World’s biggest brands unite on pack sustainability language

Global brand owners and retailers including Coca-Cola, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart and Kraft met in Toronto last week to approve the definitions, which could be a first step in putting an end to long-running arguments on packaging’s environmental, social and economic impact.

The Global Packaging Project (GPP) is being run by the Consumer Goods Forum and is co-chaired by Tesco head of packaging Sonia Raja and US-based Roger Zellner, director of sustainability, research, development and quality at Kraft Foods.

Raja said: “We need to find a common way of measuring environmental and sustainability improvements on packaging that can be used across the world.”

Zellner added that creating shared global industry metrics, the GPP “will enable manufacturers and retailers to work together to develop packaging solutions to help achieve agreed sustainability goals”.

Trials of the definitions, which are based on work initially produced by Europen and consumer research body ECR Europe, are due to take place over the next six months.

Alongside the major brands, packaging giants such as Crown, Sealed Air, Alcan, SCA and Tetra Pak are backing the project (for the full list, see below).

Dick Searle, chief executive of the Packaging Federation, welcomed the intiative. “The whole concept of coming up with unified metrics is something we strongly support.

“The project is trying to bring together a lot of different organisations with a lot of clout. If this project enables people to give a scientific justification for their choice of packaging then it will be good news. It’s to be applauded.”

Here is the full list of participants in the GPP:

Retailers
Asda, Carrefour, Giant Eagle, Hannaford, Harris Teeter, Kroger, Marks & Spencer, Loblaw, Metro, Migros, Pick’n Pay, Royal Ahold, Safeway, Sam’s Club, Sobeys Inc, Supervalu, Target, Tesco Stores, Wal-Mart Canada, Wal-Mart, Wegmans

Manufacturers
Beiersdorf, Campbell, Coca – Cola, Colgate – Palmolive, Conagra Foods, Danone, Fritolay, Freudenberg, General Mills, Inc, Glaxosmithkline, Heineken, Henkel, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Kraft Foods, L’oreal, Mars, Mccormick & Company, Inc, Nestlé Group, Pepsico, Procter & Gamble, Reckitt-Benckiser, Sara Lee, Sc Johnson, The Jm Smucker Company, Unilever

Packaging Converters & Material, Suppliers
Arcelormittal Packaging, Alcan Packaging, Ball Packaging Europe Holding, Crown Europe, Dow Chemical, Dupont, Exxonmobil Chemical Films, Mwv, Novelis, O-I, Owens Illinois Inc., Sca Packaging, Sealed Air Corporation, Tetra Pak

Organizations
Aim, Canadian Council Of Grocery, Distributors, Europen, Fcpc – Pacc, Flexible Packaging Europe, Fmi, Gma, Gs1 Canada, Gs1 Global Office, Gs1 Us, Igd, Pac, The Consumer Goods Forum, The Sustainability Consortium, The Sustainable Packaging, Coalition, Wrap

Resources
Center For Sustainable Entreprise, Development, Environmental Clarity, Green Blue, Mckinsey, Quantis, Rochester Institute Of Technology, University Of Manchester,

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