Skip navigation
Subscribe to Packaging Digest
RSS
Reprints/License
Print
Email

How to spur innovation in recycling

-- Packaging Digest, 5/15/2009 5:26:00 PM

At the SPC's annual spring meeting last month, it was evident that the discussion of sustainable packaging has expanded its focus to the post-consumer side of the supply chain. The first day of the meeting focused on end-of-life issues, reflecting the coalition's evolution from an emphasis on packaging design toward a greater recognition that the current U.S. recycling system and lack of sorting technology is a barrier to the effective recovery of many types of packaging materials and to developing more sustainable packaging systems.

One message was clear from the discussions on recovery: There is little incentive to invest in collecting and processing new materials unless there are existing end markets for those materials. Many pointed out that this situation presents a significant roadblock to new material introductions and may stifle material innovation.

A fiscally responsible recycling business isn't going to invest in new technologies if there is not a reasonable opportunity of recouping its investment and making a profit. In contrast, in most communities, we use tax dollars to pay for the management of packaging waste with no expectation of a return on the investment of these dollars beyond the service received. Local governments are providers of these services, and taxpayers resent having to pay for them, especially as costs rise. The incentive for local government is to keep the cost for these services as low as possible.

Diverting materials from landfills toward recycling therefore presents a chicken-and-egg dilemma. Who moves first to shift the economic inertia of a taxpayer-subsidized landfill system to a market-based recycling system?

Until recently, recycling in the U.K. looked a lot like the current situation in the U.S. While packaging recycling there has improved steadily since 1998, recycling and technology innovation has increased over the past five years there, especially in mixed plastics recycling, thanks to committed action on the part of U.K. retailers. Several things have contributed to this rapid advance: The U.K.'s national landfill directive, action on the part of retailers in 2005 through the Courtauld Commitment, and research and technical support from a publicly funded, non-governmental organization called WRAP. Through the Commitment, which WRAP helped craft, many U.K. retailers committed to design out packaging waste growth by 2008, to deliver absolute reductions in packaging waste by 2010 and to help reduce the amount of discarded food from households by 155,000 tons by 2010. Retailers such as Marks & Spencer committed to use recovered materials and guarantee a price for them–creating a market for recovered material and stimulating investment on the part of recyclers.

This action created the impetus needed to move the system forward. It remains to be seen if there will be a similar commitment or actions in the U.S. If not, we'll likely sit and wait for the cost of landfilling and energy to rise until it forces states and local governments to take action.

Author Information
Anne Johnson is the director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, a project of GreenBlue (www.greenblue.org). For additional information, emailspcinfo@greenblue.org.
RSS
Reprints/License
Print
Email
Talkback
Related Content

No related content found.

Sponsored Links
Canon Resource Center

Featured Company

Most Recent Resources

Advertisement
Related Content
  • Blogs
  • Photos

Tom Marin

Building Brands

Tom Marin, Brands & Branding Editor, GAM
April 23, 2010
Let’s just say when you see a great ad it’s tough not to smile
Cargill had a big task in front of them when they set out to create advertising...
More

Dennis Salazar

Common Sense and Sustainability

Dennis Salazar
April 21, 2010
Mainstream Media Not Very Sustainable on the Environment
With another Earth Day upon us and especially with this being the 40th anniversary...
More

Tom Marin

Building Brands

Tom Marin, Brands & Branding Editor, GAM
April 16, 2010
You’ll never look at dinner the same way
Most of the blogs that I write fall into two camps. They are either how to...
More

David Bellm

Eye on Packaging

David Bellm
April 15, 2010
Wine packaging: The rare case where organic brands are cheaper
Organic foods and drinks cost more. That’s a given, right? Not so fast....
More

VIEW ALL BLOGS RSS

Advertisement
Qpack ad mkt module
About Us   |   Advertising Info   |   Site Map   |   Contact Us   |   FREE Subscriptions   |   RSS
 © 2010 UBM Canon. All rights reserved.
Use of this Web site is subject to its Terms of Use | Privacy Policy