Green supply chain stance required by retailers - INCPEN

09-Apr-2009 - Last updated on 10-Apr-2009 at 11:09 GMT

With recent research suggesting retailers like Wal-Mart are actively driving US manufacturers to adapt ‘greener’ packaging, one organisation says European counterparts need a more holistic supply chain approach to bolster their eco-goals.

Jane Bickerstaffe, director for the Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment (INCPEN), suggests that European processors appear to be ahead of their US counterparts in supplying environmentally friendly packaging for the time being.

She stressed that although an army of environmental pressure groups, as well as European packaging directives, had made reducing container waste a priority, retailers still had major role to fulfil in ensuring more sustainable food processing.

Beyond packaging

Bickerstaffe suggested that besides pushing and supporting use of environmentally friendly packaging, retailers in Europe - like consumers in general - had to now look beyond the end of a pack’s life and consider other aspects such as benefits to processing or cutting food waste.

INCPEN, a non-profit research organisation focused on packaging sustainability, said that in looking to meet consumer demands for on-the-go products, potential innovations like single-portion canned salad may be one method of cutting food waste.

However, in being seen to pursue environmental commitments, Bickerstaffe claimed that when it comes to ensuring their suppliers are sustainable, retailers must look at the ‘strain’ they are putting on the entire supply chain.

INCPEN claimed that calls to end storing bananas in bags at super markets was a strong example of the sometimes ‘knee-jerk’ reactions being taken in the name of the environment, adding that disposing of packaging entirely was not always the greenest solution.

In keeping bananas wrapped as opposed to being exposed to the air, the products can ripen at a slower rate, cutting down on the potential food wastage that can also have significant environmental impacts, said the association.

Retailer commitments

Despite INCPEN’s claims, recent findings by market analyst Freedonia suggested that the US market alone for so-called greener packaging like biodegradable or even reusable containers will grow up to 2013, reaching $45bn (€34bn).

Retailers were seen as being one of the main drivers for this change, according to the report.

The analyst suggested Wal-Mart had been a significant presence in the environmental push, with its ‘sustainable scorecard’ system requiring 60,000 of its suppliers worldwide to lower the amount of packaging they use by five per cent

The company has previously claimed that it remains on target to meet this target by 2013.