Sustainable, eco-friendly, eco-responsible, environmentally sound, green – the list goes on – are the terms we read and hear about on a daily basis in response to various new product innovations. The packaging industry is no exception to using this type of language. But what do all these words really mean? Let’s go with the word sustainable as it seems to be the most common yet most vague of the “green” terms. It is overused and means different things to different people. At the same time, it is hard to avoid, especially for me, being part of a packaging movement that aims to bring about the type of change that might be termed sustainable.
To start with a more fundamental, widely accepted definition of sustainable development, I like Dr. Gordon Robertson’s interpretation of the Brundtland Report definition. He explains that for sustainable development to take place, a balance between economic growth, social development and environmental protection is required – a triple bottom line view. According to his 2009 article, Sustainable Packaging: Does it Really Exist?, Robertson interprets that “sustainable development is the level of human consumption and activity which can continue into the foreseeable future, so that the systems which provide goods and services to humans persist indefinitely.”
So let’s relate this back to the packaging industry. Robertson goes on to criticise some efforts by the industry, namely the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC), to find a common ground around the meaning of sustainable packaging – he says according to their definition, no packaging on the market is currently sustainable. But here I argue that we have to start somewhere – and we require a widely accepted guideline to work from. And this is exactly what the Sustainable Packaging Coalition is trying to do. If we want to improve our industry and bring about change to the way we make our packaging, we need a framework like this to direct our activities toward improvement.
According to the SPC then, a package is sustainable if it meets the following criteria:
- Is beneficial, safe and healthy for individuals and communities throughout its life cycle;
- Meets market criteria for performance and cost;
- Is sourced, manufactured, transported, and recycled using renewable energy;
- Maximizes the use of renewable or recycled source materials;
- Is manufactured using clean production technologies and best practices;
- Is made from materials healthy in all probable end of life scenarios;
- Is physically designed to optimize materials and energy;
- Is effectively recovered and utilized in biological and/or industrial cradle to cradle cycles.
As a designer and distributor of eco-responsible packaging, I can look at these criteria as a progressive challenge and see where we are at and what areas we need to analyze further to make improvements to become truly sustainable according to this definition. I know that we have to make some significant improvements in the area of renewable energy and clean production technologies. But I also know that we are meeting this definition in the other categories. This allows me to speak with more confidence and clarity to my clients as I can show them these criteria among our other standards, such as ASTM D6866, BPI compostable, and Greener Package Database, to explain how we measure our success and compare to our competition.
Additional Resources:
Sustainable Packaging: How do we Define and Measure It?
Greener Package Guidlines
Sustainable Packaging Alliance
Wikipedia: Sustainable Packaging
Wikipedia: Sustainability
