A new subcommittee (SC) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee (TC) 122, Packaging, has been formed to develop proposed environmental standards for packaging based on established European Norms (EN) and proposed Asian guidelines. U.S. involvement in these standards will be coordinated by a new American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-accredited U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to the SC.
ISO/TC 122/SC 4, Packaging and Environment, aims to develop a series of ISO standards to provide guidance on how to best utilize packaging resources while maintaining packaging functionality and considering environmental effects. The seven standards that will be included the series address general requirements, source reduction, reuse, recycling, energy recovery, chemical recovery, and organic recovery. The SC expects the standards to be approved and published in 2012.
The first meeting of the SC, held in December 2009 in Stockholm, Sweden, had strong U.S. participation. Twelve U.S. representatives attended, with Marilyn Baker of Coca-Cola serving as head of the U.S. delegation. Seven Working Groups (WGs) were formed to develop the proposed standards, and each will have a Convenor and Project Leader. U.S. representatives will be serving in three of those leadership roles.
Interested U.S. stakeholders are encouraged to get involved through MH10.4, the U.S. TAG to SC 4 that is being administrated by the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA), an ANSI member and accredited standards developer. MH10.4 has formed seven Task Groups (TGs) to pursue U.S. work on each of the standards. The TAG is currently soliciting additional subject matter experts with an interest in serving as active participants in the Task Groups.
For more information or to participate in one of the U.S. Task Groups, contact Mike Ogle (mogle@mhia.org).
