Govt insists package industry to focus on env safety, recyclability of material

The fast-growing Indian packaging industry needs to focus on key areas such as safety, environment protection, reusability and recyclability of material with a view to promoting the growth of the sector in a sustainable way, a senior government official said Friday. Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan said that packaging should be done in a manner by which products or goods inside should be safe and not get damaged.

"In the packaging of food material, consumers' health and safety should be key," he said here at the national conference on innovative packaging techniques for food products and its safety aspects, organised by Indian Institute of Packaging, Delhi chapter. He added that protection of materials that need to be preserved is a must, there should be an ease in handling of products, and the goods used for making packaging material should be environment-friendly.

"We must build reusability and re-cyclability when we make choice for materials used in packaging," he added. The secretary also said that the visual aspects and aesthetics of packaging are critically important and this should be addressed as this is an area where "we are somewhat behind emerging economies of Asia and developed countries". Globally, the industry market size is about USD 1 trillion and this reflects the potential it holds for domestic industry, Wadhawan said.

(With inputs from agencies.)