice President of Sustainability, explores our holistic sustainability strategy, innovative initiatives, and successful brand partnerships.
At Berlin Packaging, we’re on a mission to unpack sustainability potential. Balaji Jayaseelan, our Vice President of Sustainability, delves into our progress we’ve made this year. In 2023, collaboration has been the key driving force behind our impact: we’ve helped 30+ brands transition to more sustainable packaging solutions, enhanced our expansive suite of sustainability capabilities, and elevated our product innovation initiatives.
What is your vision for the future of Berlin Packaging’s sustainability strategy?
Our vision is to lead the future of sustainable packaging. We achieve that mission through a holistic approach: whether it be driving product innovation, optimizing our supply chain, or leveraging upcoming technologies.
In 2023, collaboration has been the key driving force behind our impact: we’ve helped 30+ brands transition to more sustainable packaging solutions, enhanced our expansive suite of sustainability capabilities, and elevated our product innovation initiatives.
In the future, we will continue leveraging our strength as a global packaging supplier. We push impact players across the entire value chain to integrate sustainability, which covers everything from materials to manufacturing. We are heavily focused on scaling sustainability through impactful partnerships.
How is Berlin Packaging approaching its journey to reducing its environmental footprint?
Over the past two years, we have made significant strides in driving ESG initiatives. We launched ISO 14001 certifications in our EMEA region, which was a part of a larger initiative to establish our baseline data this year. This acts as a guide to develop our emissions reductions strategy, especially as we are aligning our climate goals with the Science Based Targets initiative. As a Hybrid Packaging Supplier, our emissions portfolio has more exposure towards both the upstream and downstream parts of the value chain. With this in mind, our future strategy focuses on reducing Scope 3 emissions.
We always want to cross-pollinate sustainability into as many functions as possible. This is what it truly takes to embed sustainability into the DNA of our company. For instance, we engage with suppliers to increase their sustainability capabilities, such as reducing energy within the plant or ensuring they manage the social effects of the supply chain. With our design and engineering teams, we provide insights and incorporate evolving sustainable designs and technologies. We work with our Legal department to ensure we understand environmental regulations to the greatest extent possible.
What role does innovation play in our sustainability strategy?
Innovation is a cornerstone of our sustainability strategy—emphasizing scale, scope, and collaboration. We actively engage with regional teams to facilitate the sharing of innovations and new initiatives globally. While not everything needs to scale globally, many innovations are applicable in multiple areas. This can mean warehouse sustainability efforts, novel product sustainability designs, robust quantitative packaging impact assessments, and more.
Because we work in diverse markets and with a wide range of brands, from family-owned businesses to global enterprises, we have accumulated the experience of supporting brands through numerous packaging sustainability challenges. While each case is unique to every brand, there are often shared lessons we can share with the broader industry—whether it be integrating learnings to create a reuse and refill program to engaging and educating consumers.
“We empower our customers to achieve their sustainable packaging goals and differentiate themselves in the market.”
How do we enable sustainability beyond Berlin Packaging?
Our sustainability commitment extends beyond our organization. We open the sustainability conversation with as many brands as we can reach. It can be something as simple as ensuring their awareness of environmental regulations to something more complex like defining and meeting their corporate sustainability goals. This is where our most significant sustainability opportunity is: creating value beyond us.
To date, we have enabled 30+ brands to integrate sustainability in their packaging and beyond. We deploy several sustainability strategies, from integrating recycled content to transitioning to reuse and refill. We often act as a strategic partner, enabler, and accelerator for many smaller brands and startups.
What gives you confidence that Berlin Packaging can catalyze positive industry change?
I am incredibly confident in our Global Sustainability Team. In the last two years, we have onboarded team members with expertise across diverse functions—engineering, marketing, manufacturing, design, materials and sourcing, supply chain, and more. Our team is collectively focused on a shared sustainability purpose and achieving real impact at scale.
One of our industry’s major challenges is addressing common misconceptions about what the more “sustainable” choice is. Our team has been highly proactive about engaging and educating our customers with a holistic viewpoint. We examine and define sustainability on a case-by-case basis with our customers, and we translate that into simple, actionable, and executable strategies. Beyond engaging with our customers, our team releases articles, educational guides, and position statements to help demystify broader industry challenges and point potential paths forward.
Additionally, partnerships are essential to driving sustainability at scale. We drive best practices wherever we can, whether it be partnering with organizations on recyclability testing or consulting with universities and startups to understand innovative initiatives and upcoming technologies.
About Balaji Jayaseelan
Balaji Jayaseelan joined Berlin Packaging in 2021, taking the helm of the company’s global sustainability strategy. With 15+ years of experience in sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy leadership, he has led global innovation efforts across diverse consumer and professional brands. Jayaseelan has also successfully incubated startups in the sustainability, education, and technology sectors.
In addition to his role at Berlin Packaging, Jayaseelan serves on the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR)’s Communications & Public Affairs Committee. This committee joins forces to drive best-in-class recycling practices and engage in industry-wide recycling communications, education, and policy. Jayaseelan is also a part of the Sustainable Packaging Technical Committee Leadership for the Institute of Packaging Professionals.
By: Celine Yang
Date: August 6, 2024