Dive Brief:
- The Sustainable Packaging Coalition is launching a collaborative — the group structure SPC uses to bring members together to take defined action on clear challenges in the industry — focused on inclusion and representation in packaging.
- “One of the things we've said about not being performative and being action-based is we want to have real metrics,” said Paul Nowak, executive director of GreenBlue, the organization that runs SPC. The group said solutions that advance equity could take the form of scholarships to attend SPC events, reallocating consumer education dollars to underrepresented communities and creating a mentorship network.
- The inaugural July 17 meeting is open to any SPC member. SPC expects the steering committee will consist of about 10 people, which will hopefully have a diverse mix of packaging engineers, creatives, procurement professionals and other skill sets, said Sheila Anzures, manager for SPC stakeholder engagement.
Dive Insight:
SPC has other member collaboratives focused on reusable packaging, chemical recycling, flexible packaging recovery and packaging policy, to name a few. Each has a “problem statement.” For the inclusion and representation initiative, the statement is: “Disenfranchised communities have been marginalized in sustainability conversations, denying these communities representation and the opportunity to contribute to sustainability solutions.”
Nowak said the decision to launch this collaborative was driven in part by members calling for a better way to bring innovative new voices — and specifically, those historically left out — into sustainable packaging. He also heard from MRF operators that said it can be hard to achieve recycling at scale when packaging solutions don’t take all types of communities into account.
One example is that brands often aim packaging with new recycled or compostable materials, and related consumer research and messaging, at the “bleeding edge” sustainability audience, Nowak said.
“Frankly, the language around climate change, and recyclability isn't always the best language to use for those communities to meet them where they are and to make it as easy as possible,” Nowak said.
Anzures is the point person at SPC for the new collaborative. The collaborative will be co-led by SPC member Camille Corr Chism, who is the founder and owner of Indigo Packaging and Consulting.
“My vision for the Collaborative is to develop and recognize talent, leaders, and packaging experts that reflect global diversity,” Chism said in the announcement. “Additionally, my vision for the future includes educating students about the field of packaging, recruiting, and bringing packaging alive to the best and the brightest in all communities.”
Multiple packaging companies report workforce and leadership diversity metrics in sustainability reports. Awareness of the “social” aspects of ESG and its prominence in business rose in the wake of 2020, in large part after the police murder of George Floyd and activism that followed. But ESG and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have also faced more pushback recently.
Nowak said that “anti-wokeness” is being leveraged politically. There seems to have been a “pendulum shift,” he said, “and you can feel that in budgets and organizations and how they're working. And we're committed as an organization to not allow that to be in our space.”
Nowak said that if a member wants to take action but is having a hard time doing so within their own organization, where ESG-related departments may be under fire, then working through SPC could provide an important avenue.
“People who have had to fight for basic freedoms and rights to survive — that's a problem-solving skill set, right?” said Nowak. “Those are people we should want in the packaging space, and specifically in the climate change, sustainability space. Because we have problems to solve.”
