The final texts of the ISO world standards on packaging and the environment have been released for translation and publication in October 2012.

The decision was taken unanimously by the ISO Committee TC122/SC4 Packaging and Environment, which took place at the COEX Conference Centre in the South Korean capital Seoul.

The standards address optimisation of the packaging system, reuse, material recycling, energy recovery and composting, as well as the way these aspects of each package are related to each other before and after its use. Every retailer, manufacturer and packaging supplier can implement the standards in their management system and thereby take responsibility for their specific part in the sustainable innovation of packages, packaged products, retail and recycling.