Portrait

The Deutsche Verpackungsinstitut e. V. (dvi) was founded in 1990 in Leipzig. The institute sees itself as an umbrella institution for the packaging industry, providing support for research and education as well as publicising packaging issues in a balanced and packaging material neutral manner.

The dvi works closely with authorities, institutions, universities, the media and consumers.

The approximately 130 members, including well-known brand marketers, profit today from a wide-ranging network and the resultant contacts. Members come, on the one hand, from the packaging machine sector, packaging materials and packaging material manufacturing, as well as trade and disposal, and on the other hand, from further education and research institutes. The dvi is the annual organizer of the German Packaging Competition and the German Packaging Design Competition

Our Philosophy

Packaging caught in the crossfire

Packaging today can be seen in the context of the tension created by the conflicting qualitative, ecological and social demands. Earlierthe traditional profile was solely determined by the principle of maximum performance in relation to minimal costs.

Developing packaging in a holistic manner requires more than simple consideration ofthe economic criteria. In the mid 1980s, environmental sustainability factors were acquiringequal weight, and in the future, social impact factors will become increasingly important.

This complex requirement profile demanded calls for competence and integrative thinking - packaging should be optimised for all areas in the economic cycle. This includes the manufacturing of packaging and packaging material, filling and packing areas, storage and transport, trade, disposal and recycling - and, of course the consumer.

Much of the existing potential for improvement can be identified through intensive dialogue, or recognised information from competitions industry-spanning information, and discussions. The ideal combination of desired product protection with required product packaging follows the principle:

"As much packaging as necessary, as little packaging as possible."

Packaging is indispensable

Historically, packaging has been used to protect all types of goods. The conservation and storage of foodstuffs, however has been inextricably linked to the use of suitable containers. The protective coating guarantees hygiene, quality and integrity of the goods as well as the opportunity to apportion varying amounts according to customer requirements. It is only when the correct packaging is available that goods can be transported and traded all over the world. Last but not least, the packaging can provide information and instructions for the consumer, and advertise the product it contains

Packing, despite its multiple functions, is often made a scapegoat in, and is continuously the subject of, public debate in Germany. Judgements about packaging are reached all too easily, and are apparently confirmed daily through references to " mountains of domestic refuse". Packaging, so the argument, damages the environment.

The DVI is vehemently opposed to such a one-sided perception and allocation of guilt, at the same time that it recognises the urgent universal need for environmental protection.

Packaging and the Environment

The interdependencies and changes in the world's complex ecosystem are often only superficially and insufficiently researched - the alarm signals are, however, there for all to see. The foundations for the necessary redesign of value and social systems were laid before the Conferences on the Environment in Rio de Janeiro and Berlin.

Such redesign accepts that economic growth is prerequisite for the ideal implementation of environmental protection policies which are, themselves, in balance with the other legitimate human goals to enable sustainable development.

In the future, companies and service providers will be assessed not only on their economic, but also on their environmental balance sheet. Environmental appraisals cannot be definitive, given the current lack of knowledge, one realisation is crystallizing: in no way does packaging have the environmentally-damaging impact that it is often accused of. On the contrary, packaging has been an environmental role model in the product and economic cycle - the success of a product depending to a great extent on the ecological performance of its packaging.

The German government has sent a powerful signal with its packaging directive. The result has been a tremendous innovative push in the packaging sector. In no other economic area has the principle of "Avoid, Reduce, Recycle" - been implemented so thoroughly as in the packing and packaging manufacturing industry.

Packaging is never an end in itself

Packing is always the means to an end, never the end itself. It is time to abandon the one-sided view of packaging as the sole source of refuse and to recognize the complexity of economic and ecological systems. Only a holistic perception of packaging provides the basis for further and sustainable development in the packaging sector.

The members of the German Packaging Institute have accepted this principle. Companies, scientific institutes and leading members from all parts of the economic spectrum have come together to discuss and participate in defining the framework for long-term development in the packaging sector.

The German Packaging Institute sees packaging as an indispensable part of our modern society. To neglect packaging would not only jeopardize unhindered global trade, but also threaten the distribution of goods within individual countries.