The Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) has convened a wide range of stakeholders to create a new shared ambition for the industry, to halve the environmental impacts of all packaging systems by 2030.
Over the last year, IGD has brought together stakeholders from across the food and consumer goods industry, packaging manufacturers, waste industry – including CIWM, WRAP and Suez – and industry associations to form a sustainable packaging systems working group to create this new shared ambition for the industry.
This ambition maintains momentum beyond the forthcoming legislation and is a stepping-stone to collective action and change.
With its unique ability to convene stakeholders, Social Impact from IGD addresses some of the key challenges facing society, from climate change, food waste and food surplus redistribution, to accelerating industry’s progress towards Net Zero.
This latest ambition is being undertaken to tackle the critical industry-issue of sustainable packaging systems.
The shared ambition is to create a common direction of travel over the next decade. It’s fantastic that so many organisations across the packaging, food and consumer goods industry value chain have worked with IGD to create this new ambition and we are calling on more businesses from across the industry to help shape and deliver the next phase of work.
The next phase of this work will see the creation of a roadmap to establish a baseline, set targets and track progress towards delivering the ambition. To help accelerate progress, the working group will develop a new set of principles for the industry to help businesses make consistent decisions on packaging systems and materials.
IGD will also commission new consumer research to gain behavioural insights and better understand the barriers to the mainstream adoption of reuse and refill packaging solutions. These insights will create the opportunities to influence longer term behaviour change.
Mark Little, Director of Health and Sustainability Programmes, said: “The shared ambition is to create a common direction of travel over the next decade. It’s fantastic that so many organisations across the packaging, food and consumer goods industry value chain have worked with IGD to create this new ambition and we are calling on more businesses from across the industry to help shape and deliver the next phase of work.”
IDG says it wants more businesses to join the working group to drive progress and accelerate towards the ambition to shape this programme of work, to halve the environmental impacts of all packaging systems by 2030 whilst still enhancing the benefits and quality enjoyed of products and their packaging today.
Working Group members currently include: ALDI; Amazon; ASDA; British Plastics Federation; CHEP; CIWM; Coca-Cola Europacific Partners; Colpac; Coop; Greencore; Heineken; Hotel Chocolat; Iceland; INCPEN; Innovate UK; LARAC; M&S; Morrisons; Musgrave; Ocado Retail; OPRL; ProAmpac-London; RECOUP; Sainsburys; Samworths; Suez; Tesco; WRAP; WWF.