Struggling to find the most sustainable food packaging for your company? You can customize and optimize with the UP Scorecard
Toxic chemicals are used in food packaging and many are linked to health effects, like cancer or infertility. They can also pollute our soil, air and waterways, hurting more than just the person eating from the packaging.
Companies need to remove these toxic chemicals from everyday packaging to protect their business and build consumer trust.
Procurement professionals can make small shifts for their companies by making win-win purchases. Decisions with health and the environment in mind will meet corporate social responsibility and sustainability goals along with customer expectations for safe and sustainable items.
This is where the Understanding Packaging Scorecard (UP Scorecard for short) comes in. This sustainable packaging tool rates food and beverage containers based on six environment and health metrics including water usage, carbon emissions and recoverability. The UP Scorecard is a sustainability indicator that includes a chemicals-of-concern metric: comparing what users know about chemicals in their packaging with known hazardous chemicals.
The latest beta version of the UP Scorecard, released last month, allows for customization of foodware inputs. That includes the mass, recycled content, and littering potential of components of a final food container, the distance from supplier to final user, and sourcing and composting certifications. With this customization functionality in the UP Scorecard, buyers can compare health and environmental impact scores reflecting their specific foodware options and situations.
Want to learn more?
- European food service and hospitality company SV Group is on a sustainability journey using the UP Scorecard: Challenges and opportunities of sustainable packaging: Insights from SV Group | UP Scorecard
- Companies play an integral role in eliminating chemicals in packaging. Zero Waste Europe laid it out for us last month: Marrying safety with sustainability in food packaging – Briefing for businesses – Zero Waste Europe
- EDF outlines how companies can lead on safer chemicals in their products: 5 Pillars of Leadership for Safer Chemicals
