60 bike companies pledge to increase sustainable packaging use

Confederation of the European Bicycle Industry (CONEBI) and Cycling Industries Europe (CIE) have launched an industry-wide commitment to reduce plastic packaging and eliminate unnecessary packaging from the supply chain.

60 companies have today announced, via a joint CONEBI and CIE press release, to improve their use of sustainable and unnecessary packaging by 2025. The association also encourages other companies to follow suit.

“Our Industry Sustainability Programme puts the concept of cooperation within the industry at the centre of a wide strategy that is both in line and reinforces the European Green Deal“, said General Manager of CONEBI, Manuel Marsilio.

The release goes on to say…

“Cycling Industries are uniting behind a shared vision of creating a circular economy for packaging, contributing to the European Commission’s goal for a new circular economy. This vision covers all packaging material. For plastic specifically, it is inspired by and closely aligned with the vision of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s ‘New Plastics Economy Initiative‘, also adopted in the ‘Global Commitment’ led by the Foundation in collaboration with the UN Environment Programme. This vision is also endorsed by US based People For Bikes.”

The Circular Economy is a principal where any plastic manufactured is maintained in constant use and re-use to prevent it ending up in landfill or the wider environment. If they eventually do wind up underground then they should be genuinely compostable.

Signees of the commitment make a pledge to commit to a number of aims detailed below.

Cycling Industry Sustainable Packaging Commitment:

Sharing and endorsing the common vision for more circular and sustainable packaging solutions with your supply chain partners
Working with supply chain partners to reduce problematic plastic packaging’s and eliminate unnecessary packaging within your supply chain by 2025
Working with supply chain partners to ensure that all supply chain packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025
Working with supply chain partners to increase recycled content within packaging materials by 2025
Creating customer / retail facing packaging commitments, which align with or exceed the common vision by 2025. (Only relevant if your company is responsible for creating / purchasing customer or retail facing packaging)
Sharing progress and update with the wider cycling industry through the CONEBI / CIE Sustainability working group forum

Who is in?

At launch there are 60 companies signed up, including Mondraker.

Although it takes less than a minute to join the signatories with just some business contact details and a logo (I know, I did it for Singletrack). Mondraker do appear to be taking things seriously on the face of it with links to commitments and information about how they are tackling the problem of packaging on their website.

Bicycle Industry has launched a
Sustainable Packaging Commitment
22 March, Brussels – Confederation of the European Bicycle Industry (CONEBI) and Cycling Industries Europe (CIE) have launched an industry-wide commitment to reduce plastic packaging and eliminate unnecessary packaging from the supply chain. The pledge has been signed by more than 60 founding companies and others are invited to follow suit.

Manuel Marsilio, General Manager of CONEBI said: Our Industry Sustainability Programme puts the concept of cooperation within the industry at the centre of a wide strategy that is both in line and reinforces the European Green Deal. What we see today is that a growing number of companies are ready to take their CSR actions to ambitious heights, proactively engage in the ongoing Green transition and Circular Economy, shaping them with a forward-looking mindset.

Kevin Mayne, CEO of CIE said: Cycling is at the core of the mobility transition, making sure Europe is cleaner, greener and more liveable. The way our industry operates has to meet the same high ambitions, so we need to be in the forefront of a sustainability industrial sector. CIE and CONEBI have set an ambitious agenda to tackle important industry-wide challenges and to initiate pioneering initiatives and actions across the supply chain, this packaging initiative is the first of many ways we will act reduce our environmental impact.

Louisa Holbrook, Head of Sustainability of Brompton said: At Brompton Bicycle we are proud to make a bike that by its very nature addresses existing environmental and social issues. But when faced with a climate emergency we cannot rest on our bike manufacturer laurels. Supplier packaging may only be the tip of the ever-decreasing iceberg, but it’s an important start. I am proud to be part of this aligned industry approach, but the real work starts now by implementation and creating positive change.

Cycling Industries are uniting behind a shared vision of creating a circular economy for packaging, contributing to the European Commission’s goal for a new circular economy. This vision covers all packaging material. For plastic specifically, it is inspired by and closely aligned with the vision of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s ‘New Plastics Economy Initiative’, also adopted in the ‘Global Commitment’ led by the Foundation in collaboration with the UN Environment Programme. This vision is also endorsed by US based People For Bikes.

Cycling Industry Sustainable Packaging Commitment:

Sharing and endorsing the common vision for more circular and sustainable packaging solutions with your supply chain partners
Working with supply chain partners to reduce problematic plastic packaging’s and eliminate unnecessary packaging within your supply chain by 2025
Working with supply chain partners to ensure that all supply chain packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025
Working with supply chain partners to increase recycled content within packaging materials by 2025
Creating customer / retail facing packaging commitments, which align with or exceed the common vision by 2025. (Only relevant if your company is responsible for creating / purchasing customer or retail facing packaging)
Sharing progress and update with the wider cycling industry through the CONEBI / CIE Sustainability working group forum

END

L.Fried@cyclingindustries.comLauha Fried, CIE Policy Director on
Jana.Hrckova@conebi.euJana Hrčková, CONEBI Project and Policy Officer on
For more information, please contact:

Join the Cycling Industry Sustainable Packaging Commitment here.
Learn more about the initiative here.

Our bit

Packaging and environmental waste is very much something we are aware of here at Singletrack and one of the principal reason we decided to pull the printed version of Singletrack from the high street shelves of newsagents was because of the huge waste issue of unsold magazines that simply end up in the waste. Over 50% of all magazines that are sold on the high street end up being binned once the next issue comes along. Switching to direct sales and membership copies not only reduced our print run but also means that over 95% of all copies of Singletrack now end up in the hands of a reader.

The 60

There are some very familiar names on the list and many not so familiar, which reflects the aims of the group to tackle not just the public facing retail packaging problems but the whole chain of packaging right through the supply channels. This means business to business packaging is also in the cross hairs of the group, which is quite often a behind the scenes issue hidden from the public. Bosch, for example is a generally business to business (B2B) supplier that sells very little direct to the public. Bosch are an original signatory.

Undoubtedly the aims of the group are laudable and to be encouraged. How much difference it makes is very much down to the brands on the list and the real changes they make. At Singletrack we receive a lot of product that is both packaged for delivery within the industry as well as public facing customers. We will be keeping a close eye on the progress of this group.

Watch this space.

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Mark Alker

Singletrack Owner/Publisher

What Mark doesn’t know about social media isn’t worth knowing and his ability to balance “The Stack” is bested only by his agility on a snowboard. Graphs are what gets his engine revving, at least they would if his car wasn’t electric, and data is what you’ll find him poring over in the office. Mark enjoys good whisky, sci-fi and the latest Apple gadget, he is also the best boss in the world (Yes, he is paying me to write this).