Is the Greener Package Database right for my company?
marcjack
We refine the by-products from kraft paper production to make a range of chemical raw materials. The primary raw materials that come out of our bio-refinery are rosin, tall oil fatty acid, and terpene monomers. These raw materials are used to make a variety of upstream products including resins for inks, adhesives, and coatings. I have looked over the "Greener Package Database Questions" to see if it makes sense to enter our products in the database. Under the heading, "what is the primary type of material you are supplying?" it lists Adhesives, coatings and inks but says nothing about the resins used to formulate these products. Also, there is no reference to the other ingredients used to make adhesives, inks and coatings (ie, pigment, wax, oils, additives). So, my questions are: Does the "environmental score" of a package consider all the ingredients used in its manufacture? Does the use of bio-based raw materials in adhesives, inks and coatings improve a products environmental profile?
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A bit too upstream?
David Newcorn
Hi Marc,
I think you might be a notch or two upstream for the Greener Package database. Manufacturers of additives, inks and treatments are encouraged to enter their products, but my feeling is that companies like yours that supply those manufacturers are one step too far upstream from the core users of this database. It has nothing to do with how sustainable your products are--it's more a question of is this the right audience. The intended audience that uses the database is retailers, brand owners, and converters. Sounds like your customer would be the raw material suppliers. Those folks would submit their products to our database in order to attract customers, but I'm not sure they would use our database to find suppliers for their own products.
Raw materials for the Raw Material suppliers...
marcjack
David,
Thanks for your response. It is what I had suspected. However, I think it points out a need in the market. I do not think there is any sort of analagous databse of sustainability data for producers of basic raw materials.
If anyone out there is aware of such a database please let me know.
Marc Jackson
Package Designers?
Tim Rose
"The intended audience that uses the database is retailers, brand owners, and converters." What about as a reference guide for package designers?
Package Designers - yes!
wilsonhogan
Hi Tim,
Dave didn't mean to exclude package designers! This database is a very useful tool for ANYONE that works in packaging, and anyone that works in package design--both graphic and structural.
Structural package designers, in particular, are indeed the primary user audience--regardless of whether they work for a brand owner or a dedicated agency like Schawk.
Re:
Anonymous...Greener Package is in the process of building a database of sustainable packaging materials from packaging suppliers.
In order to prevent greenwashing, all packaging suppliers who submit data to the database can volunteer to have their sustainability claims reviewed by an authorized third party to assure they are in compliance with the Greener Package Guidelines to Sustainability Claims.
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