It’s no secret that the packaging sector is under significant pressure. From the increasing frequency of product launches and shifts in consumer trends, to the impact of managing Covid-19 and new environmental challenges, designing, manufacturing and delivering packaging is not a simple process in today’s market.
When commercial success depends on meeting these aspects at speed, getting goods on-shelf and into the consumer’s hands, the last thing brands and their supply chain needs is compliance becoming a bottleneck or barrier to business performance.
Increasingly, outsourced packaging compliance is proving to be an effective way to approach regulatory and sustainability needs in the industry. At ecoveritas, we are proud to be at the leading edge of this charge, helping brands and their packaging supply chain partners with holistic and effective regulatory compliance services.
Key to this change is how brands are seeing compliance; when it’s handled in-house by whatever resources are available, it tends to be viewed as an obligation and at worst, a hassle. Indeed, without a dedicated partner taking the strain away, compliance can become a series of missed opportunities in value generation.
Condensing the many benefits of a compliance partner down into six core advantages, what do they look like in practice?
More manageable data loads
Maintaining a competitive business in the packaging industry relies on optimal use of data. From retail patterns to areas such as audit trails and sustainability, how data is handled, used and stored can play a central role in the fundamental commercial performance of a business.
A typical business today may be collecting data and information from hundreds of suppliers or distributors, countless products and SKUs, and many tonnes of packaging. An outsourced compliance partner provides invaluable business support to collate and manage this data, creating more efficient compliance processes and as a result, makes commercial use of ‘big data’ simpler.
Of course, data management does not sit in isolation. Rather than simply collecting data in large volumes, the ideal compliance partner is able to both collect and, crucially, interpret this data.
By understanding the collated statistics, a business such as ecoVeritas is able to identify actionable changes that benefit the supply chain and drive greater value through business operations.
Reducing the administration burden
One of the most common complaints in sustainability and regulatory compliance is that it’s time-consuming, because it’s often distributed to in-house teams that must fit the process in and around their daily activities.
Data collection and management can be a deceptively lengthy process, which is why outsourcing makes a lot of sense for businesses looking to make operational gains. Taking the compliance process outside the remit of in-house teams frees those individuals up to focus on using their core skill sets, while an expert team handles the administrative burden.
Draw on industry-specific expertise
As sustainable packaging continues to grow on the public agenda, policy evolves at the same pace. The sector moves at such speed that it can be very easy for a business to feel overwhelmed or lost with the latest compliance requirements. Outsourcing compliance takes the headache away by drawing on a dedicated expert team that handles this process day in, day out, for a diverse range of clients.
Whether that be geography-specific reporting formats or collating sustainability data in a way that can help to inform commercial strategy, an outsourced partner like ecoveritas can use its packaging sector experience to handle proactive compliance requirements from start to finish.
An objective view of compliance
We all know that areas more closely linked to CSR, such as eco-friendly practices, traceability and auditing are important, but they have never been so closely tied to commercial performance as they are today. Because of this, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for businesses to take an objective view of how they are interacting with their compliance and regulation commitments. A fresh eye is often able to cleanly assess where the business is excelling and where it needs improvements.
An outsourced partner like ecoveritas is able to separate sustainability and regulatory compliance from the day-to-day business and consider it in isolation, which is essential for getting a fair and realistic picture of performance.
Return on investment
There’s no two-ways about it; consumers have an appetite for brands that demonstrate meaningful sustainability. Because these efforts now factor so heavily in purchase decisions, the ‘green’ credentials of a business are now a part of the brand and sales narrative – and compliance counts.
Research agency, Boston Consulting Group, found that an overwhelming 74% of consumers were willing to pay more for packaging that is sustainably focussed. A compliance partner such as ecoVeritas helps clients to build on the environmental sustainability practices of the business, but also to identify new opportunities for growth.
Simplify complex legislation
A third-party compliance partner should not just collect data and disappear – this doesn’t help the business understand its position on a deeper level. Instead, an outsourced compliance expert should simplify legislation for your business, no matter how complex.
Using expert insight of the packaging sector and its unique challenges, ecoveritas turns regulatory compliance into concepts that are easier to understand, simpler to put into practice and ultimately, more valuable to the long-term growth of a business.
From comprehensive global Extended Producer Responsibility reporting, data collection, validation and cost impact assessments, through to the tools and frameworks required to make a more robust circular economy a reality, ecoVeritas is a packaging data specialist that puts the focus on environmental impact, with a dedicated team to support businesses of every size and area of speciality.
By guiding companies through the changing waters of compliance and regulation, ecoveritas helps brands and packaging providers turn sustainability reporting into a business-critical competitive edge.
