NAVICO LAUNCHES NEW, SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING PROGRAM

by admin

Navico, the parent company to the Lowrance, Simrad Yachting, B&G and C-MAP brands, recently announced its renewed focus on becoming a more sustainable company.

The first step was a transition to feature 100% recyclable and sustainable packaging in new product offerings. Additionally, last month the company announced its first-ever appointment of a Chief Sustainability Officer, Tara Norton.

“Sustainability is one of Navico’s core pillars and a key part of the company’s global strategy,” said Knut Frostad, CEO, Navico. “We are pleased to have made some initial strides with our sustainable packaging initiative over the past year, and we know there is a lot of work ahead of us as well.”

Navico’s initially focused on high-volume accessories such as display cables and sun covers, transitioning those products from plastic clamshell systems to 100% recyclable packagings such as cardboard and paper. Other changes introduced for new products this year include Styrofoam being replaced by Mushroomâ Packaging, which is custom-moulded material created by combining hemp and mycelium – it’s entirely home compostable. Plastic bags will be eliminated using Aquapak’s Hydropol bags made from polymers that are specially engineered to be non-toxic, marine-safe and soluble in warm or hot water.

After more than a year of research, planning and development, sustainable packaging was featured with the company’s recent navigation and fishfinder releases – including B&G’s Nemesis and Lowrance’s Elite FS displays, as well as ActiveTarget Live Sonar.

Elite FS includes a Hydropol bag that replaced a plastic bag to protect the display screen. Estimates indicate that Elite FS alone will save more than 3,300 pounds of plastic every year as nearly 300,000 plastic bags have been replaced already. Also, 45,000 Styrofoam inserts will be replaced with Mushroom nests, and Instapak replaced with moulded pulp. B&G’s Nemesis packaging took a slightly different path because the product did not require a retail-friendly presentation. The design is made of an E kraft box with an eco-friendly label on top and biodegradable ink and paper. Nemesis’s projected environmental savings include 70 pounds of plastic every year and 4,000 single-use plastic bags removed from hardware kits and documents.

While this is only the first phase toward Navico’s total sustainable packaging program, the move has been recognised as an essential initial step; existing product inventory will be transitioned to sustainable packaging as the stock is replenished. 

www.navico.com

related articles