The three pillars of sustainable development:

- Economic pillar:

The packaging industry is the seventh worldwide industry in terms of sales with €500 bn per annum. The sectors using the largest amount of packaging are the food industry (40%), the health and beauty industries (22%) followed by the car and aviation industries².

In France, the packaging industry (i.e. manufacturers of plastic, paper and cardboard, wood, metal and glass packaging) contributes to about 1% of the GDP. The turnover of the sector is €20.7 bn representing 3% of the total sales of the manufacturing industry³. Together with the manufacturers of packaging machinery, this sector represents a total €22.4 bn in turnover.

Key figures of the French industry (2006)⁴

- Social and sociological pillar:

The packaging industry accounts for 103,720 jobs and around 4% of the number of employees in the manufacturing industry.

Key figures of the French industry (2006)

There is a close relationship between a country’s gross national product per capita and its household waste production therefore including packaging. This phenomenon is linked to different factors, one of them being increasing urbanization. In recent years, there appears to be a slight decoupling between the production of wealth (measured by the indicator of Gross Domestic Product) and the production of packaging waste, whether in Europe or France.
The factors accounting for this decoupling are the continuous improvement of companies towards economic efficiency, the effect of the choice of material in product packaging, the consumption effect when the budget allocated to mass-consumption products tends to be reduced in favor of often unavoidable expenses such as housing, heating and dematerialized services (Internet subscription, mobile phone, etc.).
In order to reduce the amount of waste, it is thus necessary to optimize packaging through waste avoidance and find new waste management methods. This niche is likely to keep creating jobs.

Relationship between household waste collection and global gross domestic product⁵

Decoupling between packaging tonnage and economic growth in Europe (1998/2006 trends)⁶

Decoupling between packaging tonnage and economic growth in France (1998/2006 trends)⁷

Functions available to consumers

Each year, 100 billion pieces of household packaging are used in France. They provide multiple functions essential to products as well as consumers and professionals: protection, conservation, hygiene, information, presentation, grouping products together for transport and storage, contributing to the user-friendliness of the product (opening, dosage, re-closing, etc.). Due to its functions and a match between the sales unit price and the buying power of consumers, packaging also allows the largest number to have access to consumer products.

The amount of packaging increases in rhythm with the growth of the population and the growth of households - which is above that of the population and with changing lifestyles, needs and expectations in France. The packaging consumption is linked to several factors such as the declining household size (34.7% of households were composed of a single person and 6.2% had 5 people or more in 2008⁸), the development of women's work, food industrialization, the rise of supermarkets, the increasing urbanization, changing lifestyles, nutritional balance and health, economic constraints, time management, the importance of recreation and related activities.

Number of households by family structure (1999/2006)

Number of households by family structure (1999/2006)⁹

In 1950, one third of the world population lived in urban areas. Nowadays, the population is equally distributed between urban and rural areas and in 2050 the urban population will account for 6 billion people out of a total 9 billion . This means that places where consumer products are produced will be increasingly remote from places where products are consumed. Packaging, therefore, through its various functions (transportation, storage, fitting to needs, etc.) is the bridge between production areas and social spaces of consumption.

Urban and rural populations of the world, 1950-2050¹¹

Eating habits have also changed. The French eat less often at home, do not eat at set times as much as in the past and reduced their daily number of meals while increasing the amount of food intake during the day. In the Paris area and in major cities, 65% of the working people regularly have “take-away” meals¹²; a proliferation of places of consumption is taking place. Consumers spend less time on meals (one hour and thirty eight minutes in 2008, against two hours in 1965) and the time spent preparing meals is now only 13 minutes against 60 twenty years ago. There is also an increase in processed products at the expense of basic commodities.

- Environmental pillar:

Because it adapted to our lifestyles, because of its essential product-protecting functions and its safety to consumers, because its service functions throughout the supply chain are valued, packaging is the embodiment of our consumer society. However, it turns out to be a burden in its second life, once emptied of its contents. While deemed respectful of the 3 pillars of sustainable development, packaging is singled out once it has become waste or at least, what is to become of it, after it has served its purpose, raises numerous questions

In 2009 packaging amounted to 5.2 million tonnes, i.e. 21% of household waste and about 50% in volume, which represents only a small part of the overall amount of waste in France. Indeed, garbage accounts for 3% of the total waste production in France. Household packaging waste represents 0.6% of all waste.

Proportion of household packaging waste in total waste production in France¹³

Packaging avoids wasting products (food, cosmetics etc.) because, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), up to 50% of agricultural and food products may be lost in developing countries for lack of adequate packaging.

Its protection functions increase safety by eliminating risks of microbiological contamination, allowing storage, ensuring the sterility of pharmaceutical and medical products or guaranteeing a safe shipment of hazardous materials.

It is the role of the packaging industry to be innovative, especially through eco-design and prevention through source reduction in accordance with current standards in order to ensure optimal waste management and waste end of life with a view to minimize the impact on the environment.

The actions of the CNE

The approach the CNE has adopted since it was founded in 1997, so as to follow the evolution of packaged goods consumption, widely anticipated the debate on sustainable consumption opened in 2001 by the European Commission and more recently by the Grenelle de l’environnement, France’s Environment Round Table.

The mission of the CNE is to develop and disseminate better practices in designing, using and marketing consumer products packaging. As it is historically active in the development of a packaging prevention policy, the CNE more generally wishes to be a spearhead in the development of a responsible policy relative to the eco-design of consumer products.

Eco-conception results from this prevention with a view to develop products in accordance with the principles of sustainable development, taking into account the environmental and socio-economic impacts throughout the life cycle of the product (from the extraction of raw materials to its recovery at the end of its life).

¹ Resolution A/RES/42/187 of the UN General Assembly.
² Fabrice Peltier, founder of the Designpack Gallery.
³ Temporary data, 2007, Sessi (Statistics Survey Center).
⁴ Source : http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/
⁵ Cyclope 2006 : Overview of the worldwide waste.
⁶ Europen
⁷ Eco-Emballages
⁸ Insee
⁹ INSEE
¹⁰ ONU Habitat
¹¹ http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wup2007/2007WUP_Highlights_web.pdf
¹² Credoc
¹³ Eco-Emballages