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SPC introduces Framework to gauge metrics in packaging sustainability

-- Packaging Digest, 12/1/2009 2:00:00 AM

spc logoMetrics are one of the hottest topics in sustainability today. There’s an obvious reason for this: One only manages well what one measures. Yet results from the Packaging Digest and the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) 2009 Sustainability in Packaging survey indicate that less than 50 percent of respondents measure the sustainability performance of their packaging. In December, the SPC will release a new resource that might increase that percentage in 2010: Sustainable Packaging Indicators and Metrics Framework V1.0, available at www.sustainablepackaging.org.


The SP Metrics Framework is the outcome of an 18-month project that involved extensive research, stakeholder engagement and a comprehensive review process. Its indicators and metrics are organized into eight categories related to material use, energy use, water use, material health, clean production and transport, cost and performance, community impact and worker impact. Each module explains why the measurements should be made, defines each indicator as it relates to packaging, specifies the metric to be used, defines terminology and provides recommendations for what to measure and what not to measure, including references to applicable international standards and protocols.

A key reason the SPC undertook the project was to respond to concerns about the proliferation of individual company sustainable packaging metrics and scorecards. Without a coordinated effort and guidance, measurement criteria could vary from one company to another, making the data-collection process time consuming and costly for suppliers and unintentionally disrupting the supply chain.

The Framework also attempts to address challenges associated with measuring packaging sustainability. Because brand owners and retailers are often asked by stakeholders to provide packaging sustainability-related information and are best positioned to engage upstream supply-chain partners in the collection of data, the Framework is geared for their use and needs. The indicators and metrics are also designed to facilitate data collection by any member of the supply chain, whether to measure progress against their own goals or to share relevant information with downstream supply-chain partners.

The SPC definition of sustainable packaging served as the primary organizing principle for the Framework development because it establishes an objective set of criteria related to the sustainability of packaging and identifies which impacts and attributes need to be measured, why they should be measured and how as well as where the information should come from.

Selected metrics from the SP Metrics Framework also serve as the baseline for the Global Packaging Project (GPP), an initiative of the Consumer Goods Forum that seeks to standardize packaging sustainability measurement with a globally recognized set of indicators with common data request and data-collection protocols. The SPC will follow pilot testing of the GPP and will merge feedback into a Version 2.0 of the SP Metrics Framework so that metrics common to both sources will be consistent.

 

Author Information
Author Katherine O’Dea is a senior fellow for the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (www.sustainablepackaging.org), a project of GreenBlue. For additional information, emailspcinfo@greenblue.org.
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