Luke CoxEnvirowise Eco Design Specialist

Eco Design – Product and Packaging

E-mail : luke.cox@envirowise.gov.uk

Tel: 0870 190 5009

Envirowise is …

A government funded programme dedicated to putting sustainability at the heart of UK business practice

offering UK businesses:

• free, confidential, practical advice

Aims to:

• increase resource efficiency

• reduce environmental impact

• save money

What we have

What we are using

What we would use if everyone lived like the British

Resource Efficiency (RE)

Reducing consumption of raw materials and utilities.

Incorporates waste minimisation, cleaner technology, product re-design and energy efficiency.

Business performance

improved

Reduces environmental

impact

Envirowise operates towards top of waste hierarchy

Best Environmental Option

Elimination

Reduction

Reuse

Recycling

Disposal

Resource Efficiency

Why Bother?• Waste costs £15 billion/year• Waste and resource costs escalating• Can account for 4 % turnover• Supply chain pressure on increase• Public want to see improvements• Climate change / sustainability core business issues

successful initiatives to address the above will not only save money but will;

• Develop PR opportunities and

• Build strong sustainable partnerships

Resource Efficiency Support - Envirowise

Objectives

To reduce UK business impact on the environment

whilst …

Making financial savings

Saving to date – over £1 billion

…by providing

• Advice Line 0800 585794• Free advice• Publications• Web and IT Tools www.envirowise.gov.uk• Workshops & seminars

Advice Line

• Gateway to Envirowise Freephone 0800 585794

• Any resource efficiency question

• Up to 2 hours free specialist advice

• Signposting to other sources of information

• Requests for publications

Eco-Design – What is it?

• Nothing more than intelligent design

• It assesses the whole life-cycle of the product/packaging

• Identifies areas of financial and environmental opportunity

• Develops new products which are ‘better’

- Use less materials - Use less energy

- Easier to recycle - Legislative compliance

Packaging Legislation e.g. Producer Responsibility (Packaging Waste) Regulation and Packaging Essential Requirements

Why Eco-Design?

General benefits of Cleaner Design for UK business include:

• The rise of the ‘green consumer’

• Enhanced corporate image

• Customer satisfaction

- Overall product quality and performance increased through innovation

• Carbon focus in the media – PR opportunities

• Improved community relations

• Recognition

Drivers from the media

Cleaner Packaging Designs

Lush – Popcorn PackagingBritish cosmetics company Lush use edible popcorn instead of polystyrene chips to keep fragile items intact in the post. Popcorn is made from a renewable source and is far more biodegradable than polystyrene or paper.

Cleaner Packaging

Wolf Blass 750ml PET Wine Bottle

Lightweight @ 54g compared to 400g for glass.

Could reduce carbon emissions by 90,000 tonnes per year.

PET wine is also bottled in the UK rather than at source, this means nearly twice the amount of wine can be transported per container. Bulk shipping also reduces the environmental impact of transportation.

Moving wine bottles from glass to PET could significantly contribute to Sainsbury's new target of reducing CO2 emissions by 25% by 2012

The role of design – why is it important?

• 80% of the cost of product set at the design stage

• 93% of production materials not used in the final product

• 80% of products discarded after a single use

• Design decisions will affect the whole lifecycle from the manufacture and use to the disposal of a product

Case Study - Belkin Computer Hardware

Paper: 18,160kg of Savings

Plastic: 2,480 kg of Savings

CO2 reduction: 104 tCO2

Potential cost savings are in excess

of £700,000 per annum

After

Before

Virgin Vie at Home

Packaging redesign workshop on selection of products.

Potential savings:£114,500, 37t packaging, 61 tCO2.

Currently, £100,400 per annum saved through redesign.

How Envirowise Eco-Design can help UK Business

• Publications

• Workshops and seminars

• Telephone advice – Advice Line Tel: 0800 585794

• Webinar - Wednesday 25 February 2009

“Practical Approaches for Eco-Design” www.envirowise.gov.uk/webinar

•Packaging tool - www.envirowise.gov.uk/pack-in

• dE-zine e-bulletin

•www.envirowise.gov.uk

Pack-In – The packaging indicator tool for eco-design

• User-friendly tool to compare packaging designs and assess environmental impact

• Piloted with Mars Snackfood

• Quick and easy assessment of primary, secondary, tertiary or returnable packaging

• At present - In the final testing stages with other, non-food, companies and other BSO’s

Thank-you