Association of global automakers releases sustainable packaging guidance for automotive manufacturers

The Washington-based Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP), an association of global automakers and their suppliers working to advance environmental sustainability through the automotive supply chain, has published an updated guidance document, “Sustainable Packaging Specification Recommendations for Automotive Manufacturing Operations.”

According to a news release from SP, the document provides straightforward industry-supported guidance to help automakers and their suppliers source sustainable packaging designs for use in automotive manufacturing operations based on best practices that have been implemented by industry environmental sustainability leaders. The document can be downloaded for free here. 

Building on an earlier sustainable packaging guidance published by SP in 2020, this new document was produced through a collaborative process by SP’s Sustainable Materials Work Group Sustainable Packaging Sub-Team. Members of the work group include automotive original equipment manufacturers such as Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., Honda Development & Manufacturing America, Stellantis, Toyota Motor North America and their suppliers. The process to review and update the guidance was co-chaired by Magna International and Toyota Motor North America.

“Toyota is working to reduce the use of packaging and wrapping materials in our operations as we work toward our long-term goal to support a recycling-based society, and we expect our suppliers to undertake similar activities,” says Matt Marshall, a supply chain sustainability consultant at Plano, Texas-based Toyota Motor North America. “Through this collaborative project, we are working to provide tools and resources to help the industry in its drive to minimize automotive packaging waste and continually improve sustainability.”

The latest version of the guidance document includes information on the recyclability of 35 different packaging material types and designs commonly used in the automotive industry in the United States. The guidance also provides new information on common packaging attachment methods that can be detrimental to recycling as well as information on alternative designs that have viable outlets for recycling in key automotive regions. SP says this information is intended to support consideration of opportunities to minimize automotive packaging waste and address barriers to recyclability in the design phase where possible.

“When considering materials to create a packaging design it is important to think about not only the quality and performance but also the sustainability and recyclability of those material choices,” says Bridget Grewal, director of packaging continuous improvement at Ontario-based Magna International. “We brought in packaging and sustainability experts from across the value chain and developed a list of common packaging designs that can create a challenge for recycling as well as a list of alternative designs that tend to be more viably recyclable. We rely on our packaging engineers to design packaging that minimizes environmental impacts, and these new guidelines are a strong step forward in providing consistent information to help the industry source more sustainable packaging.”

The SP Sustainable Materials Work Group is recommending that the sustainable packaging strategies outlined in the guidance document be entered into automotive companies’ product sourcing considerations, where appropriate, and distributed widely across the automotive supply chain as best practice guidance.

Representatives from across the automotive value chain provide their input and review in the document, including companies such as Action Wood 360, AI Trading, Arplank Direct, Avangard Innovative, Denso Corp., Doug Brown Packaging Products, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., Green Processing Co., Honda Development & Manufacturing America, JSP, Lear Corp, Magna International, Mustang Innovation, Primex Design & Fabrication, Real Quality Services, Stellantis, Toyota Motor North America, Toyota Tsusho America and UGN.

“This was an outstanding collaborative effort bringing together automakers, tiered suppliers, packaging vendors and recyclers to work toward a shared goal of minimizing packaging waste,” says Kellen Mahoney, director at SP. “Going forward, SP intends to build on learnings from this process to promote further alignment on sustainable packaging practices across the automotive supply chain and pursue targeted opportunities to further improve packaging sustainability in support of industry sustainability goals.”