Page 43 - FINAT Yearbook 2012

Mark Macaré (FINAT) and Petri Tani (C4G) at the FINAT recycling desk accent at Labelexpo Europe 2011
for regulators. In the absence of European legislation for food contact materials, the packaging chain and EUPIA, the European Printing Inks association, have published a number of self-commitments. CEPI’s Industry Guidelines is one example of such initiatives.
However, the lack of harmonised legislation has seen individual countries take initiative, most notably with the Swiss and German Ordinance. The Swiss Ordinance came into force in 2010 and contains Positive Lists of substances in printing inks, with migration limits for the ingredients. An updated Annex was published in 2011, with shifts in migration limits and efforts from the industry to provide information to the Swiss authorities.
The German Ordinance was first introduced end of 2010, again based on the basis of a positive list for ink
ingredients. However, strong objections from the industry have led to a new draft in 2011, with work still ongoing at the moment. Still, once it comes into force, this would be the first individual EU member state regulation for Packaging Inks, and it will be interesting to see whether it might act as a precedent.
Although food packaging incidents have so far thankfully not happened in our industry, it is very important to stay abreast of the latest development here. FINAT is represented with the CITPA board, and its Environmental and Product Safety committees. In addition, FINAT was present at CEPI’s Paperweek and the PIRA Food Packaging conference at the end of 2011.
GLOBAL PACKAGING PROJECT
September 2011 saw the release of the Global Protocol on Packaging Sustainability, in which FINAT was involved.
The aim of the Protocol is to help companies reduce the environmental impact of their packaging by providing a common language to address a range of business questions about packaging sustainability either within a company or between business partners. That common language consists of a framework and a measurement system. The framework entitled A Global Language
for Packaging Sustainability was first published in June 2010. The metrics presented in the Protocol published in 2011 deliver the measurement system. The Protocol was designed collectively by a diverse group of retailers and manufacturers aided by packaging material suppliers and packaging. Manufacturers.
Use of the Protocol is free of charge from the project website: http://globalpackaging.mycgforum.com/
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FINAT YEARBOOK 2012 |