Global Sustainable Packaging Standards Coming Soon

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December 16, 2010

A Green Retail Decisions’ exclusive

By Maureen Azzato

Retailers and manufacturers mired in the numerous and often divergent standards and metrics on sustainable packaging that exist domestically and internationally, should breath a sign of relief come early next year. The Global Packaging Project plans to release in January a standard measurement system and common industry language for packaging and sustainability.

The goal of the project, spearheaded by the Consumer Goods Forum, is to “harmonize packaging metrics and define terms and measure packaging sustainability correctly,” said Anne Johnson, program director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, a GreenBlue initiative.

More than 100 organizations are involved in the Global Packaging Project, including associations -- such as GreenBlue, Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) -- packaging manufacturers, retailers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies. Participating retailers include Target, Tesco, Kroger, Loblaw, Walmart, Giant Eagle and Wegmans, and manufacturers including Kraft, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Pepsico, Sara Lee and Colgate-Palmolive, to name a few.

Johnson and Kim Lymn, senior manager of packaging for Target, presented the status of the project at the recent Sustainability Summit, which was sponsored jointly by FMI and GMA.

Launched in the first quarter of this year, the Global Packaging Project established and released a framework for the work in June and has spent most of the fall season pilot testing the measurement system, the results of which were presented in October. The final stage of the project will incorporate the results of the pilot tests and selection of the final measurement system, which has been consolidated to 52 metrics, Johnson said.

“We’re now working on the guidance document, which will be the primary tool for retailers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies to use,” Johnson note. “This initiative could dramatically reduce costs for companies to execute sustainable packaging. It will certainly facilitate faster adoption of best practices and shared knowledge.”

Target and Kraft, as well as other companies, pilot tested the first version of the measurement system. Target engaged in two pilots for its own store brands and for some CPG brands. “We look at sustainable packaging holistically, not just as a means to reduce packaging. We don’t want to create or increase unsaleable products,” Lymn said. “We still need to protect the products and ensure the packaging is functional.”

When it is complete, the guidance document will be available on the The Global Packaging Project web site.

Read These Related Articles:

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• Global Sustainable Packaging Market to Grow 14 Percent Annually
• Marks & Spencer Builds Green Packaging into Beauty Care Line
• First Global Sustainable Packaging Measurement System Released

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