December 20, 2020 by MMinspect
At the 2017 Singapore Packaging Agreement Awards, Nestlé Singapore received the 10th Anniversary Special Achievement Award and the Top Achievement Award (MNC) for their “consistent and outstanding performance in reducing packaging waste,” with Unilever Singapore winning the Merit Award. These are just two of the 16 MNCs and SMEs that received the SPA Awards this year. In addition, spa and SPA prices clearly indicate that consumer awareness and education about waste is as important as reducing packaging and waste at the manufacturing level. But in 2016, only one of the 20 laureates showed consumer-focused awareness or information work. The PPP is a joint capacity development program that will help businesses meet their new obligations under the mandatory packaging reporting framework from January 1, 2021 and allow for the exchange of best practices in sustainable packaging waste management. The SPA is a good start for reducing Singapore`s packaging waste. Over the past 10 years, BSG signatories have together reduced nearly 39,000 tonnes of packaging waste and saved US$93 million “in equipment costs for locally consumed products.” Now that there is a mandatory packaging report to be implemented by 2021, companies must submit an annual report on the amount of packaging they put on the market and on their plans to reduce their packaging waste. Reference criteria for packaging weight (“Lightest,” “Median” and “Heaviest”) have been established to allow companies to compare the weight of their product packaging with that of similar products and to enable them to identify the potential for improvement in their design and use of materials. This knowledge allows companies to check their packaging designs, practices and/or processes to identify opportunities for improvement. Lim stated that as of July 2007-2012, there were 139 SPA signatories who managed to reduce 10,000 tonnes of packaging waste, saving Singapore $22 million over five years.
In his speech to the Tokyo Pack 2018 in Japan (2-5 October), Albert Lim, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SPA, said that a task force was created in January 2007 to deal with the problem of packaging waste in Singapore.
