CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — GreenBlue, a nonprofit focusing on sustainability, released a suite of reports that provide technical guidance on designing packaging to be compatible with common recovery methods.
"Design for Recovery Guidelines for Aluminum, Steel, Glass, and Paper Packaging" details common recovery challenges and barriers for these four major packaging materials, as well as providing practical instructions on how attachments, inks, coatings, and colorants affect recyclability and compostability.
The guidelines are the result of GreenBlue's Closing the Loop research project-funded through a grant awarded to GreenBlue by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery with additional support from GreenBlue's Sustainable Packaging Coalition, which promotes more effective material recovery systems by connecting packaging designers with available recovery options.
"One of the challenges we see in creating closed loop systems for packaging is the lack of coordination between packaging design and packaging recovery," said GreenBlue Project Manager Liz Shoch, who led the GreenBlue research and authored the guidelines. "The most important leverage point in a package's recyclability is during the design phase. These guidelines help packaging designers understand the various end-of-life options so they can design accordingly."
