Sustainable design of packaging
The German so-called "dual system" is intended to create incentives to promote the use of materials or material combinations, which can be utilised with the highest possible percentage as high-quality materials, taking into account the practical aspects of sorting and recovery.
bifa basically welcomes the intention of § 21 VerpackG, which we see as an important crystallisation point for promoting the urgently needed dialogue between packaging designers and packaging recyclers.
However, we are also convinced that the assessment of the ecological performance of packaging reduced merely to the single factor recyclability falls short of what is really needed! Other important aspects of sustainable packaging design, such as reducing the use of packaging material or the fraction of secondary materials in the packaging are ignored. The far greater need is to examine all relevant environmental impacts of a packaging and to optimise them as interrelated issues. This avoids isolated improvements in packaging properties leading to a trade-off in other aspects. Eco-design considerations are therefore coupled with the concept of complete life cycle analyses as part of life cycle assessments.
The integrated, life cycle-based assessment of products and systems is one of bifa’s areas of work. We have been producing life cycle assessments for all kinds of different packaging systems for over 20 years.
And a complex, currently non-recyclable, multilayer packaging can naturally help to avoid food waste by improving product protection or by extending the shelf life, and thus make a substantial contribution to improving the overall life cycle assessment.
You want more information?
You are welcome to contact me:
Thorsten Pitschke
tpitschke@bifa.de