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Developing the Strategy

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Packaging for Sustainability

Abstract

The commercial operating environment is increasingly demanding more sustainable products and improved environmental performance. How a business responds to this demand should be embedded within its corporate strategy. For many years, packaging has been at centre stage in political and consumer campaigns to address environmental issues. Packaging does generate environmental impacts in all stages of its life cycle however these cannot be isolated from the impacts of the product it protects. Packaging’s role in the corporate strategy should be clearly identified, by understanding the environmental life cycle of products and their packaging and relevant current or emerging environmental regulations. Packaging sustainability initiatives should optimise the product-packaging system and reduce specific environmental impacts including those of the packaging itself. This chapter outlines issues to consider in constructing the business case for investing in packaging for sustainability and, setting goals and targets for packaging’s contribution to a business’s more general sustainable development goals.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Birubi Innovation, 5 Brooklyn Avenue, Dandenong, VIC, 3175, Australia

    Leanne Fitzpatrick

  2. Centre for Design, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne, VIC, 3001, Australia

    Karli Verghese & Helen Lewis

Authors
  1. Leanne Fitzpatrick
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  2. Karli Verghese
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  3. Helen Lewis
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Leanne Fitzpatrick .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Centre for Design, RMIT University, Melbourne, 3001, Victoria, Australia

    Karli Verghese

  2. , RMIT University, Centre for Design, Melbourne, 3001, Victoria, Australia

    Helen Lewis

  3. Birubi Innovation, Brooklyn Ave 5, Dandenong, 3175, Victoria, Australia

    Leanne Fitzpatrick

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Fitzpatrick, L., Verghese, K., Lewis, H. (2012). Developing the Strategy. In: Verghese, K., Lewis, H., Fitzpatrick, L. (eds) Packaging for Sustainability. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-988-8_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-988-8_1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-0-85729-987-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-85729-988-8

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