AFGC’s plan for packaging sustainability

The Future of Packaging White Paper has been released by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) to help the food and grocery manufacturing industry in developing sustainable packaging. The approach builds on existing achievements by AFGC members through the Australian Packaging Covenant (APC) and the Packaging Stewardship Forum (PSF).

AFGC Director Sustainable Development, Tony Mahar, said the white paper identified key actions that can be driven by AFGC and stakeholders to go “beyond compliance” to address waste and sustainability impacts and opportunities to increase sustainable packaging.

“This is a major step forward for industry is developing more sustainable packaging and reducing industry’s environmental footprints,” Mahar said.

The white paper has been developed by AFGC in partnership with the Centre for Design at RMIT University, Helen Lewis Research and Sustainable Business. Funding assistance has been provided by EPA Victoria and Sustainability Victoria (SV) under the Sustainability Covenant.

The white paper identifies four key areas for action:

• A shared understanding of packaging sustainability
• Design for packaging sustainability
• Zero packaging waste
• The role of packaging in sustainable consumption of packaged food and groceries

The Future of Packaging White Paper identifies 18 projects where AFGC, in collaboration with partners such as retailers and packaging manufacturers, can act to reduce the impact of packaging on the environment. The projects have been prioritised and will be progressed over the next three years.

AFGC has commenced work on a number of projects, including:

• Preparing an e-learning training toolkit on sustainable packaging for marketing professionals.
• Developing a flexible plastic recovery initiative.
• Launching a coordinated and consistent information scheme to assist consumer recycling of packaging materials.

As part of the process, representatives from relevant industry associations, state environment departments, retailers, packaging manufacturers, recyclers and consumers were consulted to ensure alignment with the expectations of all stakeholders.