Twenty-one Canadian retail and consumer packaged goods companies are taking leadership by supporting the Golden Design Rules for Plastic Packaging released last week by the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Coalition of Action on Plastic Waste. The nine Golden Design Rules provide a clear framework that aims to drive innovation and scalable actions that will result in less plastic packaging overall and easier to recycle plastic packaging by 2025. In Canada, the consultation and implementation of the Golden Design Rules nationally is being led by the Canada Plastics Pact (CPP).

In Canada, most plastics currently end up in landfill or in the environment, because of many complex factors – and Canadians know we can do better. Citizens have been asking for companies to reduce plastic waste and move towards a circular economy in which nothing is wasted. The Golden Design Rules are one important response by changing how packaging is designed in the first place. The Golden Design Rules advance bold systemic change that aims to eliminate plastic packaging waste by keeping it in the economy and out of the environment.

“The Golden Design Rules offer solid structure and guidance that have the potential to positively influence how plastic packaging is designed and recirculated back into a circular economy for plastics. By adopting these standards, brand owners of retail and consumer packaged goods leverage their influential position in the value chain to realign markets by designing out waste.

Jo-Anne St. Godard
Executive Director
Circular Innovation Council

The Golden Design Rules are voluntary, independent and time-bound commitments that outline specific design changes, aligned with globally recognized technical guidelines. Companies are each independently choosing to commit to individual rules based on which are most relevant to their packaging portfolios.

“Currently, the recycling system is challenged by the large diversity of plastic packaging types and shapes in the recycling stream,” says George Roter, Managing Director of the Canada Plastics Pact. “Companies supporting and committing to the Golden Design Rules will help to catalyze positive systems-wide change for improved recyclability.”

The objectives of the Golden Design Rules are to eliminate unnecessary or challenging-to-recycle packaging, increase the recycling value for both packaging that is currently recycled at scale as well as packaging types that will be recycled at scale in the future, improve environmental performance of business-to-business packaging and improve consumer communications. The newly released rules include reducing the use of plastic overwraps like those used in multipacks, eliminating air space in flexible plastic packaging like snack bags, and improving recyclability by using single-material plastics.

The Canada Plastics Pact is engaging companies, experts and stakeholders across the plastics value chain to develop a set of voluntary guidelines that are aligned with the Golden Design Rules globally and tailored to Canada. In addition, the CPP and Partners will collaboratively develop a framework for companies to independently determine whether to commit to the Golden Design Rules, provide guidance, support, learning materials, and programming for implementing them, and create reporting mechanisms to track progress.

“By committing to and engaging with the Golden Design Rules, companies are saying ‘we want to be part of the solution’ and demonstrating that they are ready for change through concrete actions like eliminating excess headspace in packaging or changing to a different type of plastic that is easier to recycle,” says Roter. “By driving this process through the CPP we gain the additional benefit of aligning players across the plastics value chain in the implementation of the Golden Design Rules allowing brands and retailers to act in the context of the broader system.”