Liz Gyekye / PackagingNews

Experts outline visions for Courtauld Commitment 3

Industry experts would like to see Wrap’s next generation of voluntary agreements, for the retail supply chain, tackle issues around recyclability and lifecycle of products.

Speaking at  Packaging for Retail Success conference in London (10 November), on a potential successor agreement to Courtauld Commitment 2, panelists told delegates what their visions were for Courtauld Commitment 3.

Courtauld Commitment 2 was a voluntary agreement aimed at improving resource efficiency and reducing the carbon and wider environmental impact of the grocery retail sector.

Wrap is currently working on the next development to this, which PN understands may not be named ‘Courtauld Commitment 3’ and will focus around products, product design and lifecycle of products.

Panelist Coca-Cola Enterprises European recycling director Patrick McGuirk said: “Some of the areas we need to look at are true recyclability not tick box recyclability, which I think is certainly the case in some areas at the moment.

“Another area is, eventually, a carbon driver around packaging.”


‘Holistic approach’

DS Smith Packaging market development director Terry Morgan said his vision for Courtauld 3, was a need for a more “holistic approach” to take into account the carbon of the product as well as the packaging.

Speaking from the floor, Packaging Federation chief executive Dick Searle reiterated Morgan’s point and said that “anything that focuses on the packaging without thinking about the products, as far as I am concerned, has no currency.”

Sainsbury’s head of packaging Stuart Lendrum added: “The key thing, moving forward, is that we will all want to see an integrated approach in the industry that makes sure that we are focusing our efforts on things that will actually make a material difference.”


‘Waste recycling strategy’

Sappi Fine Paper Europe sales manager Richard Moyle said: “As a consumer I would like to see more of a joined up waste recycling strategy at governmental level in the UK, rather than leaving it up to regional/district councils to decide their strategy.

“This might lead into more investment into the recycling processes in the UK and within Europe as a whole. Rather than seeing materials shipped off to China we should be trying to invest in it locally.”


‘Stop apologising’

Elsewhere, the panelists were in agreement with Searle’s sentiment that the industry needs to “stop apologising for packaging”.

Moyle said that the industry needed to promote packaging in a “very public manner” across the whole supply chain.

Lendurm added: “It’s very easy to remember the negative interactions you have with packaging than the positives.

“It might be that when you are shopping it is hard to shop. It might be it takes up a load of space in your cupboard. It might be hard to open. It might be hard to reseal. It might be that it takes up a load of space in you bin.  All those touch points become negative touch points.

“However, if we can turn these negatives into positives, so people can say ‘we save money because it makes my food last longer, I do not throw away as much food as I used to because we can reseal it’, we can make these touch points positive.”