SPC Fall Members-Only Meeting Next Week!

This year’s SPC Fall Members-Only Meeting will take place next week September 19-20 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dallas. We have nearly 200 SPC members registered to attend the meeting, which will include sessions on each of the Member Working Groups as well as breakouts on several ongoing SPC projects. Meeting festivities will kick off on Monday with a tour of the Greenstar Recycling Center and a Welcome Reception hosted at Frito Lay’s headquarters in Plano, TX. Frito Lay/PepsiCo have planned a very special reception for SPC members where they will showcase the culinary talents of some of Dallas’ top chefs and a menu that features local and sustainable products. You can find the complete meeting agenda and sessions descriptions, a current attendee list, and other important meeting information on the event webpage.

As in past years, we are co-locating our meeting with Packaging Strategies' Sustainable Packaging Forum, which will be September 20-22. We would like to thank this year’s Fall Meeting hosts for their generous support: PepsiCo, Dell, The Dow Chemical Company, NatureWorks LLC, PaperWorks, and Spartech. Please feel free to contact us with any questions about the meeting via email. We are looking forward to welcoming SPC members to Dallas next week!

SPC Executive Committee Elections

Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations for the 2011-2012 SPC Executive Committee elections. We have 12 very impressive candidates for the three EC positions that are open in this election (two material manufacturers and one converter). To learn more about each of the candidates, members can visit the SPC website. All primary contacts for member companies will be asked to vote online after the close of the Fall Meeting and we will announce the results on October 13.

Global Protocol on Packaging Sustainability Released

The Consumer Goods Forum recently announced the public release of the Global Protocol on Packaging Sustainability (GPPS). The release of the Protocol marks the completion of the two-year stakeholder engagement process that approximately 200 companies and select NGOs participated in to develop what is expected to become a globally-accepted methodology for measuring and communicating about packaging sustainability. The SPC was well represented in the project with several member companies participating and Program Director Anne Johnson and Senior Fellow Katherine O’Dea serving on the Steering Committee and metrics development technical teams. Additionally, the SPC’s Sustainable Packaging Indicators and Metrics Framework was adopted as the baseline and foundation for selection and development of the final set of GPPS metrics.

Seeking Working Group Participants for the Design for Recycling Guide Project

The SPC is commencing work on the Design for Recycling Guide that will be a practical reference for packaging decision-makers across the supply chain to help facilitate informed recyclable package design. To ensure its completeness and utility, we are forming a working group of SPC members. SPC members with insight on packaging design decisions related to recyclability and that are willing to share their own knowledge of designing for recyclability are encouraged to join by contacting Adam Gendell via email.

Labeling for Recovery Website Launched

We are excited to announce that the reference website for the Labeling for Recovery pilot has officially launched! The website, www.how2recycle.info, provides information about the new packaging recovery label system and resources on local recycling availability. Please visit our website or contact Anne Bedarf via email for more information about the labeling pilot.

Welcome New SPC Project Associate Danielle Peacock

We are delighted to welcome Danielle Peacock to the GreenBlue team! As a Project Associate for the SPC, Danielle will primarily be responsible for conducting technical research to support the SPC’s growing portfolio of projects on packaging and sustainability. Danielle comes to us with an impressive background in recycling, which will be a great asset to her work with the SPC. While earning a Master of Public Administration at UNC Chapel Hill, she wrote her graduate thesis on the development of the construction and demolition recycling industry in North Carolina. Danielle also interned with the state’s non-regulatory recycling office, where she helped to develop recycling markets, provided technical assistance to local governments and businesses in the recycling industry, and analyzed state recycling trends.

Data Needed on Consumer Attitudes Toward Packaging

The Member Working Group on Consumer Outreach & Education is asking member companies to share research and data on how consumers think about packaging. As the group works towards influencing consumer attitudes and behaviors, we want to first assure that we are on the right track. A core hypothesis for our strategy is that consumers have negative beliefs and attitudes about packaging, and that consumers have a general lack of knowledge about the value of packaging. We expect that some member companies already have data on this issue that could confirm our hypothesis. So if you have access to information that may support or reject our hypothesis, please share it with our team. It can be quantitative or qualitative, and ideally should address consumer attitudes, perceptions, and opinions related to packaging, either in general, or as applied to a specific material or format. In addition to refining our hypothesis, this information will be used to identify key language and themes that consumers use related to packaging in order to help us develop stories that bring the value of packaging to life. Please contact Gail Tavill via email with questions or data.

PET Thermoform Recycling RFP

The National Association for PET Container Resources and SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association have issued a Request for Proposal for a grant of up to $100,000 to be awarded for the development of a model PET thermoform recycling program. Funds are available to any U.S. MRF or recycling program operator that can affect the variety of elements necessary for a successful program. For more information, please review the full RFP.