FDF launches packaging sustainability checklist
The checklist – Packaging for people, planet and profit – was published in collaboration with the Industry Council for Research on Packaging and the Environment (INCPEN).
It includes references to relevant regulation and guidance and encourages companies to go “above and beyond” legal requirements.
The FDF hoped the checklist would improve resource efficiency at all stages of a packaged product’s journey through the supply chain, while ensuring the functionality of the packaging was not compromised.
‘Optimise their use of packaging’
FDF chief scientific officer Helen Munday said: “This guidance will help businesses choose and optimise their use of packaging in ways that will contribute to a net improvement in the use of resources across the value chain.
“This improvement can be achieved whilst continuing to ensure that food safety and quality requirements are not compromised. We encourage all food and drink operators to use it.”
The packaging sustainability checklist is a part of the FDF’s Ambition 2025 commitments to creating sustainable value chains.
The organisation planned to minimise the impact of used food and drink packaging and to encourage innovation in packaging technology and design that contributes to overall product sustainability.
‘Resource-efficient’
INCPEN director Jane Bickerstaffe added: “The checklist will help companies improve packaging for food and drink and other products, make it more consumer-friendly and make supply chains more resource-efficient.
“Supply chain companies are more aware of, and responsive to, environmental concerns than many businesses. This checklist will help them demonstrate that responsiveness to the public.”
Manufacturers sent zero food and packaging waste to landfill in 2015, according to the FDF’s Environmental Ambition Progress Report 2016.
This contributed a 3% decrease in supply chain waste across the grocery sector, meeting the targets set by waste charity Waste & Resources Action Programme’s Courtauld Commitment in 2012.
Meanwhile, this year’s Pro2Pac show is set to highlight some of the latest innovations in food and drink packaging.
