Working with ECR and businesses to create guidelines to sustainable packaging for e-commerce

2023-07-28 16:00 2023

The developers conducted an analysis of the Russian packaging processing and disposal industry. Based on this analysis, they outlined measures aimed at reducing waste in the rapidly growing delivery market.

These guidelines will help stakeholders understand various aspects of packaging sustainability, better navigate the types and materials of packaging, and ultimately choose functional packaging with optimal recyclability.

The working group included e-commerce services (Yandex, Lamoda, Ozon), retail chains (Azbuka Vkusa, Lenta, Magnit, METRO Russia, X5 Group), product manufacturers (Unilever and LAB Industries), and experts in packaging production and recycling (EcoPartners, Gotek, Lesnoy Etalon, Razdelny Sobor, SIBUR, Sobirator).

Representatives from EcoTechnologies, part of EcoPartners, co-authored the document: Olga Stadnik, the head of the EcoTechLab Research Center, and Ravil Fekhretdinov, the R&D director.

"As recyclers, we helped our colleagues from ECR and businesses primarily evaluate the polymer materials used in remote commerce. We examined them from the perspective of recyclability and collectability. We are very pleased that businesses are willing to improve packaging from an environmental standpoint, and we fully support this initiative. Remote commerce has become an integral part of our lives, especially in the past couple of years. It is convenient, cost-effective, and, most importantly, the packaging used for delivery can be more environmentally friendly and sustainable than it is today," commented Olga Stadnik, the head of the EcoTechLab Research Center.

The full text of the Recommendations is available here. We have also published brief overviews, examples, and counterexamples in our Telegram channel.