Sustainable packaging choices start with three plain questions. What is the pack made of? How much of it do you use? Can you prove what you say about it? Retailers across Asia now get more questions from shoppers, buyers and regulators about boxes, bags and film. This guide gives a short path through materials, recycled content claims and wording.
Measure first: material, form and weight
You cannot pick better packaging until you know what you use now. List every pack you buy or import. Write down the material (paper, plastic, glass, metal), the form (bag, bottle, carton, label) and the weight per year.
Singapore shows why this habit matters. Part 4 of its Resource Sustainability Act 2019, which covers packaging reporting, started on 1 July 2020. Producers of regulated goods that import or use specified packaging, and that have annual turnover above S$10 million, must report the packaging they put on the Singapore market. They must also send plans to cut, reuse or recycle it, often called 3R plans. The National Environment Agency (NEA) asks for the data by packaging material.
In September 2021, NEA issued a guide to help firms check whether they must report. It works through seven screening questions about supplying regulated goods and using specified packaging. Items in scope include bottles, food containers, beverage cans, drink cartons, pouches and blister packs.
A smaller retailer may fall below the threshold. The same table of material, form and weight is still the best first step, because it shows where the weight sits.
Compare common materials in plain terms
No material is best everywhere. What counts is whether the pack is reduced, reused or collected for recycling in the place where your customer lives. Check local collection before you choose.
- Paper and board: Widely collected in many cities, but coatings and plastic linings can cause trouble at the recycling plant.
- Plastic bottles and rigid tubs: Often collected, and a single plastic type is easier to recycle than a mix.
- Plastic film and pouches: Light, so they save transport weight. Layers of different plastics or foil can make them hard to recycle.
- Glass and metal: Heavy to ship, but they can be melted down again and again where collection exists.
Lighter is not always better. A thinner pack that tears and spoils the product creates more waste, not less. Test any new pack on a small run first.
Make recycled content claims you can prove
Recycled content is the claim shoppers see most. It is also the one most often stated loosely. The US Federal Trade Commission's Green Guides, issued in 2012, are a clear public guide to how to word it. They say a recycled content claim should cover only material that was diverted from the waste stream, either during manufacturing or after a customer used it.
Be exact about three things. First, give the percentage, not just the phrase "recycled". The Guides give "made from 30% recycled material" as an example of a qualified claim. Second, say which part it covers: the product, the pack, or one component. Third, make sure the material counts. Scrap that a factory simply feeds back into its own line is not the kind of material the Guides describe.
Ask each supplier for a written statement of the recycled percentage and how they worked it out. File it with your packaging records.
Cut vague green words
The same Guides warn that broad claims are hard to prove, and that general terms such as "green" or "eco-friendly" should be qualified with a specific, clear benefit. A shopper cannot check a vague word, and a regulator or a rival can challenge it.
Replace each vague phrase with a fact:
- Instead of "eco-friendly bag", write "bag made from paper, collected for recycling in many cities".
- Instead of "green packaging", write "box with a stated recycled percentage, backed by a supplier statement".
- Instead of "better for the planet", write "pack that weighs less than the one it replaced", with both weights on file.
If you cannot write the fact, drop the claim. A shorter claim that is true beats a long one that is not.
A short checklist for your next packaging order
Use these steps before you place the order. They take one afternoon and they make later reporting easier, even if no rule applies to you yet.
- Record the material, form and weight of every pack in a simple sheet.
- Ask the supplier for a spec sheet with the material, the weight and any recycled percentage.
- Check that your city or customer base has a way to collect that material.
- Run a small pilot to see that the product still arrives safely.
- Write each claim as a fact with a number, and keep the proof where staff can find it.
- Review the sheet every year and look for one pack to cut, reuse or switch.
Rules differ from country to country, so check the current rules where you sell. This note is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
- Allen & Gledhill, Resource Sustainability Act 2019 partially in force (22 January 2020)
- Enviliance summary of the NEA guide on mandatory packaging reporting (issued September 2021)
- National Environment Agency, Mandatory Packaging Reporting
- US Federal Trade Commission, Environmental Claims: Summary of the Green Guides (October 2012)