News
Plastic Packaging Not Evil Shock (December 2011)
Two major European studies have come out in support of packaging’s role in the creation of a sustainable and ‘environmentally friendly’ future; welcome voices of support at a time when packaging is increasingly being cast as an environmental evil.
The European Organisation for Packaging and the Environment (Europen) has just published a green paper on packaging and sustainability, while PlasticsEurope is promoting a new study by independent Austrian consulting firm Denkstatt entitled ‘The impact of plastic packaging on energy consumption and GHG emissions’.
According to the Denkstatt research, all sections of the plastic packaging sectors show environmental advantages when compared with alternative materials. It points out plastic packaging offers substantial environmental benefits even without recycling being taken into account – a process that further enhances its credentials.
When used to pack fresh food, plastic packaging cuts food losses by at least 10%. In the case of meat, the emissions saved by the prevented food loss are 13 times higher than the CO2 emissions caused by the plastic packaging, claim the report’s authors.
According to the study:
- Substituting plastic packaging with alternative materials would increase the total packaging mass by a factor of 3.6,
- Life-cycle energy demand would increase by a factor of 2.2,
- Greenhouse gas emissions would increase by a factor of 2.7 – equivalent to the CO2 emissions of Denmark.
The Europen report, meanwhile, attracted contributions from of environmental NGOs, the European Commission, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, retailers, retailer trade associations and Europen’s corporate members
Europen’s managing director, Julian Carroll, said: “The green paper, which brought together the opinions of broad sectors of society, not just industry, will serve Europen and hopefully other stakeholders as a reference point in further discussions about packaging and sustainability.
“Packaging is part of the solution, not part of a problem, in achieving a resource efficient society, and this paper will support us to deliver that message to consumers, policy makers and key opinion formers.”
According to Europen, all those that participated in the formulation of its green paper recognised the essential contribution to sustainable production and consumption that packaging makes by helping reduce product waste and protect resources.