Study: Packaging Companies Emphasize Sustainability in 2009

"Sustainability in Packaging" Survey Results Released
OAK BROOK, Ill.--(Business Wire)--
As concerns about the environment grow, companies that handle packaging of
consumer goods are placing increasing emphasis on sustainability, according to
the third annual "Sustainability in Packaging" study sponsored by Packaging
Digest and the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC).

More than 1,000 packaging industry professionals participated in the survey.
Full results are available at http://www.packagingdigest.com.

"This survey is an important tool to see how companies are changing their
packaging operations to address environmental challenges," said Anne Johnson,
director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. "Not only are companies more
aware of the environmental impacts of packaging, but they are taking concrete
steps to reduce those impacts by minimizing materials, waste, energy, and
measuring their progress through defined sustainability metrics."

Some revealing data from respondents:

* 41 percent said they are very familiar with the issues of sustainability
versus 21 percent in the 2007 survey.
* 68 percent said the emphasis on sustainable packaging has increased in the
last year, while only 4 percent said they`ve seen a decrease in emphasis.
* Nearly nine out of 10 said that sustainability is a consideration in
packaging-design decisions, although just 21 percent said it is a very important
factor.
* Walmart and Procter & Gamble were identified most often as leaders on
environmental issues involving packaging.
* Only 21 percent said their companies have formal, written sustainability
policies. Another 22 percent said they have informal, unwritten guidelines, and
28 percent have none at all.
* The most common policy guidelines included recycled content specifications,
bans or limits on specific material usage and new design guidelines.
* 53 percent said their business has no measurement tool in place to evaluate
performance or track the progress of sustainability activities.

Packaging Digest is the most widely distributed magazine for packaging
professionals in the food, pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical and other
packaged goods industries. Packaging Digestis published by Reed Business
Information-US, a leading business-to-business publisher.

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) is an industry working group dedicated
to a more robust environmental vision for packaging.The SPC is a project of
GreenBlue®, a nonprofit institute that works with the private sector to enable
the positive redesign of industrial systems. For more information, visit
www.greenblue.org

Packaging Digest and Converting magazines
John Kalkowski, 630-288-8706
John.kalkowski@reedbusiness.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009