Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME)

1. Why were these commitments developed?

Concerned with the amount of packaging  material in the Canadian marketplace, Ministers announced in June 2011 that  CCME will build on existing initiatives from governments and industry groups in  Canada  and abroad to develop a Canada-wide approach to optimize packaging  reductions.  A CCME-Industry Task Group  on Packaging Reduction was established to assist in the development of the  approach.

2. What are the industry commitments?

Goal: Industry commits  to undertake initiatives that will result in a reduced packaging footprint:

   
       
• Less packaging to landfill
       
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions
       
• Increased recycled content in packaging.
   

   
1. In order to measure  success, industry commits to creating a baseline by 2014 to measure how much  packaging is in the marketplace, by using best available data as well as  identifying sources for new data. With this information, industry and  government will proceed with discussion of quantitative targets to reduce the  environmental footprint of packaging through packaging optimization upon  completion of baseline data.
      
      
   
2.  Industry commits to  facilitate the development and implementation of a national voluntary design  guide by March 31, 2013 for the optimization of packaging through the Packaging  Association of Canada PAC NEXT initiative.
      
      
   
3. Industry commits to  continue its efforts in eliminating the use of PVC in rigid plastic  packaging. Through the packaging baseline (Commitment 1), industry will  identify how much PVC is in the marketplace, set timeline for its elimination,  and develop mechanisms to track progress on an annual basis with reporting on  how much PVC remains in rigid plastic packaging and barriers that must be  overcome to achieve this objective. Industry will promote best practices and  encourage adoption of the design guide (Commitment 2) to facilitate the  elimination of PVC.
      
      
   
4. Industry commits to  enhance communication with the Canadian public on industry successes in  packaging reduction.

3. How do these commitments meet  ministers’ direction?

3.1. Industry is committed to reducing its packaging impact.
Industry efforts to optimize  packaging in the Canadian marketplace are leading to reductions in both the  absolute amount of packaging and the overall environmental footprint of  packaging. Examples include:

   
• Laundry detergent compaction resulting in up to 43% in  plastic reduction
   
• Bottled drinking water manufacturer using a closed  loop system that takes discarded plastic bottles and recycles them into new  ones
   
• Lamp fixture package redesign resulting in up to 36%  cube reduction and 0.086 metric tonnes of GHG avoidance.
   
• Retailer converted 115  Health and Beauty products from a PVC bottle to a recyclable alternative  material.  

3.2. Establishing  a baseline enables industry and government to identify targets and timelines  for reducing packaging.
There is a lack of coordinated information about how  much packaging is in the Canadian marketplace. The number of imported products  and packaging adds to the complexity and cost of the data collection. The  majority of the Canadian retail sector is developing a database in partnership  with GS1 Canada to enable trading partners to share product level  sustainability information based on a common set of packaging sustainability  metrics as described in the Global Packaging Project for Sustainability; the  GS1 Canada baseline is expected to be operational by 2013.

The expanded baseline will measure how much packaging is in the  marketplace in the grocery and general mass merchandise retailers, food and  consumer product manufacturers, and restaurant and quick service sectors (i.e.,  those sectors represented on the Task Group). The baseline will be developed by  using:

   
• Best available data (e.g., existing stewardship data);
   
• Current projects underway to collect sustainable  packaging information (e.g., GS1 Canada); and
   
• Sources for new data to ensure that all sectors are  captured in the industry baseline. (e.g., compiling information from industry  associations).

Establishing this baseline is a first step in establishing quantitative  targets for reducing the environmental footprint of packaging going  forward. Once the baseline is established in 2014, industry and  government will proceed with discussion of quantitative targets to reduce the  environmental footprint of packaging through packaging optimization.

3.3.  Better-designed packaging reduces environmental footprint.
A national voluntary design guide will present  industry’s best practices for optimizing packaging. The voluntary design guide,  to be coordinated through the Packaging Association of Canada’s PAC NEXT  Initiative, will be aligned with the Global Protocol on Packaging  Sustainability 2.0 (GPPS 2.0) and will build on other known products including  the Éco Entreprises Québec  (ÉEQ) Voluntary Code and the Sustainable Packaging Coalition design guide. Industry supports the adoption of international  standards such as GPPS 2.0 as a common language that can be used to facilitate  the exchange of information related to packaging sustainability between supply  chain partners. 

3.4. Eliminating PVC  will facilitate increased recycling of rigid plastic packaging.
PVC is a key contaminant in the plastics marketplace that prevents  recycling of other non-PVC plastics.  In  2009, approximately 5.7 billion pounds of  rigid plastic packaging (such as clamshells) went to landfills in North America. By committing to move away from plastics  that are not easily recycled and into plastics that are more easily recycled,  industry will be able to recover more of its plastic packaging, reducing the  strain on municipal landfills.

Off-shore suppliers pose a significant challenge to  eliminating PVC from the Canadian marketplace, particularly for smaller  Canadian organizations lacking the information needed to eliminate PVC from  their packaging. Industry is committed to first understanding how  much PVC is in the Canadian marketplace through the establishment of a  packaging baseline (Commitment 1), establishing timelines for its elimination,  and promoting best practices with its suppliers to facilitate the elimination  of PVC. Alternatives to PVC will be featured in the national design guide  (Commitment 2).

3.5. Improved industry communication will increase public’s  understanding of industry successes in packaging reduction.
In conjunction  with PAC NEXT, industry will develop a website to highlight examples of  packaging reduction and packaging sustainability success stories. The  regularly-updated website will draw together and highlight examples of  innovative sustainable packaging strategies undertaken by industry to optimize  packaging reductions.

4. Who participated in developing these  commitments?

Industry  representation on the Task Group consisted of   associations from grocery retail and general merchandise retail (Retail  Council of Canada), consumer packaged goods–food sector (Food and Consumer  Products of Canada), the quick-service food sector (Canadian Restaurant and  Food Association) and the broad packaging sector (Packaging Association of  Canada); as well as individual companies representing their industry  associations. This group represents a majority of the packaging sector in Canada  but does not represent 100% of the market. Specifically, general merchandise  and apparel manufacturers were not included. The CCME-Industry Task Group was  co-chaired by Manitoba  and the Packaging Association of Canada.