New BPF report highlights the process and principles of sustainable plastic packaging design

The British Plastics Federation (BPF) has released a report outlining the key principles and processes for the design of sustainable plastic packaging.

The report, entitled ‘Sustainable Design for Plastic Packaging’, is not a policy document, rather one that promotes ‘principles for eco-design’ based on a range of views represented at a specially held workshop looking at the complete process of plastic packaging design.

The workshop, attended late last year by packaging experts and representatives from across the packaging supply chain, including brands, retailers, material suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, waste processors, NGOs and academics, looked at the decision-making processes involved in developing a new item of plastic packaging and where key decisions were made.

Attendees identified several key principles for sustainable design including ‘make designs simple’; ‘use widely recycled materials where possible’; and ‘use easily separable components’, amongst a range of other top-level tips to reduce the environmental impact of plastic packaging. 

The new report states that, in practice, sustainable packaging design can mean designing to prioritise one or more of the following: ease of recyclability; resource efficiency; inclusion of recycled content; reuse; or environmentally beneficial consumer behaviour (such as portion control to prevent food waste).

BPF Director General, Philip Law, explained: “It is important the industry continues the great strides already made in developing sustainable plastic packaging.

“We will continue our close collaboration with stakeholders along the supply chain to ensure we help encourage best design practices, and to help develop new and even more sustainable plastics packaging in the years to come. These and other efforts by the BPF will continue to ensure we play our part in making a circular economy for plastics a reality.

‘Sustainable Design for Plastic Packaging’ is part of a range of work the BPF is doing in this area, which includes the release of PackScore – a tool for brands, retailers and designers to use at the earliest stages of packaging design – and its work with RECOUP in launching a Recyclability By Design summary guide.