ISO green standards aim to marginalise conflicts

The 70-plus delegates working on new international standards on the environmental aspects of packaging met for the first time in December, and aim to complete the approval process by the second quarter of 2012.

There are six proposed ISO standards, based on existing European CEN packaging models: source reduction; reuse; recycling; energy recovery; chemical recovery; and composting/biodegradation. There is likely to be a seventh, 'umbrella' standard.

The Stockholm conference was also weighted towards Europe in terms of the countries represented. But the 11 European states present were balanced by delegates from the US, China, Korea and Japan.

Industry body the European Council for Packaging and the Environment (Europen), present at the meetings, argued that the standards could become a much-needed benchmark for packaging regulation.

In particular, md Julian Carroll was concerned about the growth in regional and local 'green' initiatives, some of which have contradictory goals or "don't make any environmental sense"

He explained: "There might be a conflict in technical requirements, for example, a mandatory recycled content requirement expressed in percentage terms. The standards could also be an aid in reining in the proliferation of conflicting government ideas for packaging environmental information which is also costly for industry to apply."

Carroll added: "A UK packer-filler or brand owner that wishes to sell its products on global markets should be interested in these standards because they will help to avoid different packaging requirements in different markets, making supply chains more efficient and cost-effective."

The new environmental standards could include some interesting interpretations of 'fitness for purpose'. "The standard on energy recovery will probably specify the thermodynamic requirements of packaging to ensure a calorific gain in a real industrial system," said Carroll.