Corrugated of Course

It’s a simple, but very shocking fact: in the EU, the amount of food wasted per person each year amounts to 179 kg, as European Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik explained at the Combating Food Waste in the EU event that took place in Brussels in November 2011.

If you play an active role in Europe’s consumer goods supply chain, we recommend you read the Retail Forum’s* latest issue paper on Packaging optimisation.

Considering the size and breadth of this market, the paper gives a concise overview of the life cycle of packaging as part of a product, backed up with some useful statistics and graphs which illustrate trends in production, consumption and waste.

Another new year, yet for many businesses the New Year carries over last year’s challenges of continuously looking to reduce costs. Often simple solutions are the best ones and as you settle back into work after the break, this video by a Dutch potato processor might give you fresh inspiration to tackle your cost reduction goals.

Dutch potato processor Aviko needs to transport perfect potatoes all year around so the right packaging is critical.

At the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in South Africa the “Durban platform for enhanced action” was announced. A roadmap towards a legal framework for a successor of the Kyoto Protocol is to be developed by 2015. As CO2 reduction is of major global concern it is not surprising that we are often asked what our own industry’s intentions for a low carbon future are.

As we race towards the end of the year, concerns about sustainability are top of the agenda around the globe. In September we attended the International Year of Forests 2011 in the European Parliament. In early November, Brussels plays host to the event Combating Food waste in the EU, at which Corrugated of Course will be present.

We are pleased to report that the recent implementation of the Waste Framework Directive into Spanish law reinforces and defines the concept of sustainable packaging. It requires public administrations to approve waste prevention programmes before 12 December 2013.

Within these programmes, public administrations need to evaluate the effectiveness of all prevention measures in force. I’m delighted to see that corrugated board is cited as best practice encouraging its use as a good example of a renewable, recyclable and biodegradable material.

We are sometimes asked if the recycing of Pizza boxes is in any way affected by the grease and food, such as cheese, left in them after use.

We have a definitive answer to this question. In Europe pizza boxes are most certainly recyclable and recycled. There is absolutely no problem in the paper mills where the recycling takes place. Food residues left over after use of the boxes by consumers are eliminated easily.