Exciting packaging must come to the fore in debate on industry’s green credentials

Many in the industry feel the argument is getting pretty tired, and it’s a fair point. Yet last month’s budget will, to the more cynical among us, only provide more reasons to keep arguing that we are getting a raw deal.

While packaging’s environmental impact is far smaller than, say, the car industry’s, look who’s getting government hand-outs. There’s a bit of money to help the 34% emissions reduction target by 2020, but you can’t help suspecting companies up the supply chain will foot the bill, rather than the consumer. (Thank goodness for some relief on the trade credit insurance issue, although let’s hope that pledge is backed by real action).

Yet packaging has a history of overcoming environmental challenges. Lightweighting has been going on for decades, and every time a limit appears to have been reached, another breakthrough comes along to reduce weight further.

Recycling is on the up, too, at least according to Defra’s figures, and that’s down as much to more sustainable packaging design and an increasingly sophisticated recycling infrastructure as it is to the public’s efforts.

More broadly, the pace of technical progress and innovation across the industry can be astonishing. Flick through this magazine and this month’s Environment Report and the number of exciting developments is bewildering. These innovations are at the heart not only of our carbon footprint but of marketing and consumer convenience. As an industry, we should shout about this more, as those commendable companies that have won Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are doing.

So while we must continue to promote the facts on our sector’s environmental impact, given the industry’s talent for reinventing its products, surely we should be asking: ‘why not us?’

Josh Brooks is editor of Packaging News

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