SPC members savvy concerning packaging sustainability issues

Packaging Digest recently released results of the 2011 Sustainability in Packaging survey. For the past five years, Packaging Digest and GreenBlue's Sustainable Packaging Coalition have collaborated on this survey to provide a comprehensive view of sustainability trends in the packaging industry.

The survey, which included 674 total respondents, tracks the progress of the packaging industry at large, as well as looking specifically at how SPC members compare so we at GreenBlue can measure the impact of our packaging work. Some of the trends are explored below, with an emphasis on responses from SPC members versus those of the total industry.

According to the survey, industry knowledge of sustainability issues remains high, with 80 percent of respondents indicating a high or moderate familiarity of sustainability issues, dropping slightly from 83 percent in 2010. This percentage is higher for SPC members, with 95 percent reporting a high or moderate familiarity of sustainability issues. There is a clear maturity and awareness of sustainability in the packaging industry as this number has risen from 52 percent when the survey launched in 2007.

However, SPC companies recognize that more education and training is necessary to advance sustainability in their organizations. When asked what developments are needed to achieve company sustainability goals, the top answer for SPC members was "more education and training." The industry as a whole ranked education and training as a lower priority.

The survey reveals that sustainability knowledge and C-level support for sustainable products are both high in SPC companies, and it confirms our emphasis on education as a driver for change in the industry. It also indicates that SPC members feel their entire organization needs higher level of understanding to truly transform packaging.

The primary external influences on sustainable packaging are consumer demand, pricing pressure and retailer/brand owner requirements. 

SPC members are more aware than their non-SPC counterparts that poor material recovery mechanisms are a barrier to improved packaging sustainability. Since SPC members use renewable and recycled content at a higher rate than the industry as a whole, they are more sensitive to the highly fragmented U.S. recovery system. 

When asked the biggest challenges to making the packaging process more sustainable, the top answers for all respondents were raw material costs, lack of alternatives (materials) and producing comparable quality. SPC members cited raw material costs, lack of recovery infrastructure and producing comparable quality. This indicates that SPC members have moved beyond recovery as a waste management system to recovery as a material sourcing method. They see recycled content as an alternative and are concerned about securing those materials.

There is no unified strategy or approach in place to improve recycling or make it more comprehensive, which SPC members indicated is an inhibitor to sustainability improvements. In addition, 73 percent of SPC members indicated that it is very important to significantly improve recycling and recovery of packaging in the next five years. With municipalities facing continued budget cuts, funding of recovery will be a particular challenge in the coming years.

How do we maintain momentum towards more sustainable packaging? It is clear that education, training and improving material recovery are barriers. If the packaging industry does not succeed in overcoming these challenges, they risk growing negative consumer impressions. In this case, failing at sustainability for packaging will be a be a risk for our businesses in more ways than one: Consumer dissatisfaction and securing alternative sources of materials through recovery.

Author Danielle Peacock is a project associate for GreenBlue's Sustainable Packaging Coalition
(www.sustainablepackaging.org). For more information, email [email protected].

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