Current Projects

Short-term, results-oriented projects are the heart of the Coalition. The Coalition sets an ambitious vision for the sustainable future of industrial activity, and individual projects are an opportunity for members to take an active role in moving toward this future. Current projects include:

COMPASS – Comparative Packaging Assessment

The SPC is redeveloping a package design tool called MERGE, developed in the mid-1990s by Environmental Defense. The tool allows packaging designers to assess the environmental impact of their designs by providing comparative environmental profiles based on metrics related to the “Definition of Sustainable Packaging” and accessible to the target audience of packaging designers and engineers. The beta version of the tool, now known as COMPASS (Comparative Packaging Assessment), will be released within the SPC membership fall of 2008. The public release will be early 2009.

The Essentials of Sustainable Packaging Curriculum

Because the SPC recognized the need for a training curriculum to further educate our membership as well as interested non-members, the Coalition developed a partnership with the Packaging Association of Canada (PAC) to create a sustainable packaging curriculum. The course, entitled the Essentials of Sustainable Packaging, is designed to be a day and a half introduction to sustainable packaging and is structured around the SPC’s definition of sustainable packaging. It includes an overview of the fundamentals of life cycle thinking, environmental information on packaging materials, and case studies of design innovations. The course will be taught in several locations across North America in 2008. More Info

Sustainable Metrics Project

The SPC has launched the Indicators and Metrics Project (Metrics Project) with the primary purpose to develop guidelines for measuring the sustainability of packaging and packaging systems. The guidelines will comprise a core set of performance indicators and metrics to help members of a packaging supply chain track and gauge their performance against the key elements of the SPC “Definition of Sustainable Packaging.” After feedback from SPC members is incorporated, the Coalition will publish a final set of indicators/metrics as our recommended set of guidelines for measuring the sustainability of packaging.

Packaging Design Library

Building on the expertise of the SPC and its members, GreenBlue and the SPC are creating an online Packaging Design Library to showcase packaging innovation and solutions that implement sustainability. The Library, to be launched in 2008, will be an educational resource for packaging designers, manufacturers, engineers and students. We are pleased to announce a partnership between GreenBlue and DuPont that will allow entrants to the DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation to be automatically included in the GreenBlue/SPC online Packaging Design Library. By capturing the intelligence and innovation of the DuPont Awards submissions, the GreenBlue/SPC Packaging Design Library will inform best practices throughout the packaging industry.

Communications

The SPC Communications project helps GreenBlue staff educate SPC membership about SPC activities and new developments in the collaborative journey toward a sustainable packaging system. To this end, the Communications project helps oversee the creation and distribution of the SPC newsletter, the maintenance of the SPC website, and production of case studies and solicitation of guest speakers for regular Open Forums. Additionally, the Communications project helps craft the SPC's external outreach strategy, helping to shape and deliver the message of the SPC at industry events, in trade journals, and to the outside world.

Environmental Technical Briefs

Environmental technical briefs are being developed in response to an increasing demand for information on the environmental and human health impacts associated with packaging materials directed toward non-technical audiences. These briefs summarize general information on the environmental impacts related to the production, use and end of life of packaging materials. Each brief uses a standard format to ensure that materials are covered in a consistent manner. To date, the coalition has produced briefs on glass, aluminum, PET, PP, HDPE and LDPE. Briefs on polylactic acid, polystyrene, and polyvinyl chloride will be released in 2008. Currently, these briefs are available to SPC members only.