PAC.NZ releases Code of Practice Version 2

PAC.NZ, the Packaging Council of New Zealand, has released Version 2 of its Code of Practice for Packaging Design, Education and Procurement.

“The success of the first version of the Code of Practice for Packaging Design, Education and Procurement was the practical layout which took the reader through the conflicts of environmental demands for packaging versus the demands for food safety, product protection and an efficient/effective supply chain,” said Richard Manaton, PAC.NZ President.

“The Code is written in a way to ensure it isn’t too technical to understand by non-experts, but detailed enough for packaging decision makers. The updated version builds on those attributes, but now includes performance indicators from the Consumer Goods Forum’s new Global Packaging Protocol, the draft ISO standards for packaging and the environment and a selection of appropriate indicators from the Global Reporting Initiative.

“By including global best practice, we have a Code of Practice which meets the needs of the New Zealand market, but is internationally aligned.”

“Much has changed both globally and locally since we first launched our Code of Practice two years ago,” added Paul Curtis, PAC.NZ Executive Director. “We have seen the packaging waste debate shift from simply focussing on packaging recycling rates to understanding the opportunities across the whole-of-life of packaging to eliminate waste in the first place.

“The issue of product wastage, particularly food waste, dominates global concerns related to the resource losses this wastage represents. The use of packaging, and in particular the technological advances in packaging materials, plays a crucial role in mitigating these losses.”

The Code of Practice is underpinned by the principle that good packaging design prevents more waste than it creates. It aims to assist stakeholders in the design, manufacture and end-of-life management of packaging to minimise its environmental impacts.

More information on the Code of Practice is available from the PAC.NZ website: www.packaging.org.nz.