Wrapping Up Holiday Waste: ISO Develops Sustainable Packaging Standards

The holidays are upon us, and it seems that all the world is a-flutter with brightly colored wrapping paper, shiny bows, and packages smothered in plastic. From the environmental standpoint, the holidays represent wasteful consumption on steroids, as statistics show that five million extra tons of trash are generated between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

Thanks to work recently begun by the International Standards Organization (ISO), the days of this excessive trend might be numbered. Already offering international standards for everything from information technology systems to the calibration of laboratory equipment, ISO has now decided to tackle the packaging industry.

For the past two days, 70 packaging industry leaders from 15 different countries, including the U.S., Japan, Korea, and China, met in Sweden to develop standards for source reduction, reuse, recycling, energy recovery, chemical recovery, composting and biodegradation.

ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 162 countries, one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the system.

Although ISO has no ability to impose it’s standards on any particular country, the high level of international participation used in their development seem to indicate that the final product will be both practical and profitable for the countries that do choose to adopt them.

Environmental Leader reported that “certain metrics from the coalition’s new framework will serve as a baseline for the Global Packaging Project, which is an initiative from the Consumer Goods Forum that is seeking global consensus on best practices for sustainable packaging indicators and metrics, according to a press release.

Although many major companies have resisted sustainable packaging initiatives in the past, citing the higher costs of implementing new packaging processes as the biggest deterrent, those that have persevered have typically seen dramatic savings and the disposal of far less packaging waste.

According to a 2007 survey by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and Packaging Digest magazine, 73% of 1,255 respondents stated that their companies were emphasizing sustainable packaging. In doing so, companies aimed to minimizing their carbon footprint through initiatives related to transportation, alternative fuels, and sustainable packaging (EL).

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Sheri P.

3:37PM PDT on Jul 10, 2010

Awesome ideas, Theresa G...thanks!

send a green star

Theresa G.

3:11PM PST on Jan 12, 2010

When our newest family member was born on Dec. 21, I was inspired to begin a new family tradition.

On April 22, I plan to begin giving the little ones in our family a toy or piece of clothing that is handmade, had belonged to one of my own children, or purchased at a charity thrift shop. We will celebrate with a meal made with organic, local or homegrown food, and decorate a living tree with homemade, electricity free ornaments. This way, our little ones will learn that used objects are acceptable and meaningful gifts, and that Earth Day can be as exciting as the Winter holidays.

On other gift giving occasions like birthdays, if I feel inclined to give something new, I always try to buy fair trade, plants, service oriented, or charitable certificates. It's amazing how great it feels to use my own reusable bags, too. My dream is for Earth Day to replace the Winter holidays as our number one gift time.

gerlinde p.

9:31AM PST on Dec 31, 2009

i`ve noticed that the styroporfoam is gradually disappearing.thankgoodness.

Rajshree B.

11:23AM PST on Dec 28, 2009

Thanks for the post!

Jessica S.

10:27AM PST on Dec 27, 2009

Thanks

Teresa M.

7:11AM PST on Dec 26, 2009

THANK YOU

Richard N.

4:11AM PST on Dec 26, 2009

Thanks...

Past Member .

1:39PM PST on Dec 25, 2009

Remember old-fashioned neighborhood grocery stores? The grocer would take your list, fill up boxes that his stuff was shipped to him in, carry it out to your car or you could walk home with it. Can't do that now because they wouldn't be able to have you walk through miles and miles of excess and gluttony until you get shoppers' daze and buy too much stuff that's packaged against shoplifters. They would have to hire more people and give actual service, thus cutting their profit margins. Bigger is not always better. If people had to carry their stuff home after walking to a neighborhood store (see grandma with her rolling grocery cart?) instead of driving their SUV's to Mall Wart, they'd bring home less stuff that ended up being wasted and use less packaging. Don't people understand that lazy American gluttony and hedonistic consumerism is killing us and the planet, let alone the economy?

Teresa W.

10:26AM PST on Dec 24, 2009

good news

Sue C.

12:47PM PST on Dec 23, 2009

some wrapping paper can be composted or just put in the paper recycling bins so we shouldn't feel too guilty about using pretty wrapping paper. Also im sure most wrapping paper is made up of part recycled paper plus virgin paper too. At least everyone is more concerned about waste and overpackaging now than were in past years so changes are happening.