New Standard Will Value Sustainable Packaging Efforts

Packaging: don’t we all feel that sometimes products have too many layers of paper and plastic around them these days? And don’t we wonder why that is so, since all that packaging becomes trash as soon as it is peeled off or removed from the product that it is enveloping. Often the actual content turns out to look smaller in volume than the wrapping.

If you feel that way, you are not alone. Several initiatives have been working to raise awareness of the waste generated by packaging as well its energy footprint, management of raw materials, shipping, etc. Recently, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC), which is a project of GreenBlue, an environmental nonprofit, unveiled a new plan for a sustainable packaging recognition mark to be fully launched by early 2016. A pilot program is scheduled to be launched in January 2015.

The incipient initiative has a simple goal: to recognize and reward efforts forward in the packaging industry to achieve a more sustainable practice. The recognition mark will be points-based, while criteria for recognition will be based on the SPC’s Definition of Sustainable Packaging. The process will be transparent and verified by a third party.

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Antonio Pasolini is a Corporate Social Responsibility writer for Justmeans, Antonio Pasolini is a journalist based in Brazil who writes about alternative energy, green living and sustainability. He also edits Energyrefuge.com, a top web destination for news and comment on renewable energy and Elpis.org, a recycled paper bag/magazine distributed from health food stores in London, formerly his hometown for over a decade. He is also a happy herbivore.