ASTM International Committee D10 on Packaging is reactivating Subcommittee D10.19 on Recycling/Disposability. All interested parties, particularly those who are concerned and knowledgeable about worldwide packaging and recycling issues, are invited to join in the standards developing activities of D10.19.
 
Jan Gates, subcommittee chair, and principal packaging engineer at Abbott Vascular, hopes that the upcoming work of D10.19 will help to bring more consistency to marking methods for recycling/disposability throughout the world. “My interest is the number of terms, icons and ideas being developed by many countries on the identification of packaging materials for potential recycling,” says Gates. “Knowing and using environmentally responsible information for packaging, which I believe is necessary for future generations, is nearly impossible with the patchwork of regulations and proposals for a worldwide audience.”
 
In addition to working toward a more globally consistent set of symbols to use for recycling, Gates says that a long-term agenda item of the subcommittee will be to address life cycle analysis. “This is a scientific approach to materials rather than the three R’s generally used (reduce, reuse, recycle),” says Gates. “Using LCA for a packaging material allows the entire life cycle of a material to be addressed.” According to Gates, this means that the amount of energy, land, materials, and labor to produce a package material should be quantified instead of only looking at whether a material is made from a renewable resource or a recycled material.
 
 “Trained packaging engineers try to be environmentally responsible. Using the smallest, LCA efficient package is often less expensive for a company and should help the next generation,” says Gates. “It is hard to know what is correct with the patchwork of regulations and public opinions in the world. The result is often a ‘country specific’ resolution or symbol use that could conflict with other countries’ requirements. The world is growing smaller each day with companies selling products everywhere; we all need to work together for resolutions and improvements.”

For further technical information, contact Jan Gates, Abbott Vascular, Temecula, Calif. (phone: 951/914-4048; jgates@guidant.com). Committee D10 meets April 15-18, 2007, at the April Committee Week in Norfolk, Va. For membership or meeting information, contact Kevin Shanahan, manager, Technical Committee Operations, ASTM International (phone: 610/832-9737; kshanaha@astm.org).

Release #7552