The Sustainable Packaging Coalition is a membership-based collaborative that believes in the power of industry to make packaging more sustainable. As the leading voice on sustainable packaging, we are passionate about creating packaging that is good for people and good for the environment. Our mission is to bring sustainable packaging stakeholders together to catalyze actionable improvements to packaging systems and lend an authoritative voice on issues related to packaging sustainability.

We have curated a diverse collection of resources to help you navigate the realm of sustainable packaging. Here, you will find a wealth of knowledge and practical tools to support your sustainability journey.

Guides

Advice and insights to empower informed decisions and drive positive change

 

Definition of Sustainable Packaging

Guide to Recycled Plastics: Part 1 of 3

Guide to Recycled Plastics: Part 2 of 3

Guide to Recycled Plastics: Part 3 of 3

Guidance for Reusable Packaging

Understanding goals and assumptions in order to design a more successful reusable packaging program

Designing Packaging to Prevent and Divert Food Waste

A guide to helping companies reduce food waste by prioritizing prevention and deploying the right packaging designs, formats, and technologies

Intro to Flexible Packaging Recovery

Flexible packaging plays an important role in packaging sustainability, however despite its many benefits, end-of-life recovery is still a major challenge

How to know if your paper packaging is recyclable

An introduction to paper packaging recyclability test methods & specifications

Guide to EPR Proposals

The purpose of this guide is to help organizations identify the differences between the various proposals while also developing a deeper understanding of the components of EPR policy

Understanding the Role of Compostable Packaging

The guide helps brands prevent problems down the road by evaluating which applications are the best fit for compostable packaging

Ensuring the Success of Compostable Packaging

The goal of this document is to organize the barriers facing compostable packaging and the solutions needed, as well as to outline the organizations working to address and ultimately overcome these barriers

Guide to Verifying Responsible Sourcing of Fiber

This guide provides a primer and resources for paper and paper-based packaging

Recovery Technologies Map

This map shows the wide range of established and emerging flexible packaging recovery facilities in North America

Composting Maps: U.S. Facilities

Mapping composting Infrastructure and supporting legislation

Composting Maps: Urban Access

Interactive maps and charts of municipally-run and privately-run composting programs developed to better understand residential access to composting programs in urban areas of the United States

Case Studies

Showcasing real-life examples of organizations achieving sustainable packaging goals

 

Can Packaging Help Divert Restaurant Food Waste?

Case studies of two quick-service restaurant (QSR) chains in Vermont & New York

How Companies Use LCA Tools to Meet Packaging Goals

Case studies leveraging Trayak’s screening LCA tool, EcoImpact-COMPASS, to measure environmental impacts associated with a packaging change.

101s

Foundational building blocks for sustainable packaging knowledge

 

Designing for End of Life by Product Category

Looking for a “one size f its all” solution – for example, 100% recyclability for all packaging – is not realistic, nor will this approach move at the speed needed for the scale of the waste and climate problems. Rather, applying the right solution to the appropriate packaging challenge will be the best use of stakeholders’ resources.

EPR for Packaging in the United States: Covered Products and Exemptions

Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging and paper products is a policy approach that assigns producers (brands, manufacturers, etc.) responsibility for the end-of-life of their products.

Introduction to Flexible Packaging Recovery

Flexible packaging plays an important role in packaging sustainability, however despite its many benefits, end-of-life recovery is still a major challenge

Introduction to End Markets for Hard-to-Recycle Plastics

The circularity of hard-to-recycle plastics benefits from design for recyclability, improved infrastructure for collection and sortation, and increased demand pull from end markets

Introduction to Chemical Recycling

Increased transparency around impacts, green chemistry principles, and collaboration to strengthen the entire. recycling system are crucial to the successful implementation of chemical recycling

Position Statements

Official GreenBlue perspectives on policy, terminology, specific decisions, and more across the sustainable packaging industry

 

Chemical Recycling

Chemical recycling refers to a spectrum of physical and chemical processes for transforming plastic or polymer waste into new products. Chemical recycling technologies fall under three main categories: purification, depolymerization, and conversion.

Reuse

We support reusable and refillable packaging as one tool to accelerate our mission. To enable successful reusable packaging systems, the SPC believes in a holistic definition of reusable packaging that includes intentionality, system boundaries, and assured environmental benefit. Successful reusable packaging systems will also focus on applying reusable packaging to specific product categories and work towards facilitating high return rates of the packaging.

Packaging Policy

Our role is of an agnostic subject matter expert and educational resource that helps our members and other stakeholders understand packaging-related policies so they are informed and can participate actively in packaging policy conversations…

Greenwashing

The SPC recommends a definition of greenwashing to enable more fruitful conversations about environmental marketing, on-pack eco-labeling, and consumer education…

“Biodegradable” Packaging

The SPC recommends that packaging companies do not use the term “biodegradable” to market their products to suppliers, retailers, or consumers…

Degradability Additives in Petroleum-Based Plastics

The SPC does not support the use of any kind of degradability additives in packaging, including additives that seek to make packaging more degradable in landfills, marine environments, or open environments…

Problematic Materials

The Problematic Materials workstream worked with The Plastics Pact Activators to “take measures to eliminate 11 problematic and unnecessary resins, components, and formats by 2025 in order to accelerate progress toward a circular economy for plastic packaging in the United States”.