“Sustainability? That’s that greeny thing, right?” a packaging engineer of 20-plus years remarked to me in a meeting. “Green?” I replied. “If you mean green like money, yeah. If you mean green like all squishy, kumbaya — hardly. It’s about creating a solution that will let the customer feel good about their product choices — reinforcing brand loyalty — by keeping the buyer and eliminating the remorse. It’s about making products that don’t make us sick to produce, own, or dispose of. It’s about restoring — putting back resources we’ve just been blasting through. And it’s not about making just more things, but creating systems and solutions that are longterm and forward thinking.” I managed all that in one breath.

These are some pretty bold words — especially in an industry that accounts for a full third of the wastestream. Yet these are the very concepts that the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) is looking to tackle. We already know the problems, so their first step is to define the solution.

The SPC points out: “The purpose of this project is to take the important first step in articulating an agreed-upon definition of the term ’sustainable packaging’ so that all parties are working toward the same vision. By providing a common framework, the packaging industry can evaluate current efforts, identify opportunities and begin to pursue strategies to develop sustainable packaging materials and systems.”

The definition concept is a remarkably simple one: Work with the Earth’s systems rather than continually try to reinvent the wheel. The planet’s been designing and building products and systems for millions and millions of years, using a cradle-to-cradle approach (b0rrow it, use it, recover it, and borrow it again) — vs. man’s cradle-to-grave (take it, make it, use it, chuck it). So why do we think we can run off and do better in the few hundred years we’ve been at industrial-level effort? The straight answer is, of course we can’t.

So, what would Gaia do?

The criteria for Sustainable Packaging are clearly defined, and ask these simple questions:

• Does it make us (or the planet) sick? Don’t do it!
• Can we use renewable resources (energy as well as substrates) — and then use them again without going back to virgin sources?
• Are we doing it efficiently? (This applies to all costs — logistics, materials use, recyclability, etc.)
• Are all components doing what they’re supposed to do—Protect/Inform/Sell, with maybe an added bonus of restoring some of the resources we’ve already wasted as well as increase positive consumer perception?

These criteria blend broad sustainability objectives with business considerations and strategies that address the environmental concerns, related to the lifecycle of any manmade product. In addition, they relate to the activities of the Coalition’s membership, and define areas in which they actively seek to encourage transformation, optimization, and innovation. Going further, th Coalition’s members believe that by successfully addressing these criteria, packaging can be transformed into a cradle-to-cradle flow of packaging materials, in a system that is economically robust and that provides benefit throughout the lifecycle: a sustainable packaging system.

Some of the biggest complaints have been, “We’ll never be able to do all of this,” “This is too expensive,” “My competitors won’t do it and if I try they’ll undercut me” — all of this might be true, if a single company tried to change all of their system all at once. But the realities of how we do what we do provide natural opportunities for all players to improve or update systems as part of their normal modus operandi.

The criteria constitute an end-goal — not the Ten Commandments. As we begin new products, or look to improve our systems, the criteria provide a benchmark against which to measure our efforts. Sometimes we’ll hit all the marks, sometimes just a few. But in every case the movement is always forward.

In today’s ever more competitive market, it’s the player who looks several moves ahead who will capture the greatest advantage, profitability, and market share — not the companies stagnating in short-term thinking.

To read more about the forward-thinking companies involved in the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, to become a member yourself, or to understand more about sustainability, cradle-to-cradle in action, as well as download the full criteria PDF, stop by their ever expanding website, sustainablepackaging.org.

Article first appeared in Package Design Magazine, April 2006, Sustainablity Update. Reprinted with permission.

Wendy Jedlicka, CPP— Jedlicka Design Ltd., o2 International Network for Sustainable Design, Minneapolis College of Art and Design’s groundbreaking Sustainable Design Certificate Program. Books: Packaging Sustainability and Sustainable Graphic Design.

Thumbnail image via Package Design Magazine.