The recent Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) spring meeting in San Francisco clearly demonstrated that a growing number of companies recognize the need for sustainable packaging practices in a world with limited resources. At the meeting, many consumer product companies, retailers, packagers, material suppliers, associations and government agencies addressed steps they are taking to protect the environment while profitably doing business.

The highlight of the meeting was a presentation by U.K.-based retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S), which is summarized here with its permission. The company has made great progress in its packaging program (also see article starting on p. 50) but also have embedded sustainability practices across all of its operations with a plan to reduce its corporate impact on climate change, waste, raw materials and health while being a fair partner.

For M&S, there is only Plan A, “because there is no Plan B,” the company says. Perhaps the most important aspect of this sustainability plan is that M&S is driving immediate changes internally and with suppliers, while educating customers and providing opportunities to reuse or recycle its products. Marks & Spencer is not solely shifting responsibility to suppliers or consumers but are leading by example.

M&S's Plan A is an important model for any U.S. or global company, as no U.S. retailer is yet implementing sustainability so effectively across the board. Indeed, the impact of M&S is global. They have more than 600 stores in the U.K. and another 219 stores in 34 other countries. The company estimates it sells more than 30,000 food, clothing and home products from some 1,000 suppliers around the world. And the company is consistent in establishing sustainability practices wherever it does business.

M&S has set an aggressive number of goals to achieve by 2012. Key goals directly related to packaging include: Reduction of packaging by 25 percent; making 100 percent of its packaging recyclable or compostable; increasing the use of sustainable raw materials; and labeling products so consumers can dispose of its packaging in a responsible way. These are not “pie-in-the-sky” dreams—M&S has already taken actions to meet these objectives.

For instance, to achieve reductions in packaging, the company has removed all packaging unless research has shown that it is necessary to preserve freshness or quality. The containers for many products already have been lightweighted, the thickness downgauged or the size reduced. M&S will focus on using polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephtahalate (PET) and polyethylene (PE). However, it is already using bioplastics such as corn starch-derived polylactide acid (PLA), and other innovations such as foamed crystalline PET (CPET) trays that are ovenable or microwaveable.

The retailer is attempting to use only wood, paperboard and paper that is recycled or certified as coming from a sustainable source by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). M&S also is trialing closed-loop recycling in six cafés where used packaging is recycled into M&S product packaging. The company hopes to roll this out across its 450 cafés and staff restaurants.

M&S takes recycling seriously. It was the first U.K. retailer to use 50-percent-recycled content for its plastic and paperboard food packaging. Its stores and cafés collect office paper and transit packaging materials for recycling, and M&S labels clearly spell out material contents of the packaging and how it can be disposed of for recycling. In addition, M&S was actively involved in launching U.K.'s first reprocessing plant for food packaging.

An ambitious program such as this can face a host of challenges. The company's packaging-reduction targets must be weighed against several factors such as customer perceptions, balancing the use of packaging against food waste, increased labeling requirements and minimum font sizes on labels so that all environmental and product information is readable.

Procurement of a sufficient amount of recycled plastic material also can be difficult because the loop is not 100-percent closed and, in some cases such as with laminated flexible packaging, recycling is not always feasible. Finally, the system cannot be made too complex for customers, because this would likely decrease their desire to participate in sustainable practices.

Many U.S. companies are planning or actually implementing sustainability programs, but few seem to have taken the initiative in such a comprehensive manner. The recent success of M&S shows that such change is possible and, increasingly so, necessary. As the company says, it's called Plan A because the company believes this is the only way to do business now.

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition, a project of GreenBlue (www.greenblue.org).

For additional information, email info@sustainablepackaging.org.