PAC NEXT PROJECTS

Project 090811 – 1000

Date of Issue: September 8, 2011
Name: Policy Best Practices That Support Harmonization
Co-chairs: Scott Cassel, Product Stewardship Institute; Carol Patterson, TDL Group

Summary Statement
A variety of global policies and legislative approaches exist to improve packaging material recovery, with mixed success.

This project is designed to develop a fact base of global best practices related to EPR and other recovery policies – enabling PAC NEXT to become a trusted resource to federal, provincial, state and municipal governments in the development of proactive policies.

Objectives

• Develop a fact base of global best practices related to EPR and other recovery policies, with a focus on measurable cost, quality and quantity metrics

• Coordinate efforts and outcomes with complementary initiatives (i.e. SPC)

• Provide PAC NEXT members with insights into policies that have worked elsewhere and facilitate industry consultation with governments on issues relating to resource recovery

• Recommend best practice solutions for policy to help with education and harmonization with a goal of reducing cost and regulatory complexity.

Timing
The Technical Committee co-chairs will present detailed project plans and progress to date at the October 18th meeting. All projects are expected to run no longer than 18 months.

Project 090811 – 2000

Date of Issue: September 8, 2011
Name: System Optimization
Co-chairs: Al Metauro, Cascade Recovery; Norm Lee, Region of Peel

Summary Statement
The fragmented origins of the current material recovery system have led to considerable lack of harmonization and consistent infrastructure support, which together impacts the cost, quality and quantity of recovered materials.

This project is designed to better understand critical aspects of the current system, and develop recommendations for improving how we transition resources from the curb to viable recovery marketplaces.

Objectives

• Review current collection and recovery systems to identify issues and opportunities.

• Establish a baseline process map of how the recovery process and supporting infrastructure function today.

• Propose recommendations to improve the current process and optimize current infrastructure.

• Propose recommendations for future cost effective infrastructure investment to optimize process efficiency.

Timing
The Technical Committee co-chairs will present detailed project plans and progress to date at the October 18th meeting. All projects are expected to run no longer than 18 months.

Project 090811 – 3000

Date of Issue: September 8, 2011
Project Name: Material Optimization
Co-Chairs: Angela Dennis, Nestle Canada; John Wilson, E.I. DuPont Canada

Project Summary Statement
Many materials that could be recovered are ending up in landfill.

This project will develop strategies to identify and improve recovery of high impact materials, as well as increase the value and utility of recovered materials.

Project Objectives

• Prioritize high impact materials that are not currently recovered and recycled effectively based on quantifiable data (i.e. Blue Box, MSW and other relevant data sources).

• Identify industry challenges that affect recovery (i.e. materials that may impact the efficient recycling of materials that are easily recycled).

• Develop strategies to improve the efficient recovery of high impact materials; for example, through pilot solutions such as alternative materials, additives or an industry position on specific materials.

• Develop next life strategies for the recovered materials to increase their value (i.e. recycling, up-cycling, composting, sustainable end markets, etc.)

Timing
The Technical Committee co-chairs will present detailed project plans and progress to date at the October 18th meeting. All projects are expected to run no longer than 18 months.

Project 090811 – 4000

Date of Issue: September 8, 2011
Name: Consumer Engagement
Co-chair: Dave Pullar, Safeway; George Tzogas

Summary Statement
Consumer attitudes and behaviors are critical to reducing packaging waste.

This project will identify, assimilate, and generate insights to consumer attitudes and behaviors as they relate to decisions around packaging from product purchase decisions through to disposal decisions. The project will first leverage existing insights that are available to PAC NEXT from various existing sources (member companies, public studies, articles). Generating insights through primary consumer research may be required if knowledge gaps exist in key areas.  

The goal of this project is to identify the key drivers and barriers that influence consumer actions when discarding packaging material. A plan to take any action such as creating awareness programs or other interventions would be the topic of a follow-up project and would engage the appropriate stakeholders.

Objectives
• Identify consumer attitudes and behaviors about packaging when making product purchase decisions.
• Identify consumer attitudes and behaviors when they are finished with packaging materials (discard, recycle, reuse.).
• Identify knowledge gaps about consumer behaviors that might require further investigation.
• Organized collected consumer insights and generate key observations.      
• Develop an action plan to engage appropriate stakeholders to develop intervention programs that will educate and inform consumers and engage them in the process of effectively recovering packaging material. (Could include: municipalities, brands, retailers, PAC etc.)

Timing
The Technical Committee co-chairs will present detailed project plans and progress to date at the October 18th meeting. All projects are expected to run no longer than 18 months.

Project 090811 – 5000

Date of Issue: September 8, 2011
Project Name: Sustainable Innovation Center of Excellence
Co-Chairs: Alison Wells, Loblaws Inc.; Chris Leys, Jones Packaging Inc.

Project Summary Statement
New packaging materials and additives are constantly being introduced into the market with little research done on end-of-life implications. These new packaging innovations may have unintended consequences on our ability to recover and/or recycle high impact materials.

This project will take a fact-based approach to providing industry with a line of sight to emerging packaging trends and an early warning system that helps to avoid system inefficiencies that can result in higher costs and more discarded material going to landfill.

Objectives

• Develop a technical process to review packaging innovations to assess their environmental impact as well as their impact on current end-of-life systems to anticipate and avoid negative impacts.

• Develop a fact-based, scientifically rigorous resource base that can help inform industry positions on new materials and processes (i.e. via a panel of experts, a database or other elements that can support packaging professionals).

Timing
The Technical Committee co-chairs will present detailed project plans and progress to date at the October 18th meeting. All projects are expected to run no longer than 18 months.