Envirowise calls for collaborative approach to compliance

"However, these more stringent targets may increase the cost of compliance for many companies and while legislation is driving businesses to increasingly recognise their recycling commitments - many are still failing to seize new opportunities for resource efficiency along the way.

"We would like to see people increasingly working with their supply chains to investigate how cleaner design could help to minimise packaging volumes. For example, reducing the amount of raw material specified at design stage can help minimise carbon emissions generated by extraction and transportation, as well as reducing production costs. In some cases, the cost of compliance could be reduced or even offset by identifying new efficiencies."

Peter Gaffney, director of compliance at Wastepack - the UK's second largest packaging compliance group - says: "Many of the major supermarket brands are now encouraging suppliers to meet ambitious waste reduction targets in order to demonstrate their wider CSR objectives. This includes pressure for items such as shelf-ready packaging, which can be requested at quite a high material specification.

Packaging manufacturers could benefit by exploring alternative options such as re-usable transit packaging which allows them to retain more of the benefit of compliance. Placing pressure on overseas suppliers to adopt better practice techniques can also help lower the volume of packaging being imported into the country."

Within UK industry, Envirowise expects to see an increasing emphasis on a more holistic view of product and packaging lifecycles in future. In fact, recently Defra announced plans to revise its overarching waste strategy by Spring 2008 to include product consumption. Jenni Rosser comments: "This would challenge manufacturers to consider the disposal and re-use options for their products before they even leave the drawing board - and efforts to minimise packaging would be a natural extension of this."

While the commercial and environmental benefits of cleaner design should in themselves provide sufficient motivation for businesses to act, it is also worth noting that under Producer Responsibility regulations businesses that do not register or fail to comply could face fines totalling thousands of pounds. By minimising packaging volumes businesses could reduce or even eliminate their compliance costs under this regulation.

"Crucially, companies that do invest in sustainable design typically identify more efficient, innovative techniques and products that are more cost effective or easier to make. For this reason, cleaner design could be described as a win-win situation for both industry and the environment and this latest announcement on packaging targets simply adds momentum to the cause," adds Jenni.