New Sustainability Guidelines for Global Packaging

Established in 2009, the Consumer Goods Forum unites officials representing more than 650 retail and manufacturing firms with offices based in France, Japan and the US. In September 2011, the Forum published a new guide covering worldwide packaging sustainability issues - a kind of blueprint geared towards eco-friendly directives within the packaging industry.

The Global Protocol on Packaging Sustainability was put together by a wide range of contributors including representatives of Nestle, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Tesco, Kraft Foods, Wal-Mart and Target.

Its goal is to lower the packaging industry's overall carbon footprint by supplying a universal language to focus on a set of corporate questions relating to how packaging's designed, used and disposed of.

Sustainable Packaging Report

Among the sustainable packaging report's sponsors is Philip Clarke, the Chief Executive Officer of Tesco who, in a statement, explained how it would benefit his firm, above and beyond the environmental steps it's already taken.

"Tesco is a responsible retailer and understands that packaging is important to its customers", he said. "We're working hard with our suppliers to minimise the impact of our packaging on the environment. Having a common language will allow us to have the right conversations with our diverse supply chain.

"We can then work with suppliers to reduce the environmental impact of packaging whilst making sure it still does the essential job it needs to do to protect the products we sell."

Global Packaging Guidelines

Further information on the Protocol, which is a follow-up to the global packaging guidelines previously published by other organisations - including EUROPEN (the European Organisation for Packaging and the Environment) - is available at the official Global Packaging Project website.

"One of the strengths of this project is how it has brought together so many companies and organizations from across our industry to work collectively on developing this common language", Clarke's equivalent at Unilever, Paul Polman, added.

"Now we, as individual companies, need to put the language to work. We are already doing so in Unilever and we are seeing the benefit."

Image copyright Wal-Mart - Courtesy Wikimedia Commons