Dupont Sustainable Packaging Expanding to Multiple Market Segments

Sustainable packaging is a growing and important focus area for DuPont and demand continues to grow across multiple sectors despite the economy.

02/06/09 A diverse group of businesses in multiple market segments are turning to sustainable packaging solutions to improve the environmental profile of their product offerings, according to DuPont as the company announced the winners of the 21st DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation at the industry's first online interactive exchange on sustainable packaging. Winners include well-known brands such as Estee Lauder, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Conagra for food, pharmaceutical, personal care and other packaging segments.

"Sustainable packaging is a growing and important focus area for DuPont and demand continues to grow across multiple sectors despite the economy," said William F. Weber, vice president and general manager -- DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers. "At DuPont, we work with consumer goods companies to minimize packaging content and improve environmental performance, as well as to be more cost effective. This year's award submissions also demonstrated a focus on source reduction, which provides the double benefit of an improved product environmental profile and cost reduction." 

During the event, members of the program's independent jury panel provided their perspectives on the achievements of 10 winners from a diverse cross-section of food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and other packaging segments. Julian Carroll, managing director of the European Organization for Packaging and the Environment (EUROPEN), led an interactive session on issues arising from lack of consensus on standards for reporting sustainability of packaging. Ronald Cotterman, executive director of sustainability for Sealed Air Corporation, led a session on future post-use solutions for packaging after it has fulfilled its primary purpose of protecting food and other products. The event has been archived and is available by registering at: click here.

"To reduce the event's environmental footprint, DuPont is using web-based technology for the award ceremonies and related activities taking place at the DuPont Sustainable Packaging Exchange. This enables the entire industry to learn from winners of this year's DuPont Awards, which focuses on breakthroughs in sustainable packaging and to interact with industry experts. This is aligned with DuPont's commitment to help reduce the environmental footprint of the value chains where we participate," added Weber.

The DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation is the industry's longest running, independently judged global awards program honoring packaging materials, technology and service innovations. The program has a special emphasis on recognizing innovations that demonstrate sustainable packaging breakthroughs. This year's panel was facilitated by Anne Johnson, director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. Over 120 entries were received from around the world.