| Posted September
15, 2005, article reprinted with permission from :
The Soil Association, the UK's main charity
promoting organic food and farming, is starting a year-long
project to minimize packaging waste from organic products.
As national "organic week" gets underway
on Saturday, the Soil Association has been provided
with £186,000 in funding from the Waste and Resources
Action Programme to improve the sector's waste credentials.
Sales of organic food have increased from just £1
million ten years ago to over £1 billion a year
at present. It is illegal to sell any product as organic
if it hasn't been certified by an organization such
as the Soil Association, but to date the organization's
organic standards have only recommended good practice
in relation to packaging.
The new work will develop standards that require the
environmental impact of all packaging to be considered
in qualifying products for certification.
Reduce
Francis Blake, the Soil Association's standards and
technical director, said: "Packaging plays a vital
role in marketing, and ensures products reach the consumer
in optimum condition. But at the end of its useful life,
packaging becomes waste and we need to reduce this to
the minimum."
Mr Blake added that organic consumers feel strongly
about the issue of packaging in terms of the environmental
impact of their own buying activities. "We are
delighted that this funding will allow us to at last
look at packaging issues," he said.
Pilot projects on the reduction of packaging waste are
being undertaken by Soil Association licensees Duchy
Originals, Green & Black's and Sheepdove Organic
Farm.
After a wide-ranging consultation process and final
approval by the Soil Association's council, the new
standards will be introduced alongside an accompanying
guide.
This article reprinted with permission from .
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