If we remember the environment every day,
If we could all be more aware that packaging is created to ensure the safety and freshness of foods during that long journey through space and time which starts with their production and ends in the supermarket aisles and our own refrigerators,
If we recognise the importance that it has in providing all the information required for its correct disposal and for informed, safe consumption of the food it contains,
If we manage to understand that this is not disposable packaging, but a container which has successfully performed a very important task: bringing a fresh product to our tables, its organoleptic characteristics intact, at a fair price, to the benefit of the whole community,
If we learn to recognise that there are no good or bad materials, but rather all our activities generate an environmental impact,
If we understand that the environmental impact of the food is much greater than that of the packaging which contains it, and that wasting food due to inadequate packaging is truly unsustainable, as well as immoral,
If we realise that “Good packaging has never turned a bad product into a good one, but bad packaging can transform a good product into a bad one” (Bruno Munari, 1907 – 1998),
If we accept that, with good packaging, there is no need for colours, special effects or over-packaging, except for strictly functional purposes, because these make it more costly and difficult to recycle,
If we concentrate on its functionality and the quality of its contents, which represent the purpose of our purchase,
If we admit that packaging does not have legs and does not choose to end up in the sea, and recognise that someone puts it there,
If we no longer dump materials and ask others to follow our example,
If we are able to use packaging in an informed manner, sorting it correctly for recycling according to the instructions,
If we invest in new systems and technologies for more thorough sorting and its subsequent recycling, reducing the proportion of waste more and more,
If we apply the principles of Ecodesign at all times to protect easily selectable and recyclable packaging to be sent off for a new life, continually improving its environmental impact,
If we understand that the task of a piece of packaging is not over after its use, but that it can be recycled to produce new packaging,
Then we will have done something concrete for the environment and for the quality of our life and that of future generations.
