By Heather Barton

April 19, 2010 – The United Parcel Service (UPS) has become the first carrier to provide a sustainability evaluation program for its customer’s transport packaging, along with a logo to be displayed on those that meet program criteria.

UPS’s Package Engineering Group, known for its expertise in transport packaging materials, conducts the new Eco Responsible Packaging Program.  With third-party verification to ensure standards represent best practice, the program will be based on three areas of sustainability: damage prevention, correct package sizing, and materials used.  For participating customers, the visibility of the SGS/UPS logo will help raise day-to-day awareness about conservation and stewardship.    

Customers who commit to sustainable packaging solutions must properly protect contents in the first shipment to avoid remanufacturing and reshipping, cutting their carbon footprint in half.  Customers must also use appropriately sized packaging, meaning fewer materials and assets used in the process.  Finally, customers must use materials with a more sustainable profile, such as paper shreds vs. styrofoam peanuts.  Each area is scored separately and the customer must meet all three criteria in order to qualify.   

Methods for the rigorous packaging assessment are verified by the Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS), an inspection and certification company whose logo will appear alongside UPS’s on qualifying packages.  The service is also receiving praise from the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) and global sustainability consultancy Business for Social Responsibility (BSR). 

Helping customers and ultimately businesses to “green up” their supply chain, Bob Stoffel, Senior VP of Engineering, Strategy, Supply Chain and Sustainability at UPS said, “Our engineers have always directed out customers to use the right kind of packaging to protect their goods, [and now] this service gives our customers a new way to demonstrate that they are serious about sustainability when it comes to shipment packaging.”