by Rebecca Walker — April 21, 2010—Companies that meet United Parcel Service’s new green standards for responsible packaging can ship their goods with a label attesting to that fact under an assessment program the carrier has introduced.
Through its Eco Responsible Packaging Program, a new contractually based service the company is calling the first of its kind, UPS will evaluate a customer’s shipment packaging processes in three key areas — damage prevention, right-sizing and packaging materials.
Businesses and other customers whose transportation packaging meets UPS’s standards are entitled to use this label with the program’s logo on all goods that are shipped according to the approved process.
UPS uses the coalition’s Compass software in its new program, which enables users to see the lifecycle impacts of package design choices and compare various options.
Identifying the most responsible and effective packaging for any given client is at the heart of the service, according to Arnold Barlow, manager of sustainability solutions for UPS’s Customer Solutions group. And determining the most responsible approach depends on a customer’s needs and the goods they are shipping.
The Eco Responsible Packaging Program grew out of UPS’s efforts to “develop something that can help customers understand and apply sustainable packaging to transportation of their merchandise,” said Barlow.
For more information, see the UPS Web site.
