The Earth is Getting Greener

• A new survey of 12,000 consumers in six countries worldwide shows that 76% of them would like to recycle more than they do now. • Recyclability is the packaging sustainability attribute consumers care most about, above other options including reusability and the type of materials used. • Amcor also released its 2021 Sustainability Report showing strong progress on its aspirations, including multiple innovations that provide consumers with the opportunity to recycle more. When it comes to packaging and sustainability, consumers are clear: provide options to recycle more, make recycling easier and ensure the product is in fact recycled.

Paper manufacturing is based largely on the use of renewable natural fibers. Until the mid to late 1800s, non-wood plant fibers, in the form of linen and cotton rags and hemp ropes, were the main raw materials for the pulp and paper industry. Increasing demand and developments in low cost wood pulping resulted in a large expansion of the wood-based pulp and paper industry during the early to mid-1900s. Today, wood is the dominant fiber resource for the pulp and paper industry accounting for 90% of the world’s fiber utilization.1 Is tree-free paper really better for the environment? Are current environmental claims about tree-free paper accurate and substantiated? To answer these questions, we reviewed literature on the topic from experts in the field.

Forest certification evolved from concerns about the destruction of tropical forests. Yet after more than two decades of combined efforts by PEFC and FSC, less than a tenth of the global certified forest area is tropical forest. It is time for a new boost for forest certification of tropical forests, and PEFC - together with a diverse coalition of stakeholders - is making great strides towards this goal. The loss of tropical forests was high on the agenda of the 1992 Earth Summit, but governments failed to agree on a legally binding agreement on this topic. Yet it gave raise to something potentially more important: the insight that deforestation cannot be tackled in isolation, but needs to be part of a holistic, global effort to promote sustainable forest management (SFM). As a result, the concept of “criteria and indicators for Sustainable Forest Management” became more widely accepted internationally, and eventually led to Pan-European criteria and indicators for SFM (MCPFE) and criteria for the sustainable management of tropical forests (ATO/ITTO).