Association comments on draft European packaging regulation
On the occasion of a draft packaging regulation circulated by the European Commission, the Verband der Wellpappen-Industrie e.V. (VDW) states: "The document still raises a number of questions with regard to detailed specifications and feasibility. However, a blanket environmental preference for reusable solutions over recyclable corrugated board packaging would be unjustified in any case. A recent life cycle study published by the European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers (FEFCO), for example, once again shows how corrugated board packaging can hold its own against reusable packaging in the life cycle assessment of a specific case study. A meta-study also recently published by FEFCO analyses so-called hotspots of e-commerce logistics - stations in the life cycle of shipping packaging with significant environmental effects - and identifies the real number of usage cycles of reusable packaging as the most significant adjusting screw. Furthermore, the meta-study assesses the data situation on the number of real usage cycles of reusable solutions as uncertain.
"Currently, a draft of the European Commission for a packaging regulation is circulating, which has not yet been officially presented and which aims for extremely ambitious targets for the use of reusable transport packaging. However, current study results impressively show that such a blanket preference for reusable transport packaging has no basis whatsoever", explains VDW managing director Dr. Oliver Wolfrum. "As early as 2021, the VDW has demonstrated on the basis of an analysis of the greenhouse gas balance of various mail-order packaging: Depending on the case study, recyclable corrugated board can also come out on top, so reusable is by no means always the more sustainable solution. The new FEFCO studies confirm the facts and are thus a trend-setting signal for policy-makers. If reusable solutions can come off worse than corrugated board in the life cycle assessment of specific packaging cases, it is important to choose the optimal packaging depending on the product and transport requirements - and to do so optimally in terms of product protection and sustainability. Quota specifications would be out of place here," warns the VDW managing director.
The new life cycle analysis of transport packaging was commissioned by FEFCO and carried out by the consulting firm Ramboll in accordance with the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards. The study compares the environmental footprint of crates made of recyclable corrugated board with that of multiway crates made of plastic on the basis of 15 environmental categories. It is assumed that one tonne of vegetables is transported from the producer to the retailer. The result: fibre-based crates perform better than reusable packaging in ten of the 15 categories, for example with regard to climate change, the use of fossil resources, water consumption and the depletion of the ozone layer.
In addition, the study examines further scenarios for the climate change category. The environmental impacts of packaging were thus also examined for this category under modified assumptions. For example, in one scenario for returnable crates, instead of a breakage rate of 2.5 per cent, a lower value of 0.5 per cent was applied. Nevertheless, corrugated board transport packaging was able to prevail over multiway crates in 13 of the 14 alternative scenarios examined.
In another analysis, Ramboll identified so-called hotspots of the e-commerce logistics chain on behalf of FEFCO. This is a meta-study for which existing data and studies as well as interviews with experts on reusable and disposable packaging were evaluated. The term hotspot was defined as a station in the life cycle of a package that accounts for a significant portion of its environmental footprint. The five most important hotspots turned out to be 1. the real number of uses of reusable packaging, 2. logistics parameters such as transport routes or storage, 3. the recycling share of packaging, 4. the amount of material used and 5. the number of existing facilities for recycling, cleaning or reprocessing. On the most important hotspot - the real number of usage cycles of reusable packaging - the study notes that the data situation on this is still uncertain and not convincing in some of the sources examined.
"For corrugated board, on the other hand, it is now certain that the paper fibres it contains can be recycled at least 20 times", emphasises VDW Managing Director Wolfrum. "The second to fifth places of the most important hotspots in e-commerce logistics also underline the fact that the well-known advantages of corrugated board are of decisive importance with regard to sustainability targets: Availability in all regions of Germany, an already high recycling share of packaging, a more efficient use of materials in combination with ever more precisely fitting packaging solutions and a firmly established material cycle that is also widely accepted and actively supported by the population," summarises Wolfrum.
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