• Is beneficial, safe & healthy for individuals and communities throughout its life cycle;
• Meets market criteria for performance and cost;
• Is sourced, manufactured, transported, and recycled using renewable energy;
• Maximizes the use of renewable or recycled source materials;
• Is manufactured using clean production technologies and best practices;
• Is made from materials healthy in all probable end of life scenarios;
• Is physically designed to optimize materials and energy;
• Is effectively recovered and utilized in biological and/or industrial cradle to cradle cycles.

The criteria presented here blend broad sustainability objectives with business considerations and strategies that address the environmental concerns related to the life cycle of packaging. These criteria relate to the activities of our membership and define the areas in which we actively seek to encourage transformation, innovation and optimization. We believe that by successfully addressing these criteria, packaging can be transformed into a cradle to cradle flow of packaging materials in a system that is economically robust and provides benefit throughout the life cycle—a sustainable packaging system.

For additional definitions/information regarding the above criteria, please visit the SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING COALITION’S WEB SITE: WWW.SUSTAINABLEPACKAGING.COM