Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2013 Jan 28;371(1986):20110570. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2011.0570. Print 2013 Mar 13.
Packaging materials are one of the largest contributors to municipal solid waste generation. In this paper, we evaluate the material impacts of packaging policy in The Netherlands, focusing on the role of material efficiency (or waste prevention). Since 1991, five different policies have been implemented to reduce the environmental impact of packaging. The analysis shows that Dutch packaging policies helped to reduce the total packaging volume until 1999. After 2000, packaging consumption increased more rapidly than the baseline, suggesting that policy measures were not effective. Generally, we see limited attention to material efficiency to reduce packaging material use. For this purpose, we tried to gain more insight in recent activities on material efficiency, by building a database of packaging prevention initiatives. We identified 131 alterations to packaging implemented in the period 2005-2010, of which weight reduction was the predominant approach. More appropriate packaging policy is needed to increase the effectiveness of policies, with special attention to material efficiency.
包装材料是城市固体废物产生的最大贡献者之一。在本文中，我们评估了荷兰包装政策的材料影响，重点关注材料效率（或废物预防）的作用。自 1991 年以来，已经实施了五项不同的政策来减少包装对环境的影响。分析表明，荷兰包装政策有助于减少 1999 年之前的总包装量。2000 年后，包装消费的增长速度快于基准线，表明政策措施没有效果。一般来说，我们看到减少包装材料使用的材料效率关注有限。为此，我们试图通过建立包装预防措施数据库，更多地了解最近在材料效率方面的活动。我们确定了 2005 年至 2010 年期间实施的 131 项包装变更，其中减轻重量是主要方法。需要更适当的包装政策来提高政策的有效性，特别关注材料效率。
