The OIA (Outdoor Industry Association) eco working group, which is comprised of 60 outdoor businesses, is working on the first ever ECO-INDEX for the outdoor industry. So Far, they have created an Eco-Index Framework, Phase II Project Plan and Green Guidelines for Packaging.
Here is what they came up with:
OIA Eco Work Group
Packaging Design Principles & Guidelines
Approved and Published 9/29/08
The following are guidelines for business sustainability efforts in the area of product packaging, both in terms of consumer point of purchase, display packaging, as well as shipping and protective packaging throughout its entire supply chain.
REDUCE
□ Do we need it?
□ Minimize material usage or eliminate packaging completely
□ Use single materials and avoid laminates or multiple materials
□ Substrates shall be separable without the use of tools
□ Minimize size of packaging (reduce shipping space)
□ Examine the package-to-product ratio
REUSE
□ Create packaging that can be reused within the retail operations.
□ Packaging that can be reused within and between retail stores, distribution centers, and
factories
□ Consumer packaging that can be reused or has alternative use
If creating reusable packaging consider the following:
How many customers will actually reuse the packaging vs. throwing it away?
Can it be done without using more material than non-reusable packaging?
Will it be compatible throughout the supply chain (i.e. transportation, distribution centers, retail store, etc)?
RECYCLE
□ Create packaging compatible with recycling systems (can a person in the average city recycle
this at home or at our retail stores?)
□ Single material (multiple materials reduces recyclability of packaging)
□ Avoid laminates, films, wax, or wet strength additives and coatings
□ Avoid pressure sensitive adhesives, closures, foil stamps, aluminum tags, etc.
□ Avoid adhesives and coating (they contaminate the recycling process)
□ Avoid metallic, uv-cured or fluorescent inks (they contaminate the recycle process)
If creating recyclable packaging:
Movement to educate via the graphics and clearly label as such
Actively support recycling as the end-of-use destination for all the paper we use.
Packaging shall declare the approximate recycled content for each material
Recyclable packaging needs to be recovered by brand owners to guarantee that it is recycled
The retail stores shall include a free service whereby the packaging material can be collected and returned for reuse or recycling
SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS
□ Maximize use of post consumer recycled content, agricultural waste or textile scrap
□ Maximize use of sustainable materials
□ Use materials with high recycle rates
□ Identify all packaging being used by our vendors
PAPER OR PAPERBOARD
□ Post-consumer recycled content, agricultural waste, textile scrap, etc.
□ FSC certified paper and wood products (this ensures no old growth or clear cut forests)
□ Unbleached, totally chlorine free or process chlorine free paper
□ Acid free paper
□ Water based and/or soy based inks
□ Avoid wax and other wet-strength additives and coatings
□ Avoid plastic film laminations, extruded coatings or foil stamping
□ Avoid inks with solvents
□ Avoid uv-cured printing inks, metallic inks or fluorescent inks
□ Avoid pressure-sensitive adhesives
□ Avoid film applied over a cut-out “windowing”
□ Avoid wax coatings, e-beam inks or uv inks on corrugated cardboard
PLASTIC
□ Post-consumer recycled content
□ No PVC
□ Do not mix resins or incompatible attachments
□ Biopolymers: be cautious about additives such as coupling agents, plasticizers, fillers, dyes,
and pigments
Pretty Cool Huh! Good luck OIA!
