ECR Europe urges lifecycle perspective in pack design
Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) Europe, the organisation linking manufacturers and retailers, has warned that sustainability-driven packaging decisions must be grounded in lifecycle assessment and knowledge of supply-chain needs.
Over the summer, it published Packaging in the Sustainability Agenda: A Guide for Corporate Decision Makers.
Project co-chair Lars Lundquist, based at IAPRI member Nestlé's Lausanne Research Center, explains the urgency of such top-level guidance. "Dealing with conflicting demands from consumers, regulators and other stakeholders can actually create waste and reduce efficiency, which is in flagrant conflict with the notion of sustainable development."
He says: "It is unacceptable that approximately 30% of food production is currently being wasted." Lundquist underlines the positive role that packaging can play in reducing this waste.
Co-chair Sonia Raja, head of packaging at international retailer Tesco says: "We aim to alert decision-makers to the implications of thinking of packaging as a standalone product, and the inefficiencies and confusion this may create for the supply chain, consumers and other stakeholders."
Lundquist adds: "The most efficient solution would be for all supply-chain stakeholders to look at design decisions in the context of the full product lifecycle, rather than looking at individual stages and issues in isolation." Integration of eco-design tools in product development should become standard industrial practice, he says.
More :: www.ecr-net.org
IAPRI is not responsible for the content of other web sites