Sustainable Packaging Alliance

The Australian-based Sustainable Packaging Alliance aims to be an international focal point for knowledge, tools and expertise that catalyse and facilitate continuous improvement in the environmental performance and sustainability of packaging systems. Through these capabilities, SPA aims to contribute to the positioning of Australia as an international leader in commercial application and adoption of sustainable packaging systems.

The SPA provided a definition of sustainable packaging, naming four principles:

1. Effective: provide social and economic benefits.
2. Efficient: provide benefits by using materials, energy and water as efficiently as possible.
3. Cyclic: be recoverable through industrial or natural systems.
4. Clean: non-polluting and non-toxic.

In one of its papers, Towards Sustainable Packaging, the SPA illustrated several strategies for addressing environmental considerations in packaging.