Sustainability nonprofit GreenBlue has added a new service to its Advisory Services offerings—a standardized packaging design assessment.
Companies interested in designing more sustainable packaging can now take advantage of this service to receive an environmental life cycle profile of new packaging formats or an overall assessment of their current packaging portfolios to identify opportunities for improvement. GreenBlue will leverage its COMPASS (Comparative Packaging Assessment) software tool to perform these assessments.
"While companies can purchase COMPASS licenses for use by their internal design teams, this new Advisory Services option offers a convenient alternative to companies that do not have large packaging portfolios or do not have internal life cycle assessment capabilities but want to take a holistic approach in their design decision making," says Katherine O'Dea, GreenBlue's senior director of advisory services and innovation.
The new package design analysis service is being offered for primary or secondary packaging options. Using validated, generic industry life cycle data, the assessment will account for environmental impacts associated with the materials and processes used to bring packaging to market, while allowing decision makers to incorporate environmental parameters alongside economic factors. The confidential assessment will be based on a set of consumption, emissions and packaging attribute metrics. The report generated, which will include a brief comparative sustainability assessment with dashboard graphics of up to four proposed designs, will provide an excellent tool to educate customers about a company's sustainability efforts.
"The COMPASS assessment method and data have been thoroughly vetted by independent verification and member companies of GreenBlue's Sustainable Packaging Coalition, and are supported by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency. COMPASS helps incorporate life cycle thinking into the packaging decision process," says Minal Mistry, GreenBlue's senior manager for sustainable solutions and the tool's primary architect.
GreenBlue Advisory Services helps business leaders embrace sustainability by applying a deep understanding of sustainability to each company's particular needs to develop innovative yet practical sustainability solutions. Launched in 2010, Advisory Services complements GreenBlue's sector approach to making product's more sustainable. While that industry approaches allows GreenBlue to drive broad change, its Advisory Services engagements allows the organization to deepen its impact on industry by providing one-on-one sustainability guidance to companies. Under O'Dea's leadership, Advisory Services clients to date have included major brands like Clorox, Coca-Cola, NASA, Nike and SC Johnson.
