Here's how companies are reducing packaging materials and increasing profitability in an uncertain economy.

Only 52% of used beverage cans (UBC) in North America are recycled. Leading aluminum producer Alcoa wants to raise that to 75% by 2015, because recycled aluminum requires 95% less energy to produce and can be recycled many times with no degradation.

Seven in 10 consumers said they’d be willing to pay up to 20% more for environmentally friendly products, and only one in 10 said they were unwilling to pay anything extra, according to a survey by Mambo Sprouts Marketing.

A variety of “smart” label technologies exist that give a clear indication of product freshness and quality.

Consumer desires and supply chain requirements drive meat and poultry package development.

Consumers expect a lot from meat and poultry packaging. Their wish list includes a diverse set of attributes, including sustainability, convenience, freshness indicators and on-label nutritional data.

Sustainability is steadily gaining the attention of American consumers as media coverage of resource conservation increases, and concern deepens on environmental issues.

We’re living in a consumer economy. Yet we recognize that a one-way product life cycle is not sustainable. You can reuse a bottle as a flower vase but, at the rate people consume our product (and I have no interest in telling them to consume less), there are only so many flower vases that you need.

Palletizing and other unitizing operations can accommodate the sustainability drive with the right adjustments.

Hershey Foods will discontinue its Ice Breakers Pacs candy in response to criticism that it was packaged in a way that resembled powdered cocaine. The single-serve packets of powdered breath mints came in film that dissolved on the tongue, but police officers and others said the product too closely resembled powdered street drugs.

Surveys and statements by industry leaders show that sustainability is continuing to pick up momentum with consumers and retailers.