(Current Events) What Monochrome Potato Chip Bags Teach Us: The Romance of Technology Behind 'Convenience' and the Future of Manufacturing

The news that Calbee will be using monochrome packaging for its potato chips due to a naphtha shortage has become a major topic of conversation.

Looking at the comments section of this article, it is overflowing with remarks about environmental consideration, such as 'This is a good opportunity to rethink excessive packaging' and 'We should return to an eco-friendly lifestyle that doesn't waste resources.' I deeply empathize with everyone's stance on valuing resources and eliminating waste, and I think it is truly wonderful.

However, when I see the sentiment spreading that 'we should just make packaging simpler and more transparent' as a result of this news, I find myself wanting to pause and think for a moment. I wonder, 'If every product were truly simplified, what would happen to our lives?'

Encountering New Products and 'Food Diversity'

For example, there was an opinion that 'If we know how delicious Consomme Punch is, it will sell even if it's in a transparent bag.' This is certainly true, and it is an argument that holds up precisely because it is a long-standing staple that we have been familiar with for years.

But packaging design and color are by no means 'just visual waste.' When lined up on a supermarket shelf, they serve as a very important gateway for new products whose taste no one knows yet to catch our eyes and make us think, 'This looks delicious.'

What if all packaging were standardized and only simple designs remained? The 'triggers' that lead us to pick up products packed with new ideas might decrease, and as a result, the 'food diversity' we enjoy might be lost little by little.

What the Success of 'I LOHAS' Teaches Us

At this point, some of you might be thinking, 'No, there are products that became huge hits even with simple packaging. Like I LOHAS.'

The fact that 'I LOHAS' was loved by many for its simple design is a truly wonderful example of successful marketing. However, if you look at it from a slightly different perspective, you could say that the design shone because 'all other products had colorful and flashy labels.' The 'simplicity' that set it apart from the rest became a special icon (identity) unique to that product.

When there is one wonderful success story, it is easy to think that 'all other products should do the same,' but the world of marketing is not that simple. If everyone becomes simple in the same way, that appeal will be buried.

The Massive Food Waste Prevented by 'Excessive Packaging'

And one more thing. Regarding the opinions that 'we should just use transparent bags' or 'we should simplify more,' please let me talk a little here about the 'fascination of technology' hidden in packaging production and the 'true role it plays.'

You are likely aware that the inside of a potato chip bag is silver. In fact, when they were first released in 1975, potato chips were sold in 'transparent bags that allowed you to see the contents,' which was the mainstream for snacks at the time. However, because transparent film allows light and outside air to pass through, it had a major problem: the oil inside would oxidize, causing the flavor to deteriorate. This degradation became even more serious as convenience stores rose to prominence and products were exposed to fluorescent light 24 hours a day.

In other words, if they were still in 'transparent and simple bags' today, the products would have deteriorated as soon as they were placed on store shelves, resulting in a massive amount of 'food loss (waste).'

What solved this was the 'aluminum-deposited film' adopted for the first time in the industry. To completely block light, oxygen, and moisture, a 'multi-material' is used, which consists of multiple layers (sometimes as many as five) of materials with different functions. For example, for the 'Nori-Shio' (seaweed and salt) flavor, the chlorophyll in the seaweed absorbs light and accelerates oxidation, so even more specialized film with higher light-shielding properties than usual is used, demonstrating invisible ingenuity.

Packaging that looks like a waste at first glance actually functions as an 'absolute base (infrastructure)' to maintain taste and hygiene over a long period and deliver safe food to everyone across the country. Moreover, engineers are challenging themselves to make the film thinner in units of 1/1000th of a millimeter (micrometers) while maintaining that quality, and they have succeeded in reducing plastic usage by 25% over 25 years.

Inside those thin, lightweight bags, 'eco-friendly functions to minimize food waste' are packed tightly with precise, calculated efficiency.

The barrier of recycling and collection that stands in the way precisely because it is a 'crystallization of technology'

However, this 'incredible level of technology' is directly linked to the difficulty of recycling.

Some might suggest, 'Why not just simplify the package structure (to a single material) to make it easier to recycle?' However, doing so would lose the barrier functions mentioned earlier, causing delicious potato chips to deteriorate in no time and resulting in massive food waste.

On the other hand, trying to recycle with the current 'composite materials' is an extremely difficult task with existing technology, as separating multiple materials cleanly to return them to their original high-quality state is nearly impossible. Forcing separation or attempting to convert them into oil would incur enormous costs and could even lead to an increase in CO2 emissions.

Furthermore, beyond technical issues, it is extremely difficult to 'collect cleanly' the vast quantities of packaging—hundreds of thousands of tons—required to make it commercially viable. To realize a true circular society, we need to change not just the efforts of individual companies, but the very 'social systems' of sorting and collection.

The pursuit of short-sighted eco-friendliness, such as 'simplifying packaging makes it eco-friendly,' can sometimes cause us to lose sight of the original goals (reducing food waste and lowering total environmental impact) and can become a factor in the spread of 'greenwashing' (deceptive environmental claims) that lacks substance. We must be very careful about this.

Companies are by no means turning a blind eye to environmental issues. They are racking their brains and conducting research every day on how to reduce environmental impact. Yet, the reality is that they are fighting a desperate battle, caught in the dilemma between 'non-negotiable quality (reducing food waste and maintaining hygiene)' and 'economically viable collection and recycling systems.'

Turning this 'pinch' into a 'chance' for new manufacturing

Calbee's 'monochrome' move this time is an unavoidable 'emergency evacuation' measure in response to an unprecedented shortage of naphtha. It is by no means a step forward toward simple packaging that the company chose of its own volition.

That is precisely why I feel we should not simply consume this news naively as a beautiful story of 'a first step toward eco-friendliness' or 'a review of excessive packaging.'

I am not in the food or packaging industry myself. However, as someone involved in technology and marketing in a different field, I strongly feel that we should not let this unprecedented pinch end as mere 'endurance' or 'retreat,' but rather seize it as the greatest 'chance' for the next innovation.

I hope you will pause for a moment before the easy-to-understand phrase 'simple = eco-friendly' and think about the fascinating technology behind the scenes that supports our lives and the reduction of food waste. As for myself, I want to use this constraint as an opportunity for a breakthrough, and I will continue to think straight about how to face the invisible walls of the world and how to depict 'new landscapes of manufacturing' in my own field.

(Bonus)
Even in black and white, with a little ingenuity, it can become a wonderful package. How to be creative within the constraints set. It really tests your ideas, which is interesting in its own way.

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