Aligned with this is their declared intent to significantly increase the volume of sales generated by home brands over the next few years.
As a result, domestic manufacturers and brand owners are finding it increasingly difficult to meet these new requirements and remain competitive.
Another trend is the increasing focus on the amount of packaging being consumed and disposed of in Australia, and our recycling performance relative to other countries.
Pressure is growing on the industry to take more responsibility, reducing packaging consumption and increasing recovery. Unfortunately these two trends appear to be somewhat at odds with one another.
Q. How have you, or the NPC, been involved in these trends and developments?
A. One of the core components of the NPC is the Environmental Code of Practice for Packaging (ECoPP), which has been significantly revised and strengthened to ensure a more rigorous approach to packaging design.
The ECoPP is an industry code developed to provide clear and transparent guidelines for demonstrating environmental parameters when making packaging-related decisions.
All industry signatories to the Covenant are required to adopt the ECoPP and to report each year on how it has been implemented and the results achieved.
Q. What do you consider the biggest threats and opportunities facing the industry today?
A. One of the main threats to Australia’s packaging industry is the increasing volume of imported packaged finished goods.
As this packaging is disposed of, and the demand for domestically produced packaging does not increase much, an imbalance will arise between the amount of packaging materials recovered for recycling and the demand for these materials to be reused in domestically produced packaging.
If the rate of packaging recycling increases to 65% by 2010, which is an aim of the NPC, the new challenge will be finding a ways to deal with the recovered materials.
There are well established markets for recovered materials overseas, predominantly in Asia, but we cannot rely on this demand to continue indefinitely and must plan for alternatives.
On the other hand, opportunities for the packaging industry abound as outlined in The Packaging Council of Australia’s recent paper ‘Towards Sustainable Packaging’.
The industry also has the opportunity to take the lead and overcome challenges such as water shortages and resource depletion.
Q. Why do you, or why do you think others consider you, one of the most influential people in packaging today?
A. I was surprised to be nominated and can only attribute it to my association with the NPC.