Package Design - April 2012 - 18

Certifiable,

and Proud
Certification for sustainability becomes part of the package designer’s creative brief.
supply chain, with packaging as one of many criteria for evaluation. Woody Keown, P&G’s director of global sustainability purchases, says that more than 500 companies representing two-thirds of P&G’s corporate spending have obtained scorecard ratings. No retailer moves more packaged goods than Walmart (Bentonville, AR), which claims to serve its customers more than 200 million times per week at more than 9,600 stores worldwide. In place since 2007, the Walmart Packaging Scorecard helps to build sustainability into the retailing giant’s overall goal of offering this multitude of shoppers “the right product at the right price in the right package,” says Ron Sasine, Walmart’s senior director of packaging. Flies says that the EU adopted its Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste in 1994 to reduce the environmental impact of packaging and to avoid obstacles to trade. Before it existed, he says, “serious internal market problems” had arisen because some EU member states were following their own, sometimes conflicting, regulations. Indirectly—but meaningfully—related to package design is the forest certification program administered by the Strategic Forestry Initiative (SFI; Washington, DC), a not-for-profit organization created by the North American forest-products industry in the same year that the EU issued its packaging directive. SFI’s activities are directed primarily at documenting where paper’s raw mate-

N

o package, even a vacuum-sealed one, exists in a vacuum—the rules and regulations of the outside world always apply. Neither does the concept of sustainable packaging, which evolves in response to what consumers say they want and what packaged-goods producers are prepared to do about it. Certification for sustainability is very much a part of the new normal of packaging, but assuring eco-friendliness isn’t its sole thrust. All certification programs—whether promulgated by governments, advocated by industry coalitions or adopted by individual companies—aim at fostering sustainability not in isolation, but within a spectrum of related, measurable benefits. The broad goal of certification for sustainability, says Robert Flies, acting spokesperson for environment, European Union (EU), is “having the best possible packaging that can fulfill several criteria at the same time.” A review of some of the most significant programs makes clear that good design counts heavily toward achieving this multifaceted result.

The players
In 2010, Procter & Gamble (Cincinnati, OH) launched its comprehensive Supply Chain Environmental Sustainability Scorecard, a goal-setting initiative for eco-aware package designers. This self-assessment program tracks improvement in sustainability measurements throughout the P&G
18
APRIL 2012



Package Design - April 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Package Design - April 2012

Package Design - April 2012
Contents
From the Editor
Front Panel
Snapshots
Designer's Corner
Certifiable, and Proud of It
Prescription for Profits
Far Beyond Farming
The Promise of Technology
Proof of Concepts
Product Focus: Glass & Rigid Plastic
Online Now
Datebook
Index of Advertisers
Globespotting
Package Design - April 2012 - Intro
Package Design - April 2012 - Package Design - April 2012
Package Design - April 2012 - Cover2
Package Design - April 2012 - 1
Package Design - April 2012 - Contents
Package Design - April 2012 - 3
Package Design - April 2012 - From the Editor
Package Design - April 2012 - 5
Package Design - April 2012 - Front Panel
Package Design - April 2012 - 7
Package Design - April 2012 - 8
Package Design - April 2012 - 9
Package Design - April 2012 - Snapshots
Package Design - April 2012 - 11
Package Design - April 2012 - 12
Package Design - April 2012 - 13
Package Design - April 2012 - Designer's Corner
Package Design - April 2012 - 15
Package Design - April 2012 - 16
Package Design - April 2012 - 17
Package Design - April 2012 - Certifiable, and Proud of It
Package Design - April 2012 - 19
Package Design - April 2012 - 20
Package Design - April 2012 - 21
Package Design - April 2012 - Prescription for Profits
Package Design - April 2012 - 23
Package Design - April 2012 - Far Beyond Farming
Package Design - April 2012 - 25
Package Design - April 2012 - 26
Package Design - April 2012 - 27
Package Design - April 2012 - The Promise of Technology
Package Design - April 2012 - 29
Package Design - April 2012 - Proof of Concepts
Package Design - April 2012 - 31
Package Design - April 2012 - 32
Package Design - April 2012 - 33
Package Design - April 2012 - Product Focus: Glass & Rigid Plastic
Package Design - April 2012 - 35
Package Design - April 2012 - 36
Package Design - April 2012 - 37
Package Design - April 2012 - Online Now
Package Design - April 2012 - Index of Advertisers
Package Design - April 2012 - Globespotting
Package Design - April 2012 - Cover3
Package Design - April 2012 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com