Sustainable Packaging Study guide

Three pillars of sustainability and their intersection

SPC expanded key design quality:

Term: Biodegradable

Term: Degradable

Term: Compostable

Term: Photodegradable

Qualifying claims for “recyclable” and “recycled content”

Green Guides

Designing for recovery

Term: Cascade recycling

Term: Upcycling

Term: Downcycling

Term: Recycling

Term: Chain of Custody/Mass Balance

Green-Washing: Sin of Hidden Trade-Off

A claim suggesting that a product is “green” based on a narrow set of attributes without attention to other important environmental issues

Example: Sin of Hidden Trade-Off

Paper is not necessarily environmentally preferable just because it comes from a sustainably-harvested forest. Other important environmental issues in the paper-making, or chlorine use in bleaching may be equally important

Green-Washing: Sin of Irrelevance

An environmental claim that may be truthful but is unimportant or unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products

Example: Sin of Irrelevance

“CFC-free.” This is frequent claim despite the fact that CFCs are banned by law

Green-Washing: Sin of No Proof

An environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information or by a reliable third-party certification

Example: Sin of No Proof

Facial tissues or toilet tissue products that claim various percentages of post-consumer recycled content without providing evidence

Green-Washing: Sin of Fibbing

Environmental claims that are simply false

Example: Sin of Fibbing

Products falsely claiming to be Energy Star certified or registered

Green-Washing: Sin of Vagueness

A claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the consumer

Example: Sin of Vagueness

“All-natural.” Arsenic, uranium, mercury, and formaldehyde are all naturally occurring, and poisonous. “All-natural” isn’t necessarily “green”

Green-Washing: Sin of Lesser of Two Evils

A claim that may be true within the product category, but that risks distracting the consumer from the greater environmental impacts of the category as a whole.

Example: Sin of Lesser of Two Evils

Organic cigarettes and fuel-efficient sports-utility vehicles

Green-Washing: Sin of Worshiping False Labels

A product that, through either words or images, gives the impression of a third-party endorsement where no such endorsement actually exists; fake labels, in other words

Example: Sin of Worshiping False Labels

Manufacturers who add their own label to a product with images and statements such as, “this product fights global warming”

Externality of environmental impacts

Ecological Footprint

True sustainability

Extended Producer Responsibility

Term: Recyclable

Why are plastics used in packaging and what are the challenges with recycling them?

How are metals separated in the material recovery facility?

Operations of MRF and the challenges these facilities face

Preferred order of the Waste Hierarchy (Most preferred to least preferred)

Source Reduction and Reuse, Recycling/Composting, Energy Recovery, Treatment and Disposal

Why are certain waste management methods preferred over others?

Why is sustainability an important topic for packaging?

Term: Sustainable Packaging

• Beneficial, safe and healthy for individuals and communities throughout its lifecycle

• Able to meet market criteria for performance and cost

• Sourced, manufactured, transported and recycled using renewable energy

• Able to maximize the use of renewable or recycled source materials

• Manufactured using clean products technologies and best practices

• Made from materials healthy in all probable end-of-life scenarios

• Physically designed to optimize materials and energy

• effectively recovered and utilized in biological and/or industrial cradle-to-cradle cycles

Packaging Law and Regulations: Upstream Measures

Aimed at reducing packaging through design and manufacturing

Upstream: Prevention of Packaging Formation: Bans and Restrictions

Prohibition of items such as shopping bag, expanded polystyrene foam, PVC, electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)

Upstream: Prevention of Packaging Formation: Phase Out

Prevention of the creation of new products, through existing products may continue to be used

Upstream: Source Reduction

Reduce the amount of raw materials and energy that go into producing products

Upstream: Source Reduction: Empty Space

Limit the amount of void space surrounding the product in packaging

Upstream: Source Reduction: Recycled Content Mandates

Requires manufacturers to use a certain percentage of recycled in their products

Upstream: Source Reduction: Reusable/Refillable Mandates

Requires manufacturing so that returned products from consumers, such as bottles, are reusable

Upstream: Source Reduction: Lightweighting

Designing to make packaging lighter

Packaging Law and Regulations: Downstream Measures

Aimed at reducing end of life products that go into the waste stream

Packaging Law and Regulations: Downstream Measure: Product Take Back/Extended Producer Responsibility (ERP)

Manufacturers are financially responsible for the disposal of their products post consumption

Upstream: Source Reduction: Fees & Deposits

A momentary charge imposed on consumers to purchase or “lease” packaging such as bags or bottles