Packaging: what is the brief?

BBC News Article — Drinks bottles and can deposit return scheme proposed

With the BBC news this morning on single use plastic, metal and glass beverage bottles in England joining the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) it is essential that we now need to pull together as an industry. There was also talk about crisp/chip packets and sandwich clamshells on the television this morning, so by no means is the consumer movement limited to beverages… all packaging will be scrutinised sooner or later.

My frustration is that no one has pulled together an aligned over-aching brief for the packaging industry to answer in support of the headwinds we face. Is it; no packaging, no plastics, no single use packaging, no excessive packaging (whatever that means), no packaging design that cannot be easily separated by consumers for recycling, move to bio-sourced alternatives, move to compostable, create a consumer education program or all packaging 100% recovered and recycled?

Could it be as simple as “How does the packaging industry contribute towards a basic standard of living for all 7Bn people on the planet in the most environmentally and socially responsible way possible?”

I am not aware of such a brief existing or it having been aligned across retailers, brands, producers, local authorities, industry bodies, NGOs etc. Happy to be corrected if such a document exists: please share it if you have a copy with a list of who has aligned to the challenge so that we too can support.

If not, the Packaging Collective plans to run a high level workshop to create such a brief, with the input of the retailers, brand owners, producers, converters, NGOs, government bodies, local authorities, recyclers, industry bodies, packaging/design students and other parties that rightly have an opinion on the subject. Key success metrics of the workshop will be aligning all the participants as ambassadors for the challenge and underpinning the forward plan with the right sustainable impact metrics, not just CO2 reduction.

The time is now for us to pull together as an industry irrespective of material, organisation, brand, discipline or function to answer the call to action consumers are rightly demanding from us.

To find out more about the upcoming workshop, we will be sharing details shortly to members of the Packaging Collective. Please sign up today and share this article if you have made it this far with your reading 🙂 It is free and join and we can answer the call to action together leveraging the combined knowledge, experience and skills we have to offer.  The Packaging Collective