SGS Informs on Packaging and Packaging Waste Management in the EU

HONG KONG - Nov. 7, 2013 - PRLog -- For every manufacturer in every industry, packaging plays an essential role. From the simple promotion of the product to its protection and transport, from textiles to delivery pallets, packaging can be found everywhere and has a wide range of usage. The afterlife of packaging, either as waste or recycling, is also an issue; and with every environmental and health issue comes a comprehensive set of national and international regulations and standards.

EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directives

Essential requirements are defined under Directive 94/62/EC. First, the packaging weight and volume must be minimal in order to maintain the safety, hygiene and acceptance of the packaged product. Then, the packaging must also be manufactured in such a way as to enable its reuse or recovery, including recycling, and also in a manner that minimizes the presence of hazardous substances in emissions, ash or leachate when incinerated or landfilled.

Packaging and its waste management are therefore complex and need to be precisely defined. That is why, for reasons of legal certainty as well as matters of harmonization of the definition and interpretation of ‘packaging’, the EU Directive 94/62/EC was amended in February 2013 by the Directive 2013/2/EU (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:...). The latter is therefore more detailed as it provides illustrative examples of components that are packaging, part of packaging and non-packaging (see Table 1 within the latest Consumer Compact article (http://www.sgs.com/en/Our-Company/News-and-Media-Center/N...)

The Directive 94/62/EC also established a limit of 100 ppm for the sum of the concentration levels of lead, cadmium, mercury and chromium (VI) present in packaging or packaging components and laid out the criteria for the definition of ‘packaging’. The three groups of packaging defined in Directive 94/62/EC are:

- Sales packaging or primary packaging.
- Grouped packaging or secondary packaging.
- Transport packaging or tertiary packaging.

Packaging and Packaging Waste Management and the REACH Regulation

During transport packaging needs to perform well. As for packaging material, its physical performances as well as chemical properties have to be compliant with a series of regulations and standards regarding customers’ health as well as sustainability and other environmentally friendly criteria.  The European Union REACH regulation (http://echa.europa.eu/regulations/reach;jsessionid=479D0D...) covers the general registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals in consumer products manufactured or imported within the EU zone and entered into force in June 2007. This chemical regulation naturally also applies to packaging. Not only does this regulation require manufacturers and importers to provide safety information on every chemical substance used in the products, but it also controls and sets the level of all chemicals.

Packaging such as plastic wrap or a carton can contain a substance, a mixture or an article. Under REACH (http://www.sgs.com/en/Consumer-Goods-Retail/Packaging/REACH.aspx), the packaging is considered as a separate article from the substance, mixture or article that it contains and must comply with the requirements for articles, including substances of very high concern (SVHCs) from the Candidate List.

Directive 2013/2/EU and the REACH regulation are both intended to improve the protection of human safety as well as the environment by limiting contact with dangerous or hazardous substances with the skin or the mouth as well as the risk of polluting natural environments. Whether food, cosmetic products or toys, packaging needs to be strictly regulated to avoid the transfer of chemicals and toxic substances from the package to the product or, worse, to the consumer.

Harmonization of Local Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulations

With increased environmental and health concerns as well as ever growing worldwide imports and exports, local and national packaging regulations such as the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/871/contents/made) in the United Kingdom or the US Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fpla/fplact.html) tend to harmonize in order to ensure worldwide compliance and facilitate the manufacturers’ attempts to provide products that conform to every market.

For manufacturers and importers, it is not yet sufficient to comply with the ‘Packaging and Packaging Waste’ Directive in order to import their products into Europe. Yet all regulations, standards and directives have the tendency to merge or converge in terms of norms and authorized levels in order to facilitate the compliance process.  As for the EU more specifically, the upcoming Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) regulatory approaches on sustainable and environmental packaging might soon be a new compliance issue for European manufacturers in every industry.

How Can SGS Help?

SGS’s 7 Paper and Packaging laboratories located in the US and Asia can provide a wide range of paper and packaging testing services (http://www.sgs.com/en/Consumer-Goods-Retail/Packaging/Testing.aspx).  All laboratories are accredited to ISO/IEC Standard 17025 and are ISTA, NMFC and UN/DOT Third Party Certified to conduct Distribution Performance Tests on filled packages and Physical Characteristics Tests on packaging materials and components in accordance with ISTA, ASTM, NMFC, TAPPI and UN/ DOT testing procedures and methods.  Our technical expertise in vibration, shock, stacking & compression and environmental conditioning capabilities as well as sustainability, chemical, biodegradability, life-cycle assessment, carbon footprint and eco-labeling capabilities are greatly reinforced and supported by engineers, chemists, biologists and ISTA certified laboratory technicians and technologists.

Please do not hesitate to contact the SGS experts for further information.

Contact details:

SGS Consumer Testing Services
Hing Wo Tsang
Information and Innovation Manager
SGS Hong Kong Ltd.

t: +852 2774 7420
Email: cts.media@sgs.com
Website: http://www.sgs.com/en/Consumer-Goods-Retail/Packaging.aspx

SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 75 000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1 500 offices and laboratories around the world.