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Firstly, I must say that it’s great news that we’ve finally got a strategy being developed for packaging in a low carbon economy – it’s a huge step forward.

The report suggests a move away “from weight-based to carbon-based (packaging waste) targets” taking in to account “whole life cycle impacts.” which is a bold move – but how will this be implemented and managed in a consistent manner?

There is mention of “Treating packaging waste as a valuable resource”. Yes, we should encourage:
“• more recycling by householders; with schemes that collect all the main packaging materials” (but let’s get UK wide consistency and make it easier for consumers to differentiate & sort!). As Dick Searle points out (see Packaging News below), “recyclability is not the problem – 85% of packaging is recyclable, while just 35% of packaging is actually recycled.”
“• local authorities and businesses treating waste packaging as a resource, leading to more recycling by businesses” (Yes, most businesses will respond to cash incentives for recycling schemes but we should not lose sight of other ways of processing waste and think of latent energy recovery/capture.  Efforts should be given to an all encompassing sustainability policy/programme – i don’t see any mention of that anywhere! – or have I missed something?)

As a footnote, I’d like to say that anything that enables consumers to appreciate the benefits of packaging and stop seeing it only as ‘waste’, is a good thing. I also think that we are in dire need of a government strategy on ‘Food Waste’ = otherwise we are missing a ‘big trick’ here. Around 30% of all food purchased is thrown away. If it wasn’t packaged (to extend its shelf life) that figure would probably be over 50%.

So we will continue to work on innovation for our sustainability projects, reducing and minimising wherever we can, as consumers demand, but we must not lose sight of the need for choice and convenience.

What do you think? Have your say in the comments below….

Related articles:

Hilary Benn unveils long-awaited Packaging Strategy June 2009

If you want to read the full version of the DEFRA report, you can download it here:

Defra Packaging Strategy – full version

If you’d like to read the opinions of other packaging industry ‘experts’ you can find them here:

 Packaging News – article on Defra Strategy – Various Industry Views

The following article provides an overview of Hilary Benn’s Packaging Strategy. We will follow-up with our own comments and views on this strategy in a separate blog-post – look out for it!  Chris

Jill Park, packagingnews.co.uk, 09 June 2009

The banning of aluminium and glass from landfill is under review by the government as part of its long-awaited Packaging Strategy, revealed today.

Environment minister Hilary Benn announced the government’s new packaging strategy, ‘Making the most of packaging’, this morning at the Futuresource conference at Excel in London.

The strategy outlines the government’s plan to improve the design and manufacture of packaging over the next decade and covers recycling strategy, packaging reduction and reusability.

read more »

Simeon Goldstein, packagingnews.co.uk, 23 June 2009

Coca-Cola is celebrating Recycle Week with a 50-metre sculpture on the Sussex coast made from 200,000 used aluminium cans.

The ‘Precious Metal’ artwork is inspired by a Coca-Cola poster from 1949 that shows a lady sunbathing and the drinks giant hopes it will encourage people to recycle more this summer.

read more »

#food #packaging #environmental # material

By Mike Stones, 23-Jun-2009

The first fully recyclable dairy pots have been launched by Rachel’s, a leading UK premium organic dairy brand.

Moving from polystyrene to 60 per cent recycled PET (known as rPET) will significantly cut the amount of plastic sent to landfill, said the company. Its marketing director Steve Clarke told DairyReporter.com that: “By making the switch to r-PET we will save up to 210 tonnes of plastic per year. Better still, we are using materials that might otherwise end up in landfill.”

Using recycled plastic saves energy, cuts carbon use and reduces consumption of finite oil resources, from which new plastic is made, added Clarke.

read more »