Consumers like their goods well presented and packaged, and the packaging industry has duly obliged; on a global scale, packaging is estimated to be worth U.S. $424 billion. However, as business has become increasingly drawn into the green agenda, packaging, and its impact on the environment, has come under close scrutiny.

Globally, targets have been set to reduce the volume of packaging being used and to increase the amount that can be recycled, and some progress has been made.

The rate of growth of household waste continues to slow from the estimated 3% per annum five years ago to 0.5% today, due in part to the efforts of the packaging industry.

While some demographic shifts, for example an increase in the number of single occupancy households, will create a demand for more goods, packaging organizations are responding to society’s needs and preferences, and committing themselves to doing more with less.

Dick Searle, chairman of the UK Packaging Federation, says: “Food is packaged for a purpose, to preserve and protect the product. No one in the retail or the manufacturing industry is using any more packing than they have to, simply because the margins have become so squeezed.”

He also argues that, in their quest to reduce packaging, supermarkets and their suppliers face another challenge, namely ensuring that sufficient packaging is used in order to prevent food waste, which can be more damaging to the environment in terms of its carbon impact than packaging.

Searle says: “If people were buying from local suppliers on a regular basis, you could make a case for reducing food packaging. But they aren’t. They want to buy in bulk from their local supermarket, and things like meat, and other perishable goods, need to be properly packaged.”

Some countries have a better track record than others for their use of packaging.

According to figures from the European Commission, the U.K. uses less packaging per person than most other EU countries – 171kg per person in 2004 compared with 188kg in Germany, 198kg in the Netherlands and 200kg in France.

However, the EU as a whole uses less packaging than the U.S., a country that has always loved its paper and paper products, but is also making huge strides forward in the recycling of waste, including packaging.

Perception Research Services (PRS), a U.S.-based research consultancy, recently conducted a number of studies to gauge consumer views on sustainable packaging. While there has been a raising of awareness of the environmental impacts of packaging, it also found that most shoppers see their role in environment responsibility as recyclers, with the expectation that packaging will be recyclable, without making the distinction between recyclable and sustainable packaging.

The move has been supported in principle by some of the country’s leading retailers, including Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s; however, not everyone in the environmental lobby agrees.

Both the Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment (INCPEN) sees the call for all food packaging to be recyclable or compostable by 2013 as neither realistic, nor useful, nor environmentally sound.

In fact, they say, making all packaging recyclable or compostable will lead to the use of more packaging. Only single materials – such as glass, cardboard, metals, plastics – can be readily recycled. Resource efficient packaging is sometimes recyclable or compostable, but sometimes not.

Director of INCPEN Jane Bickerstaffe says: “We want to see a holistic approach to packaging. Simply looking at the waste which remains once goods are used does not ensure that the most sustainable solution is chosen. It is important to look at the big picture. In overall resource management terms, packaging reduces the wastage of food and other goods – that’s its major role.”

However, INCPEN does support a cohesive approach to reducing packaging and its impact on the environment, and welcomes the Green Alliance’s call for manufacturers, retailers, local authorities and waste companies to work together to tackle the issue of packaging.

The Packing Federation’s Dick Searle agrees. He says: “There are lots of good schemes and initiatives being introduced by various groups and organizations, and also lots of different targets and strategies being operated by various local government bodies, and that is the problem. There should be more coordination, and perhaps more regulation.”

Over 87% believed that paper packaging was easier to use and more convenient and 93% said that companies should use more paper packaging and labels because it was better for the environment.

While consumers are certainly more aware than ever of environmental concerns in many areas, including packaging, which is reflected in the improved rates of recycling, many do need more convincing when it comes to paying a higher price for ‘greener’ packaging materials.

The research carried out by PRS among U.S. consumers concluded that while people generally want to “do the right thing,” they are not necessarily willing to invest a great deal of time and effort to do so, and are not particularly inclined to pay more for environmentally friendly packaging.

Ultimately, it will be the retailers and manufacturers that invest not only in sustainable packaging development, but also in educating consumers, that will make the most headway in the drive to make packaging more eco friendly and, importantly for them, greater rewards in terms of sales.

A cohesive approach by industry, government and environmental organizations can be for the greater good of the public and the planet by helping consumers to understand, appreciate, and ultimately pay for sustainable packaging.