09.03.08
Waste not, want not
A recent survey showed that Americans equate environmental issues mainly with energy saving, while European environmentalists (and the general public) are worked up about a wider range of eco-topics, not the least of which is packaging. Symptomatic of this are the bins which many German and Swiss supermarkets provide just outside the checkouts so customers can throw away any “unnecessary” packaging on the goods they have just bought.
Not to be outdone, the UK government has sought advice from the very official Waste and Resources Action Programme, WRAP (a handy acronym). This body is considering how the carbon impact of packaging and labeling can be measured, and how to make packaging easier to recycle. This impinges directly on label converters, who are being pressed by brand owners to state the “carbon content” of their products and to provide eco-friendly adhesives which do not inhibit recycling.
A recent survey showed that Americans equate environmental issues mainly with energy saving, while European environmentalists (and the general public) are worked up about a wider range of eco-topics, not the least of which is packaging. Symptomatic of this are the bins which many German and Swiss supermarkets provide just outside the checkouts so customers can throw away any “unnecessary” packaging on the goods they have just bought.
Not to be outdone, the UK government has sought advice from the very official Waste and Resources Action Programme, WRAP (a handy acronym). This body is considering how the carbon impact of packaging and labeling can be measured, and how to make packaging easier to recycle. This impinges directly on label converters, who are being pressed by brand owners to state the “carbon content” of their products and to provide eco-friendly adhesives which do not inhibit recycling.