ASTM International Committee D10 on Packaging plans to update its scope to better reflect the standards it oversees. The change is expected to be approved at D10’s October meeting, during which the committee will also discuss some of the significant changes its standards are undergoing, including ASTM D4169. 

Earlier this year, both ASTM Committees D10 and F02 on Flexible Barrier Packaging had begun reviewing their scopes and standards to determine whether there was any overlap. “D10 and F02 are fairly closely aligned, with some overlap in committee members,” says Larry Anderson, chairman of ASTM Committee D10 and vice president, operations, for TEN-E. “Through this process, it became apparent that there was overlap in scope.” 

As a result, “we tried to be more clear about what D10 covers,” he adds.

Committee F02 members ultimately voted to change its title from “Flexible Barrier Packaging” to “Primary Barrier Packaging,” demonstrating that the committee’s standards apply to both flexible and rigid primary packaging, explains Dhuanne Dodrill, chair. That change is expected to be approved by ASTM’s Committee on Technical Committee Operations in September. For more details on this change, please click here.

D10 chose to retain its “Packaging” name, but revise its scope. “We’ve always been known as ‘Packaging,’” says Anderson. “Our scope was defined 30 years ago, though, so we asked whether it is in-line with what we’re doing today. So we took our old scope and tried to make it more inclusive of the standards in our committee.”

With F02 covering primary barrier packaging, “D10 covers everything else related to packaging,” he says. Its revised new scope will include “materials, design, package construction, processes, cushioning methods, testing, and packaged products that are acceptable for storage, handling, stacking, containment, and transport,” reads the document now out for balloting. While these items have been covered during past and current D10 committee work, they weren’t specifically detailed as such in D10’s scope.

The proposed new scope also states that “the committee shall develop standards related to:

2.1.1   The performance of transport containers, pallets and crates.  

2.1.2   The performance of packaging materials such as tapes, cushioning, strapping, stretch wrap and labels. 

2.1.3   Package distribution and handling

2.1.4   The measurement of the transport packaging and distribution environment.

2.1.5   The reuse, recycling, and disposal of materials related to packaging (sustainability).

2.1.6   Performance testing of hazardous materials (dangerous goods) packaging."

D10 member Jan Gates adds that not all work will focus solely on transportation and distribution. “The Sustainability, Vocabulary, Tapes and Labels, Hazardous materials shipment, and Paper committees will still cover primary and other packaging. The changes to scopes and titles are to align the committees’ work better with the expertise available in the committees,” says Gates, Principal Packaging Engineer of PackWise Consulting, who is also the subcommittee chair for D10.11 Terminology and D10.19 Packaging Sustainability & Recycling.

Standards that are currently the responsibility of D10.32 Consumer, Pharmaceutical, Medical, and Child Resistant Packaging as well as some standards under D10.33 (but not those on aerosols) are moving to F02. For more details, click here.

D10’s proposed new scope is expected to be approved during D10’s next meeting, October 24-25 in Orlando.

During this meeting, the committee will also discuss changes to a widely used standard, D4169, Standard Practice for Performance Testing of Shipping Containers and Systems.  “We’re planning a workshop to provide information on the difference between 2014 and 2016 procedures for vibration testing, and we are planning to share a document explaining what ‘random vibration’ is," Anderson says. "We’ve gone back and updated our rationale document explaining the original change, and we’ve addressed the questions that have since come up.” Eric Joneson, ‪Vice President of Marketing at NVT Group, will lead the workshop.

Participation in ASTM committee work is strongly encouraged. “Standards drop off the ASTM books because no volunteers step forward to review and decide whether the standards are still relevant,” says Gates.

To get involved in ASTM Committees D10, F02, and others, please visit http://www.astm.org.

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At MD&M Minneapolis on September 22, attendees are invited to attend a free panel discussion on medical device package testing standards and requirements. Held at Center Stage, the discussion is titled “Medical Packaging Testing Strategies to Meet New Standards." Click here to register and here for an article with more details.