Ensuring Trust in Green Packaging Claims
With its proposal on the Green Claims Directive, the European Commission aims to make green claims reliable and verifiable across the EU, protect consumers against misleading claims and foster fair competition.
Metal Packaging Europe (MPE) supports the European Commission's initiative and believes claims should be fact-based, substantiated, and use the latest available data.
The European Commission highlights the concerns of the consumers: “Today it is difficult for consumers to make sense of the many labels on the environmental performance of products (both goods and services) and companies. Some environmental claims are unreliable, and consumers' trust in them is extremely low. Consumers can be misled, and companies can give a false impression of their environmental impacts or benefits - a practice known as greenwashing. With a proposed new legislation on green claims, the EU is taking action to address greenwashing and protect consumers, and the environment. Ensuring that environmental labels and claims are credible and trustworthy will allow consumers to make better-informed purchasing decisions. It will also boost the competitiveness of businesses striving to increase the environmental sustainability of their products and activities.”¹
In line with our dedication to evidence-based sustainability communication, MPE and Steel for Packaging Europe (SfPE) reviewed two IFEU studies² comparing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of various food packaging formats, namely multi-layer cartons and steel cans. An independent third-party³ evaluation was commissioned to assess whether these studies align with ISO 14040-44 standards for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), ISO 14026 for footprint communication, and the proposed directive.
The independent review identified critical limitations in data quality, including an outdated proxy for steel cans and an exaggeration of carton recycling credits stating that “In our opinion, there are some relevant limitations on data quality and methodology that could negatively affect the reliability and robustness of comparisons for the analysed packaging systems”. The evaluation also concludes that “…there are some important items that make the communication not completely compliant with the ISO standard 14026 and the EU proposal for Green Claims Directive”.
📖 The full third-party review of the IFEU studies is available here. A PDF version of this note is available here.
MPE and SfPE reaffirm the importance of using transparent, evidence-based environmental claims to support consumer decisions and enhance sustainability in packaging. It’s important to know all the facts to understand rigid metal packaging!
1 https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/circular-economy/green-claims_en
2 IFEU, 2017. Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of shelf-stable canned food packaging, Final Report. Heidelberg, December 2017. IFEU, 2020. Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Tetra Pak® carton packages and alternative packaging systems for beverages and liquid food on the European market. Final report. Heidelberg, March 9, 2020.
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Steel Packaging Facts:
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Recycling Performance
- Steel packaging is among the most recycled packaging materials in Europe with a recycling rate of 80.5%¹
- Steel is a permanent material and the perfect packaging for a circular economy:
- Circular Champion: Steel can be recycled without any loss of quality. A circular resource and the ideal packaging choice to reduce waste.
- Easy to Recycle: Steel is easy to sort and recycle due to its magnetic properties.
- Superior Recyclability Performance: Steel packaging's ambition is to advance recycling further and remain a circularity champion across Europe.
- Efficient and Circular: The recycling process saves raw materials, reduces energy consumption, and prevents waste and emissions².
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Food Waste Prevention
- Optimal protection: Steel packaging protects against light, water, and air, ensuring product integrity without requiring refrigeration.
- Long-lasting freshness: The fruit and vegetables destined for food cans are packaged shortly after harvesting, ensuring freshness and nutritional values.
- Superior shelf life: Steel packaging is tamper, shock, and puncture resistant, providing exceptional durability for up to five years, with no added preservatives!
- Practical and reliable: Stackable design and incredible strength make steel cans the perfect solution to minimise product loss from farm to table.
- Quality and transparency: A packaging format with an established and proud history that consumers trust. 81% of European consumers responding to a survey believe the food can is a robust packaging type that guarantees food safety.³
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Performance
- Cans are lightweight: 46% lighter than 30 years ago, yet they remain robust, stackable, and versatile.
- Optimal performance: High-speed filling and excellent resistance during handling, transport, and storage deliver efficiency across the supply chain.
- Shelf impact: High-quality print and decoration options in a wide range of shapes and sizes ensure brand differentiation.
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Sustainability
- Official LCA data for cans: Providing fact-based and unambiguous information on our industry continues to be a part of Metal Packaging Europe’s commitments. Our latest LCA⁴ is publicly available here.
- Steel is traded as a global commodity: There is an endless open-end market for steel scrap, in contrast to some other materials, and high demand for scrap as a secondary raw material.
- Decarbonisation: Our LCA demonstrates a significant reduction in GHG emissions, supporting the European steel industry's ambition to cut carbon emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels (equivalent to over -30% compared to 2018 levels), and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.⁵
1 https://metalpackagingeurope.org/article/steel-packaging-europe-confirms-new-recycling-record
2 https://metalpackagingeurope.org/sustainability
3 IPSOS Consumer Food Packaging Survey
5 https://www.eurofer.eu/issues/climate-and-energy/maps-of-key-low-carbon-steel-projects
About Metal Packaging Europe (MPE)
MPE gives Europe's rigid metal packaging industry a unified voice by bringing together manufacturers, suppliers, and national associations (metalpackagingeurope.org). Our members produce over 140 billion cans annually, supporting 66,000 direct jobs in Europe across 350 sites. For further information: info@mpe-eu.com.