The ethical charter of packaging
Shared principles to design, produce and use packaging in a conscious way
Why Packaging?
Packaging is everywhere. It is a product whose diffusion is expressed in all its evidence: every year, each one of us comes into contact with at least 8000 packages. It is a powerful tool, more than it is often considered.
It is a transversal product, a real mass product which is given to be used by everyone; it is the emblem of our consumption model, of a consumption that must see us increasingly responsible. It is the “bait”, through which seductive capacity, attracts us to the shopping network and flatters us. At the same time, it is a necessary tool without which we would not have access to essential products: delicate foods, life-saving drugs, fragile products …
It is an indispensable means to let the products we consume safely circulate over time and space, to guarantee food, to meet needs, to transfer information about the product, its methods of use, its benefits and its constraints, to offer services that supply their consumption.
why a charter?
Packaging, an essential and sometimes contradictory product is experiencing a phase of full maturity; as such, it requires the opening of a shared path of reflection to allow its evolution in compliance with the needs of the consumer, the user, the environment and society.
Therefore, the Ethical Charter of Packaging wants to be an instrument of reflection and commitment, around which gathered. A document of principles to be shared to accompany packaging towards a more conscious future. The Ethical Charter of Packaging relates the plan of rights, the plan of principles, the plan of values to sanction an ideal contract between the actors of the system, so that they can commit themselves in sharing principles towards which to strive, without overlapping the regulations, and making public this choice.
Commitment of supporters
The Ethical Charter of Packaging reiterates that we are all subjects involved in a system of packaging design, production, use, consumption and reuse. The Ethical Charter of Packaging reminds us that respecting the role of each subject is essential to put the consumer at the center: we know that the consumer is a user of packaging as a tool, a user of the information it offers, a user of the service provided by the artifact, an interpreter of packaging as a cultural and social product.
The Charter involves designers, producers, processors, industry experts, consumers, users and all those who choose to join this project. The supporters commit theirselves to operate in compliance with the ten points of the Charter, to widespread it appropriately, to propose initiatives to promote its contents.
We designers, producers, transformers, industry experts, consumers, users, intend to think, design, produce, demand, use packaging that is:
01.
responsible
thought
It is packaging when it becomes everyone’s responsibility towards everyone: in design, production and use.
02.
balanced
right
It is the packaging when it is proposed with the right measure: just enough and what is needed
03.
safe
thought
It is the healthy and safe packaging that protects individuals and communities throughout its life cycle.
04.
accessible
for everyone
It is packaging able to offer itself in an “easy” way to those who use it.
05.
transparent
authentic
It is the packaging that builds an immediate relationship with the recipient.
06.
informative
useful
It is the packaging that guarantees the best information, the useful and necessary one.
07.
contemporary
current
It is the packaging that knows how to be in constant relationship with the society of which it represents the values.
08.
Forward-looking
visionary
It is the packaging that knows how to be in constant relationship with the society of which it represents the values.
09.
educational
formative
It is the packaging that, as a widespread product, knows how to take charge of its educational function.
10.
sustainable
correct
It is environmentally friendly packaging.