The second Courtauld commitment document was released in March 2010. With its focus moving more to the carbon footprint of the packaging than packaging weight, it might look as though the heavier but more easily recycled materials such as metal and glass might be the main beneficiaries, and plastic packaging would suffer in comparison.

There is no doubt that the heavy materials will get a fairer crack of this particular whip, and it was fairly clear that the focus on weight was a serious flaw in the first Courtauld document. We have no problem with the glass and metal boys, and their materials benefit greatly from ease of recycling.

Don't overlook the huge benefits of lightweight plastic packaging throughout the packaging chain though. Flexible plastic packaging is extremely light, very strong, hygienic and easy to handle on the production/packaging line. All of these factors add up to major savings in carbon usage compared to energy intensive manufacturing and recycling routes. People make the mistake of looking only at recycling performance when thinking about the environmental impact or benefit of packaging, the entire cradle to cradle process has to be considered.

And don't forget - when incinerated in a good process, plastic packaging has a higher calorific value than coal!