Asia Pulp and Paper's Forest Conservation Policy (FCP), announced in February 2013, came about in large part due to NGO pressure and the resulting concerns of our customers. The FCP marked an immediate halt to all natural forest clearance across our supply chain and is designed to help fulfill growing demand for sustainably sourced packaging material and environmental stewardship. We believe that the execution of such environmental policies strengthens business performance, enhances customer relationships and, most importantly, ensures the long-term sustainability of our operations.
Since then, it’s become clear to us that retailers and manufacturers across many industries — from food and beverage and pharmaceutical to consumer products — that continually innovate and utilize new forms of packaging, need to be ever-mindful of the associated sustainability implications.
Consumers are heightening their focus on business environmental practices, signaling their demand for sustainable packaging (the market for which is projected to hit $244 billion by 2018), as well as broader corporate transparency and accountability. Fortunately, with the emergence of new sustainable packaging technologies, businesses are finding opportunities to leverage these innovations to improve their environmental performance to meet this evolving consumer demand. At APP, we see four rising trends in sustainable packaging that companies would do well to note:
As consumers demand greater levels of transparency and accountability from companies, particularly in the sustainability space, the packaging industry must be cognizant of how its materials are sourced and implement sustainable practices across its supply chain. Consumers, NGOs and other third-party stakeholders have heightened expectations in this area and will continue to scrutinize the manufacturing and production of packaging materials. Those firms that are mindful of the aforementioned trends and properly integrate them into their overall business practices will be better positioned to satisfy evolving consumer needs related to sustainability.
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Vice President of Sustainability & Stakeholder Relations, The Americas
Asia Pulp and Paper
Ian Lifshitz is VP of Sustainability & Stakeholder Relations for The Americas at Asia Pulp and Paper.
Published May 12, 2014 4pm EDT / 1pm PDT / 9pm BST / 10pm CEST