Picture

How green is your packaging and are you compliant with EU Packaging Directives?

 Clearstream Solutions has launched its new Packaging Environmental Assessment Tool  (PEAT).  Proof of Compliance to EU Directives such as the Essential Packaging Requirements, REACH and RoHAS requires companies to report on the environmental performance of their products and packaging.

PEAT allows companies to measure and compare the environmental performance of their packaging. It covers elements such as embedded carbon,  volumetric performance, recyclability, safety and the recycled content. These metrics can then be used as part of a company’s compliance reporting. Clearstream Solutions has carried out PEAT assessments for a number of multi nationals distribution products across Europe as part of their compliance reporting.

Clearstream Solutions also offers Supply Chain compliance audit and reporting to verify that your supply chain is not exposing you to risk. See below for further details on what your company needs to do to comply with the legislation or contact Clearstream Solutions for a free consultation.

 
EU Packaging Legislation

EU institutions speed up agreement on technical harmonisation issues by agreeing “Essential Requirements” which define the results to be attained and the risks to be dealt with, and then delegate to CEN (the European Committee for Standardization) or CENELEC (the European Committee for Electro technical Standardization) the task of specifying the technical solutions needed.

Thus Annex II to Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste lays down Essential Requirements which all packaging placed on the market within the European Economic Area must comply with.  Underlying principles of the Essential Requirements can be summarised as follows:

  • Packaging weight and volume should be minimized to the amount needed for safety and acceptance of the packed product;
  • Noxious and other hazardous constituents of packaging should have minimum impact on the environment at end of life; and
  • Packaging should be suitable for material recycling, energy recovery or composting or for reuse if reuse is intended.
The EU Commission mandated CEN to draw up a set of standards and reports which would be “useful for the application of the Directive”, and standards on packaging prevention, reuse, material recovery, energy recovery and organic recovery were adopted in 2000. To meet the requirements of the Commission and the member states, CEN began revising the standards in 2001, and updated versions were adopted in 2004. On 19 February 2005 the Commission published the references to the full set of standards in the Official Journal as recognition of their status as “harmonized standards”.

This means that packaging which complies with the standards is deemed to be in conformity with the Essential Requirements, and cannot be denied access to any country in the European Economic Area on grounds of nonconformity with the Directive. In other words, the burden of proof has been reversed. Before the references were published, a producer who had been challenged by the enforcement authorities had to prove conformity with the Essential Requirements; now it is up to the enforcement authorities to prove that the packaging has not been produced in conformity with the relevant standards.

The CEN standards on packaging and the environment are intended to ensure that packaging designers and specifiers keep potential environmental improvements under continuous scrutiny. The UK, France and Czech Republic have most actively applied the standards.

Enforcement of the standards:

The avoidance of over-packaging can only be tested by ensuring that the producer has set up and operated a system to ensure that he asks himself/herself all the right questions and that the answers are documented.

The enforcement authorities verify compliance with the prevention standard by asking the producer to demonstrate the steps that have been taken to identify the “critical area” that prevents further source reduction. If this cannot be done, the packaging fails the standard.

In the UK for example, the enforcement authorities, say that packer/fillers, brand owners and importers must show that they have taken ‘all reasonable steps’ to ensure their packaging complies with the Essential Requirements. They must have a system of control appropriate to their business which covers all regulatory requirements, operate the system properly, document it, and identify all reasonable steps and take them. Packer/fillers cannot pass on responsibility for compliance. To demonstrate ‘due diligence’ companies should audit suppliers’ quality systems and undertake random testing of packaging materials. Due diligence means not only documenting why further minimisation is not possible but also having regard to ongoing developments which might alter this decision.

Thus companies can protect themselves against possible prosecution by seeking written evidence that suppliers are respecting the Essential Requirements – retailers and importers will demand evidence from suppliers of packaged goods, packers and fillers will demand evidence from packaging suppliers, and packaging manufacturers will demand evidence from component and raw materials suppliers. In addition, use of the standards will facilitate a continuous improvement process for the design of packaging.

So make sure your business isn’t exposed. Contact Clearstream Solutions now to discuss your packaging compliance requirements.  

E: info@clearstreamsolutions.ie
 


Comments




Leave a Reply