With consumer pushback on single-use plastics at a fever pitch, 2020 opened with a rush of news from Consumer Packaged Goods companies, associations, and regulators on initiatives here and abroad to address the crisis. Following are just some of the news items related to sustainable packaging.
Associations seek to fight plastics backlash with educational materials aimed at consumers:
· The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has launched a new website after a major redesign to enhance its information services for its members, the public, the media, and political decisionmakers. The new website highlights the important role the global recycling industry plays for economy and the environment and offers content related to ferrous and non-ferrous metals, paper, textiles, stainless steel/alloys, plastics, tires/rubber, and e-scrap. An enhanced Members Only section allows for full access to BIR’s Membership Directory and relevant legislative background information, while updated commodity pages showcase the latest key figures and a comprehensive library provides industry statistics, reports, proceedings, and fact sheets.
A new document from the British Plastics Federation, Understanding the Debate about Plastic, outlines why plastic is important for modern life and the evidence on effective ways to reduce waste. The British Plastics Federation (BPF) has released two videos to address public misunderstanding about plastic’s role in society and the best ways to prevent plastic waste. The videos have been released in support of the BPF’s recent document, Understanding the Debate about Plastic, which outlines why plastic is important for modern life and the evidence on effective ways to reduce waste. One BPF video outlines how the carbon impact of plastic is relatively low when compared to alternatives. The second video explains how changes to the U.K.’s recycling collection system may help reduce existing consumer confusion over what should or should not be put in the recycling bin, with the potential to improve recycling levels across the country.
Associations support recycling:
· The Consumer Brands Assn. (formerly the Grocery Manufacturers Assn.) has launched the Recycling Leadership Council, a diverse group of stakeholders from consumer-facing industries, packaging companies, and the recycling ecosystem “to build a public policy framework to fundamentally reimagine the U.S. recycling system.” The framework—The American Recycling Roadmap—will seek consistency in the recycling system and guide advocacy at the federal, state, and local level. The group convened for the first time in mid-January in a meeting hosted by the Senate Recycling Caucus co-chairs, Senators Boozman (R-Ark.) and Carper (D-Del.). The council membership is united by the following guiding principles: Pursue big ideas to create modern and scalable solutions that maintain the affordability, safety, and reliability of consumer products; seek uniformity of recycling rules and practices across the entire ecosystem; and identify long-term solutions that take precedence over short-term, competitive interests, with the goal of increasing sustainability and significantly reducing waste. Among its initial members are the American Beverage Association, AMERIPEN, Closed Loop Partners, the Food Marketing Institute, the Glass Packaging Institute, the National Restaurant Association, The Recycling Partnership, and others.
· The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) has confirmed its continued commitment to recycling grocery rigid plastics with a renewed push to encourage retail grocery chains to aggregate and market their behind-the-counter rigid plastics. Recyclable items common to retail grocery include bakery and deli pails and buckets, seafood trays and lids, and bulk pharmaceutical containers, all manufactured from valuable high-density polyethylene and polypropylene plastic resins. An updated website provides hands-on guidance and information for retail grocery operations and corporate sustainability personnel and decision makers, including photos, training videos, and case studies. New and updated items include a Program Summary Flyer, an updated “How To” Guidebook, and a Baled Material Economics Worksheet that retail grocers can customize to estimate savings from waste diversion and recycled material sales for their operations. The new website and related tools are part of renewed effort by APR, with support of the American Chemistry Council.
New reports look at recycling and at the environmental impacts of consumers’ shopping decisions:
· A new white paper, “Does Shopping Behavior Impact Sustainability,” shows that mall shopping can be up to 60% more environmentally sustainable than online shipping. The study, conducted by Simon® in partnership with Deloitte, also shows that shopping online leads to five times more returned products, which considerably increases the environmental impact; shopping online creates five times more emissions from packaging for online orders—e.g., corrugated boxes, bubble wrap, etc.—compared with the emissions associated with paper and plastic shopping bags; mall shoppers buy, on average, three and a half products per trip and visit other places on their way to the mall, which is often referred to as trip chaining and lowers the emissions specifically related to their mall visit, because their trip is divided between multiple stops.