Greener Greens

Colour choice is a key component for any brand. Making the wrong choice can give the wrong impression for your product. The right colour is more than just the shade. The right colour can enable the consumer to connect with the brand on a level that goes beyond aesthetics.

The choice of the beverage can for packaging tells its own story. The beverage can says that the brand owner wants their beverage to reach the consumer in tip top condition. It says the brand owner understands the need for endlessly recyclable materials to be utilized as much as possible in today’s packaging world. And of course, it says the brand owner wants is a unique premium look that simply doesn’t exist with any other packaging type.

Choosing the right colour is one thing, choosing how to create that colour is another thing all together. Not all colours are created equally. In fact, some colours can be reached with all sorts of pigment combinations. Why is this important to a brand owner? As long as the colour looks right, isn’t that what’s important? Brand integrity is not just about looks, its about sustainability and environment credentials. Now more than ever the onus is on the packaging industry to play its part in reducing our carbon footprint.

Reducing the colours, or the inks carbon footprint doesn’t mean less colour choice or negatively affecting brand integrity. The carbon footprint of every ink used on beverage cans can be calculated. These values can then be compared and used to help with colour selection. Colour predication software can be used to reformulate inks using pigment combinations that offer an improved carbon footprint. Carbon emissions can be reduced by up to a third. Substituting pigments doesn’t mean having to compromise on colour. Many colours can look exactly the same. Others maybe very similar. The important part is that carbon footprint information can play a part in the decision-making progress and that any substitutions can be assessed prior to colours being locked-in during design development.

The successful application of lower carbon footprint colours can be further optimised by colour management during the can production process. Spectrophotometers have long been used to help colour control during the can manufacturing process. Their primary function is of course to ensure colour consistency, however accurate colour control also helps adds to the beverage cans environmental credentials. With the right software, this type of process control can accurately calculate the inks contribution to overall carbon emissions and more importantly ensure that carbon emissions are kept to a minimum. This type of approach has several benefits, be they environmental, colour consistency, or application costs, all add to brand credentials and continue to promote the beverage cans benefits over other beverage packaging types.