About 70 delegates from China, Japan, Korea and 11 European countries are meeting in Sweden for the first gathering for the SC4 Packaging and Environment committee. The group is part of the International Standards Organization’s (ISO) Technical Committee 122, which is responsible for all packaging standards.

Source reduction, reuse, recycling, energy recovery, chemical recovery, composting and biodegrading are among the criteria, which is expected to be in place by mid 2012.

Reductions include:
~ Oscar Mayer Deli Creations packaging comes with 30 percent less paperboard, making it smaller and taking up less shelf space. The change is expected to cut out 1.2 million pounds of paperboard a year.
~ The packaging for Oreo Cakesters was reduced by 12 percent and now uses 100 percent recycled paperboard.
~ Packaging layers were removed from Milka chocolate bars in Europe (a change that will also be used in Latin America), cutting the product’s weight by 60 percent less weight and eliminating 5.7 million pounds of packaging a year.
~ A redesign of Kraft salad dressing bottles in Australia is expected to reduce their packaging by 100,000 pounds of plastic a year.
~ A redesign to the zipper on Kraft Natural Cheese bags has eliminated more than 1 million pounds of material a year.
~ Nabob have been replaced with composite paperboard, which weights 30 percent less, contains 50 percent recycled content and reduces packaging needs by 8.5 million pounds a year.

Bacardi Cuts Emissions by 20K Tonnes, KPMG Reports 7 Percent Drop

Dell started shipping two of its products padded with bamboo cushioning, a part of the company’s broad plan to reduce its packaging while using more recyclable material.

Amazon.com launched a private label brand called AmazonBasics, shipped in what it calls Frustration-Free Packaging: minimal, easy-to-open and recyclable. Kraft Foods UK introduced resealable plastic coffee packs for its Kenco brand that are 97 percent lighter than their glass counterparts and require 81 percent less energy to manufacture.

Frito-Lay’s Sun Chips were relaunched in packaging made with 33 percent polylactic acid, a corn-based biopolymer.

Aramark introduced a reusable takeout food container for college cafeterias, which the company says can divert as many as 2 million disposables from landfills in a single school year. In a similar vein, a collaboration between packaging manufacturer Direct Pack and recycler Global PET has resulted in the Bottle Box, the first 100 percent post-consumer plastic take-out packaging. Foodservice product providers Solo Cup and StalkMarket Products each released compostable paper cups for use with hot liquids.

Just finishing the rough draft and quotes for ‘Vancouver, through water and glass’.  Beautiful 11.25×11.25″ hardcover with back and spine cloth and image wrap on front cover. Nice! Can’t wait to see the promo pieces in the next couple of weeks.

Benefits: Maximized Press sheet with zero waste,  60% post consumer waste paper, Vegetable based inks with little VOC’s and a limited first edition run. Printed in Canada (we would have loved to afford to print in BC but had to print in Manitoba (1.5 tonnes of GHG added for rail shipment).

Effects: 18 trees saved for future use,   6,500 gal wastewater prevented,  1,200 lbs solid waste not generated, 4 tonnes of GHG prevented.

Project Scorecard: Raw Material Sourcing: 7/9,  Production: 12/14,  Transportation and storage: 2/3,  Cultural and Social: 4/5   TOTAL: 25/31

Branding and Brand Manual for Candles selling in European markets. With this project, an non-printable, electronic version of the brand manual is being supplied to all international offices, saving money, time and resources involved in proofing, printing, shipping and total man hours. Keeping this project as sustainable as possible decreased production costs by 95%, while increasing productivity.

When Watchmen actor Laura Mennell needed some re-branding to help generate more American Appeal, we helped to sleek up her public image and re-cut her demo reel.

This is the best video you’ll watch this year. Visit the Story of Stuff Site to see their other videos.

With this project, an non-printable, electronic version of the brand manual is being supplied to all international offices, saving money, time and resources involved in proofing, printing, shipping and total man hours. Keeping this project as sustainable as possible decreased production costs by 95%, while increasing productivity.

Benefits: Electronic Document replaces large printing and shipping bill for international offices.

Effects: 3/3 trees saved for future use, 1,100 gal wastewater prevented, 123 lbs solid waste not generated, 242 lbs of GHG prevented, 1,855,00/2,110,00 btu’s saved.

Project Scorecard: Raw Material Sourcing: 9/9, Production: 13/14, Transportation and storage: 3/3, Cultural and Social: 5/5

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