Hello, my name's Mrs. Fletcher, and I'm really pleased to see you've decided to join me for a design and technology lesson today.

Today's lesson is called "Sustainability and packaging design," and it's part of the Shell structures: packaging unit.

In this lesson, we'll be looking closely at different types and styles of packaging and thinking about the materials that are used to make them.

We'll be thinking about the positive and negative effect that these materials can have on our environment.

So let's have a look at what we'll be learning about today.

The outcome of today's lesson is: I can compare a range of packaging designs.

So that means we're going to be looking at lots of different types of packaging.

We'll be thinking about the products they're used to package and how that affects the material that they're made from.

By the end of the lesson, you'll have a better understanding of how packaging is made and the materials it's made from.

There are some keywords that we're going to need to use in today's lesson.

So let's have a look at those together.

First of all, we've got that word packaging.

Can you repeat that after me? Packaging.

Well done.

And that is anything that is used to wrap, cover, or protect a product.

Then we've got the word materials.

Can you repeat that? Materials.

Well done.

And that's what things are made from.

And then we've got this word critique.

Can you repeat that? Critique.

And when we critique something, we discuss its strengths and its weaknesses.

So we look at its good and bad points.

And then we've got the word sustainable.

Can you repeat that? Sustainable.

Well done.

And that means using what we need while still protecting the environment so that we've got enough to use in the future.

So it's making sure we don't completely use something up so that we don't have any of it left.

And then finally, we've got the word environment.

Can you repeat that? Environment.

Well done.

And that's the living world that's all around us.

Okay, so now we've got our keywords, let's have a look at how the lesson will go today.

Today's lesson is broken down into two parts.

First of all, we're going to be comparing different types of packaging and particular the materials that they're made from.

And then we're going to be looking at the environmental considerations of different types of packaging.

So let's get started with comparing packaging materials.

Packaging, that word that we saw in our keywords, is a word that's used to describe anything that is used to wrap or cover or protect a product once it's been made.

Packaging can come in lots of different shapes and sizes and lots of different forms, including boxes, bottles, bags, sleeves, trays, or paper or plastic wrappers.

And you can see here an example of some food that's been packaged in a glass jar.

Packaging has two main purposes, so two jobs that it's meant to do.

First of all, it needs to protect the product that's inside and then it needs to also advertise the contents, that means let us know what is inside, making it clear and making it appealing to the buyer, so making us want to buy that product.

Packaging can be made from lots of different types of materials.

So we see some packaging that's made from paper and card, and that could be things like boxes and trays, bags, wrapping, or sleeves.

We see packaging made from plastic, and that might be things like tubs or trays, bottles, bags, wrappers and films on the top of packaging.

We see packaging made from glass, such as jars and bottles.

And we see packaging made from metal, such as tins.

Similar products can sometimes be packaged in different ways using different materials.

So here we can see the example of milk.

So sometimes you buy milk in a plastic bottle, sometimes you buy it in a cardboard carton, and sometimes you may see milk in a glass bottle as well.

So it's the same product, but it's been packaged in different ways.

A quick check before we move on then.

Which three of the following words can describe the main purposes of packaging? Is packaging used to wrap, build, protect, break, advertise, or change? Which three describe the main purpose of packaging? Pause the video and have a think.

Welcome back.

What did you think? Well, let's have a look.

The main purposes of packaging is to wrap around the product, to advertise what's inside, and to protect the contents as well.

Well done if you got those three right.

Looking carefully at different package designs and critiquing them, so that means discussing their strengths and weaknesses, can help us to make better design choices in the future.

As well as looking at the strengths and weaknesses of a design, we can also say what we like and dislike about it.

And this can help us plan for our own designs.

Izzy and Andeep have been critiquing some different types of packaging, and they started by looking at this cereal box.

So they discussed together different things that they noticed about this type of packaging and things that they knew about the material it was made from.

So they made a note that this packaging is a cuboid shape, so they are thinking about the shape and style of the packaging.

They've noted that it's a cardboard box which is recyclable and protects the cereal inside.

And they also noticed that there's a second part of the packaging, which is a plastic bag inside the cardboard box.

But they've also noticed that that's not a recyclable material to use, but it is used because it keeps the cereal dry and fresh.

Izzy's also saying there that the shape made it easy to hold.

So that's her opinion of the type of packaging that's used for this cereal.

And she's made a note of that because that might be something she wants to think about when she's designing her own packaging in the future.

Then they had a look at this chocolate box and they said similarly, it's another type of cuboid shape, but this time it has a different design.

So it has a sliding design where the tray slides out from the outer sleeve.

So there's two components to this packaging, two parts of this packaging.

They noted that it was easy to open and they looked at the materials it was made from as well.

So they looked at, it was made from a cardboard tray and a cardboard sleeve.

Both of those are recyclable materials.

And Andeep has also noted that he likes the way that the tray slides out.

So he is thinking about the design and what he likes about it.

He noted that that made it easy to share those chocolates.

A quick check then.

What is similar about these types of packaging? So if we look carefully at these three types of packaging, what do you notice is similar? Is it the material they're made from, the shape that they're made in, or the product that they're made for? Pause the video and have a think.

Welcome back.

What did you think? Well, by looking at those three products, we can see that they have a very similar shape.

So that kind of cuboid shape has been used for each of those three types of packaging.

They're not made from the same material, and they're not made for the same type of product either.

Well done if you noticed that as well.

So time for a task in this first part of the lesson.

So first of all, I would like you to look at a range of different types of packaging used for different types of products and made from different types of materials.

And I want you to make some notes on the different styles that you find.

I want you to think about the product.

So what does it protect? What is it made for? Think about the shape.

So what kind of shape is it when it's full? So when the product is inside and it's being used to protect that product, what shape is it in? I want you to think about the design, like Andeep was thinking about that sliding design of the chocolate box.

I want you to think about the design of the different packaging that you have in front of you.

How many parts does it have? How does it work? Does it have flaps? Does it have trays? Look at the way that that packaging is made to work.

I want you to think about the materials that have been used to make that packaging.

Is there more than one material that's been used for that packaging? And then have a think about what you like or dislike about each one.

So you might like the design, you might like the style, the way it works.

You might like the size or the shape or the material.

Make a note of those things for each one and then come back when you are done.

Welcome back.

How did you get on? Well, there's lots of different types of packaging that you may have looked at today.

Here are a few examples that the pupils have been looking at here and the notes that they made on that packaging.

So they looked at the packaging that was used for some strawberries to start with, and they noted that the shape of the packaging that was used for the strawberries was a cuboid shape, so that box shape.

They noticed that it was a clear box that had a lid that peeled off.

So they call that a film, that type of lid that peels off.

They looked at the materials, they made a note that the tub was made from plastic and the film on the top was also made from plastic.

And they made a note that the fact that it was clear, so you could see through it, meant that you could see the product inside.

And that was something that they liked about that style of packaging.

They then looked at the type of packaging that's used to protect and contain flour, so the baking ingredient.

They noticed that when it was full of flour, then that this was a cuboid shape as well.

So a bag of flour when it's full looks like a cuboid shape.

As it empties it gradually collapses down into a flat shape, but in its full state it's that cuboid shape again.

The design of that packaging is a sealed bag, and the material it's made from is paper.

So we've got a sealed paper bag that's used to package the flour.

The thing that they noticed about that type of packaging is that it tears very easily.

So being made from that thin paper means that it can quite easily get ripped and the contents of that packaging can come out.

They then went on to look at packaging that's used for biscuits.

They noticed the cylinder shape of the package that was used for biscuits, so that tube shape.

And the type of material that was used was a plastic wrapper.

So the design is a wrapper this time which wraps around the product.

And they noticed that that meant that the biscuits could quite easily get broken.

So that thin plastic wrapper was not protecting those biscuits inside.

And finally, they looked at the type of packaging that's used for shoes or trainers.

So this is typically a box, that cuboid shape again.

This time they noticed it was a very solid box that had a separate lid that could be removed and it had flaps that tucked in as well, which strengthened the box.

They noted that it was made from cardboard, a thick type of cardboard, and they also noted that the lid folding in is what made it stay in place.

So the design of the packaging is what made the lid stay in place the way it was folded.

So they made notes of those different aspects of the packaging that they liked and disliked to think about in the future when they come to look at their own packaging design.

Well done if you completed that task.

Let's move on to the next part of the lesson.

So in this part of the lesson, we're going to be thinking about the environmental effects of the types of packaging we use today and the materials that they're made from.

Designers and manufacturers, so that's the people who design products and the people who make products, have to think about sustainability and the environmental impact of the packaging that they use to make their products.

Now, that word sustainable means that we can keep making it, keep using it without running out.

So we're talking about the material that's being used to make the packaging.

We need to be able to use it for a long time, we don't want to run out, but we also don't want to cause any long-term damage to the environment.

So it needs to be kind to the environment, but it also needs to be long-lasting so we can use it for years to come.

To make sustainable packaging, we need to choose materials that cause less harm to the environment and that can be replaced easily.

For example, we can plant new trees to replace those that are used for paper and cardboard that's used to make paper and cardboard packaging.

So that's one way of keeping that material sustainable.

A quick check before we move on then.

What does that word sustainable mean? Does it mean that something won't run out or cause harm? Does it mean it will run out and be harmful? Or does it mean it's cheap and easy to make? Pause the video and have a think.

Welcome back.

What did you think? Well done if you said that the word sustainable means that something we are using won't run out, we won't cause it to run out, and it also won't cause any harm to the environment.

Well done if you got that right.

Designers have to consider the good and bad points of each material that they could use for their packaging as well as how it will work with their product.

So they need to think about the materials carefully before they choose the one that they're going to use.

So let's have a look carefully at each of those materials and the types of packaging they're used for.

So let's start by looking at paper and card packaging.

So we can see some examples here of pizza boxes, egg boxes, and shoe boxes.

The type of products that tend to come in paper and card packaging are things that come in boxes, bags, or envelopes.

So let's have a look at the positives and negatives, the good and bad points of using this material for packaging.

So first of all, the good points.

Well, it's easily recycled, so it's very easy to recycle paper and card packaging to make new products.

It's very lightweight, which is good for transporting it around.

And it also decomposes, which means rots away really quickly if it was to go into landfill.

So if it was not recycled and it ended up in landfill, it would rot away very quickly, so it wouldn't cause any lasting damage to the environment.

But let's look at then the bad points, the negatives of using this type of packaging.

Well, if we want to get new material to make paper and card packaging, then we need to get that from trees.

And if those trees are not replaced, then that can damage the environment.

It's also not a very strong material, so particularly if it gets wet, it can break down and rip and tear quite easily.

So it might not be suitable for all types of products.

Let's have a look at plastic packaging then.

So plastic packaging is often used in bottles, for wrappers and plastic boxes.

You can see some examples here.

The good points of using plastic packaging is that some plastic can be recycled.

So there are some types of plastic that can be recycled to make new products in the future.

It's very strong, so it will protect the product that it is being used for, and you can get a whole range of colours and shapes made out of plastic.

So you could get really exciting packaging design using plastic.

So let's have a look at the bad points then.

Why would we not want to use plastic packaging? Well, one of the main reasons is it can take hundreds and hundreds of years to rot away, to decompose.

So if it's not recycled, and lots of types of plastic can't be recycled, then it goes into landfill where it will take hundreds of years to rot away, which means it can be very harmful to the environment, can also be harmful to animals in the wild.

So they may eat plastic, they may get caught up in plastic products and packaging because it is not breaking down, it stays in their environment.

And it's also made from chemicals, so it's not a natural product.

It's made via chemicals, which can be harmful to humans and animals and the environment.

So there are lots of negative aspects of using plastic as a packaging material.

Let's have a look at metal packaging then.

So this is quite often used for products that are wet or need to be stored for quite a long time.

So food products, drink products, or things like paint are often stored in metal containers.

So the good thing about using metal as a material for packaging is that it's very, very strong.

It can be recycled, so it can be turned into new products in the future.

And it helps the products that it's protecting to last for many years.

So it can keep food fresh for years.

It can keep products like paint fresh for years so that they are not wasted and we can use them later on.

There are some negative points though about using metal as a packaging material.

It can be very heavy.

So metal is a heavy material and that makes the product heavy, which means it costs more to transport.

So it's more difficult to transport or more difficult to store and keep.

And metal can also rust.

So if it's exposed to water or moisture in the air, it can start to rust, which can spoil the product inside and it can break down the material as well, causing it to rot away.

And finally, let's have a look at glass as a packaging material.

So glass is often used for jars and bottles.

So we can see here some examples of food in a jar, a perfume bottle and milk in a jar as well.

It's good for products that are made from liquids because it's completely waterproof and can be sealed up tight.

So the good points about using glass is that it can be recycled again and again.

It can be recycled over and over again and it doesn't lose any of its quality.

And it can last a very long time if it's not recycled.

So if we don't recycle, it can be reused for the same purpose again.

It can be cleaned and used again over and over again.

There are some negative points, some bad points about using glass as a packaging material though.

It takes a lot of energy to make glass in the first place.

So glass is made from sand which is heated up to a very high temperature, so it turns into a liquid and then it's moulded into shape, and that takes a lot of energy to do that.

It's also very heavy.

So once it's been moulded into a jar or a bottle, that product is quite heavy.

So it's quite heavy to transport, heavy to store.

And glass is breakable, so even though it's a very strong product and can last a very long time, if it's not taken care of, it can easily get broken as well.

So lots of different positive and negative, good and bad points about those different types of packaging.

So when we come to think about ways to make packaging more sustainable, there's three keywords we need to think about: reduce, reuse, and recycle.

So if you're thinking about reducing packaging, that means we are using less packaging in the first place.

So if we are using less packaging to protect our products, then that packaging doesn't need to be recycled or sent to landfill, and we are not using as many resources to make the packaging in the first place.

If we are thinking about reusing packaging, then we can think about refilling old containers.

And there's lots of shops now that offer the opportunity to take in your old container that you've used before and fill it up with more products so you don't get a new container, you just get more of the products.

And that's a good way of reusing packaging that's been already made so that it reduces that impact on the environment and reduces the resources that we're using as well.

And then we can recycle.

So if a product cannot be used again, and some products have to have packaging on them so we can't remove that packaging, then that packaging can be recycled and turned into something new.

It can be turned into new packaging or it can be turned into new products as well.

So there's different ways that we can think about making packaging more sustainable.

A quick check before we move on then.

Which type of milk packaging here is the most sustainable? So if you're thinking about what that word sustainable means that it can be used again in the future and it won't harm the environment, which way of packaging milk would be the most sustainable? Would it be the plastic bottle, the glass bottle, or the cardboard carton? Pause the video and have a think.

Welcome back.

What did you think? Well, if you're thinking about those ways to make a product more sustainable, then the glass bottle would be the most useful because it can be reused.

So that means that no energy needs to be used to make new products or to recycle the product to make it into something new.

So that would be the most sustainable out of those three materials.

Well done if you thought that as well.

Izzy and Andeep have been discussing that cardboard packaging that they looked at earlier, the cereal box.

And Izzy has noted that cardboard does work really well for this product because it's very lightweight.

So she can understand why it would be used for this product, because metal or glass would be far too heavy to use for this type of product.

She has thought though that it could have been made from a recyclable plastic instead.

So she's thinking about other materials that could have been used for this product.

Andeep agrees with Izzy, but he's saying that plastic is made from chemicals.

Even if it is recyclable, it's still made from chemicals, and if it's not recycled properly, it could take hundreds of years to rot away.

So there is a chance that that material could still cause harm to the environment, even if it's made recyclable.

So they have slightly different views on what could have been used instead of cardboard for that packaging product.

Which leads us on to your second and final task in this lesson.

So I want you to look again at the different types of packaging that you have in front of you, and you're going to discuss with your partner or your table these points about each one.

So you're going to think about the good and bad points about the material that has been used to make it.

So if it's a product that's been made from cardboard, what are the good and bad points about using cardboard for that packaging product in particular? I want you to think about why that material has been chosen.

So like Izzy said about the cereal box, you can see why it's been chosen, because it's very lightweight, which makes it easy to use.

And I want you to think about, like Izzy and Andeep did, what other type of material could have been used instead? So if it's made from cardboard, could it have been made from something else? If it's made from glass, would it work in cardboard? So if you think about something like a milk bottle, plastic, glass, and cardboard have all been used to make milk bottles.

So there are sometimes different choices we can have about the type of material we use.

So I want you to think about that as well.

So you're thinking about each material, what's good and bad about it, why it was chosen, and if there could be an alternative material that could be used instead.

Pause the video while you have a go at this task and come back when you're done.

Welcome back.

How did you get on? Well, Izzy and Andeep chose to discuss the carton used for strawberries for this task, and they were discussing those points that we talked about.

So first of all, they talked about the material.

So Izzy is telling us that plastic is strong, which helps protect the fruit.

So that's a good reason to use plastic.

It may have been chosen because it's clear, so you can get a clear plastic that you can see through, which allows people to see that lovely fresh product that is inside.

So she started to think about why it was used.

Andeep is saying that he thinks cardboard could have been used instead.

It's still a strong product.

It could still make that same shape that you can see there, but it would be more sustainable.

So we know that cardboard is more sustainable than plastic because it's a natural product, it can be recycled very easily, and we can quite easily replace the resources we use to make it.

Izzy is thinking about that and she said that the type of product that we have here, the fruit wouldn't be suitable for a cardboard packaging because it could get wet.

And we know that cardboard doesn't like to get wet, it breaks down when it gets wet.

So that's perhaps why cardboard has not been chosen for this packaging.

So Andeep has come back by saying that the base could maybe be made of cardboard instead, which could reduce the amount of plastic used.

So he is saying some parts of the packaging could be replaced with cardboard, and some parts could still be plastic in order to protect it from the product inside.

So they've had a really good discussion about the pros and cons, the good and bad points of the material that was used for that packaging.

There always will be some good reasons why that product or that packaging is made from that material, and some reasons why it's not so good.

And that's where we need to think about the alternatives that we can use.

Well done if you had a good discussion about your packaging material as well.

So we're coming to the end of today's lesson.

So we've looked at lots to do with sustainability and packaging design and the considerations that designers and manufacturers have to think about when they are deciding which type of packaging to make.

We've learned that critiquing, so talking about those good and bad points, a range of existing products, so packaging that's already out there, provides information to us to inform our future designs.

So if we are going to be thinking about packaging design in the future, then it's helpful to look at products that are already out there.

We've also learned that our own personal taste for design comes from saying what we like and dislike about products.

So we learned that Andeep liked the design of that chocolate box because it was easy for him to share the chocolates.

Izzy was quite impressed with the design of a cereal box because it made it easier to hold.

So those are personal opinions.

Doesn't mean it's right or wrong, it's just what you like or dislike about a product.

We've also been thinking about ways to make packaging more sustainable, so ways we can keep on using it without harming the environment.

And those three words, reduce, reuse, recycle, are key when it comes to making our packaging more sustainable.

We need to reduce the amount we use in the first place, reuse the packaging that we can, and if we can't reuse it, then recycle it to make new products.

Well, thank you for joining me for this lesson.

I hope you've learned lots about packaging today, and I hope you'll join me for another lesson in this unit.

Thank you and goodbye for now.